usion might be the
result.

It may now be well to take a nearer view of these laws, to see more
exactly what their provisions are, what consequences have followed from
them, and what would and might follow from other similar laws.

The first grant to John Fitch gave him the sole and exclusive right of
making, employing, and navigating all boats impelled by fire or steam,
"in all creeks, rivers, bays, and waters within the territory and
jurisdiction of the State." Any other person navigating such boat, was
to forfeit it, and to pay a penalty of a hundred pounds. The subsequent
acts repeal this, and grant similar privileges to Livingston and Fulton;
and the act of 1811 provides the extraordinary and summary remedy which
has been already stated. The river, the bay, and the marine league along
the shore, are all within the scope of this grant. Any vessel,
therefore, of this description, coming into any of those waters, without
a license, whether from another State or from abroad, whether it be a
public or private vessel, is instantly forfeited to the grantees of the
monopoly.

Now it must be remembered that this grant is made as an exercise of
sovereign political power. It is not an inspection law, nor a health
law, nor passed by any derivative authority; it is professedly an act of
sovereign power. Of course, there is no limit to the power, to be
derived from the purpose for which it is exercised. If exercised for one
purpose, it may be also for another. No one can inquire into the motives
which influence sovereign authority. It is enough that such power
manifests its will. The motive alleged in this case is, to remunerate
the grantees for a benefit conferred by them on the public. But there is
no necessary connection between that benefit and this mode of rewarding
it; and if the State could grant this monopoly for that purpose, it
could also grant it for any other purpose. It could make the grant for
money; and so make the monopoly of navigation over those waters a direct
source of revenue. When this monopoly shall expire, in 1838, the State
may continue it, for any pecuniary consideration which the holders may
see fit to offer, and the State to receive.

If the State may grant this monopoly, it may also grant another, for
other descriptions of vessels; for instance, for all sloops.

If it can grant these exclusive privileges to a few, it may grant them
to many; that is, it may grant them to all its own citizens, to