Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/426

 418 of state sovereignty, were all against them. Yet they were not dismayed; and by steadfast appeals to reason, to the calm sense of the people, and to the lessons of history, they subdued opposition, and won confidence. Without the possession of this power, the constitution would have long since, like the confederation, have dwindled down to an empty pageant. It would have become an unreal mockery, deluding our hopes, and exciting our fears. It would have flitted before us for a moment with a pale and ineffectual light, and then have departed for ever to the land of shadows. There is so much candour and force in the remarks of the learned American commentator on Blackstone, on this subject, that they deserve to be cited in this place. A candid review of this part of the federal constitution cannot fail to excite our just applause of the principles, upon which it is founded. All the arguments against it appear to have been drawn from the inexpediency of establishing such a form of government, rather than from any defect in this part of the system, admitting, that a general government was necessary to the happiness and prosperity of the states individually. This great primary question being once decided in the affirmative, it might be difficult to prove, that any part of the powers granted to congress in this clause ought to have been altogether withheld: yet being granted, rather as an ultimate provision in any possible case of emergency, than as a means of ordinary revenue, it is to be wished, that the exercise of powers, either oppressive in their operation, or inconsistent with the genius of the people, or irreconcilable to their prejudices, might be reserved for cogent occasions, which might justify the temporary recourse to a