at length than I
intended. Yet I have, perhaps, as little personal interest in the event
as any one here. There is, I believe, no member who will not think his
chance to be a witness of the consequences greater than mine. If,
however, the vote shall pass to reject, and a spirit should rise, as it
will, with the public disorders, to make confusion worse confounded,
even I, slender and almost broken as my hold upon life is, may outlive
the government and constitution of my country.

JOHN NICHOLAS

ON THE PROPOSED REPEAL OF THE SEDITION LAW

--HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEB. 25, 1799

MR. CHAIRMAN:

The Select Committee had very truly stated that only the second and
third sections of the act are complained of; that the part of the law
which punishes seditious acts is acquiesced in, and that the part which
goes to restrain what are called seditious writings is alone the object
of the petitions. This part of the law is complained of as being
unwarranted by the Constitution, and destructive of the first principles
of republican government. It is always justifiable, in examining the
principle of a law, to inquire what other laws can be passed with equal
reason, and to impute to it all the mischiefs for which it may be used
as a precedent.

In this case, little inquiry is left for us to make, the arguments in
favor of the law carrying us immediately and by inevitable consequence
to absolute power over the press.

It is not pretended that the Constitution has given any express
authority, which they claim, for passing this law, and it is claimed
only as implied in that clause of the Constitution which says: "Congress
shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper
for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers
vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or
in any department or officer thereof." It is clear that this clause was
intended to be merely an auxiliary to the powers specially enumerated in
the Constitution; and it must, therefore, be so construed as to aid
them, and at the same time to leave the boundaries between the General
Government and the State governments untouched. The argument by which
the Select Committee have endeavored to establish the authority of
Congress over the press is the following: "Congress has power to punish
seditious combinations to resist the laws, and therefore Congress must
have the power to punish false,