om-house
beyond the immediate power of the county.

For this purpose it might be proper to provide that whenever by any
unlawful combination or obstruction in any State or in any port it
should become impracticable faithfully to collect the duties, the
President of the United States should be authorized to alter and abolish
such of the districts and ports of entry as should be necessary, and to
establish the custom-house at some secure place within some port or
harbor of such State; and in such cases it should be the duty of the
collector to reside at such place, and to detain all vessels and cargoes
until the duties imposed by law should be properly secured or paid in
cash, deducting interest; that in such cases it should be unlawful to
take the vessel and cargo from the custody of the proper officer of the
customs unless by process from the ordinary judicial tribunals of the
United States, and that in case of an attempt otherwise to take the
property by a force too great to be overcome by the officers of the
customs it should be lawful to protect the possession of the officers by
the employment of the land and naval forces and militia, under
provisions similar to those authorized by the eleventh section of the
act of the 9th of January, 1809.

This provision, however, would not shield the officers and citizens of
the United States, acting under the laws, from suits and prosecutions in
the tribunals of the State which might thereafter be brought against
them, nor would it protect their property from the proceeding by
distress, and it may well be apprehended that it would be insufficient
to insure a proper respect to the process of the constitutional
tribunals in prosecutions for offenses against the United States and to
protect the authorities of the United States, whether judicial or
ministerial, in the performance of their duties. It would, moreover, be
inadequate to extend the protection due from the Government to that
portion of the people of South Carolina against outrage and oppression
of any kind who may manifest their attachment and yield obedience to the
laws of the Union.

It may therefore be desirable to revive, with some modifications better
adapted to the occasion, the sixth section of the act of the 3d March,
1815, which expired on the 4th March, 1817, by the limitation of that of
27th April, 1816, and to provide that in any case where suit shall be
brought against any individual in the courts of the S