Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/63

 WEBSTER the Constitution, and it brought ruin to her doors. Thousands of families, and hundreds of thou- sands of individuals, were beggared by it. "While she saw and felt all this, she saw and felt also that, as a measure of national policy, it was per- fectly futile; that the country was in no way benefited by that which caused so much individ- ual distress ; that it was efficient only for the pro- duction of evil, and all that evil inflicted on ourselves. In such a case, under such circum- stances, how did Massachusetts demean herself? Sir, she remonstrated, she memorialized, she ad- dressed herself to the general government, not exactly *'with the concentrated energy of passion,'' but with her own strong sense, and the energy of sober conviction.) But she did not interpose the arm of her own power to arrest the law and break the embargo. Far from it. Her principles bound her to two things, and she followed her principles, lead where they might : first, to submit to every con- stitutional law of Congress; and secondly, if the constitutional validity of the law be doubted^ to refer that question to the decision of the prop- er tribunals. The first principle is vain and in- effectual without the second. A majority of us in New England believed the embargo law un- constitutional ; but the great question was, and always will be in such cases, Who is to decide this? Who is to judge between the people and the government? And, sir, it is quite plain that the Constitution of the United States confers 53