WELLINGTON A FEDERAL TERRITORY ?

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3978, 15 December 1873, Page 3

WELLINGTON A FEDERAL TERRITORY ?

TO THE EDITOR OP THE INDEPENDENT. Sib, — According to your telegram from Dunedin, the " Otago Guardian" " argues that if Wellington city is to remain the seat of Government it should be made, a Federal territory, with Wanganui as the seat of the Provincial Government. It is contended that by this means the colony might get rid of the pressure which provincial authorities bring to bear upon the Colonial Executive. Otherwise the disruption of the colony must inevitably enBue.." In aleadiugarticle to-day, you atonce absolutely condemn this argument. I trust, however, you will allow me space to explain why I consider the principal part -of the suggestion to be not only deserving of very careful and deliberate consideration, but one the adoption of which would be of material advantage to the City of Wellington itself, to the other portions of this province, and to the whole colony. ,/ (The wise framera of the Constitution of the 'United States included a similar provision in '• that celebrated arrangement — not indeed at first — but after discovering the necessity for ifc. Joseph Story, who was from 1811 till his

-death in 1845, Associate . Justice of the "* ". Supreme Court of the United States, and -from 1829 till his death, Professor of Law in Harvard College, in 1833 dedioated to Chief Justice Marshall his world-renowned work, " Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States ; with a Preliminary Beview of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States before the Adoption of the Constitution." Chapter XXITI (sections 1216 to 1235 inclusive) is headed "Power over Seat of Government and other ceded places." A few extracts will not be thrown away upon those who desire to consider the subject on its merits ; and their perusal may induce those who have access to the work to read attentively the whole chapter, in which the question is discussed pro and con., although in a decidedly favorable spirit. " §1216. The next power of Congress is, Ito exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district, not exceeding ten miles square, as may, by cession «f particular stateß and the acceptance of congress, become the seat of the Government of the United States ; and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state, in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, srsenals, dockyards, and other needful build-

§1217. This clause was not in the original draft of the Constitution ; but was referred to a ooiumittee, who reported in its favor ; end it was adopted into the Constitution with a slight amendment, without any apparent objection. §1218. The indispensable necessity of complete and exclusive power, on the part of the congress, at the seat of Government, carries its own evidence with it. It is a power exercised by every legislature of the union, and one might say of the world, by virtue of its general supremacy. * * * * It never could be safe to leave in possession of any state the exclusive power to decide, whether the functionaries of the national government should have the moral or physical power to perform their duties. Ik might subject the favored state to the most unrelenting jealousy of the other states, and introduce earnest controversies from time to time respecting the removal of tho seat of Government. §1219. Nor can the cession be justly an object of jealousy to any state ; or in the slightest degree impair its sovereignty. The Ceded district is of a very narrow extent ; and it rests in the option of the state, whether it shall be made or not. There can be little doubt that the inhabitants composing it would receive with thankfulness such a blesbing, since their own importance would be thereby increased, their interests be subserved, and tbeir rights be under the immediate protection of the representatives of the whole union. It is not improbable that an occurrence, at the very . close of the revolutionary war, had a great effect in introducing this provision into the Constitution. At the period alluded to, the Congress, then sitting at Philadelphia, was surrounded and insulted by a small but insolent body of mutineers of the Continental army. Congress applied! to the executive antborify of Pennsylvania for defence; but, under the ill conceived Constitution of the State at that time, the executive power was vested in a council consisting of 13 members, and they possessed or exhibited so little energy, and such apparent intimidation, that Congress indignantly removed to New Jersey, whose inhabitants welcomed them with promises of defending them. Congress remained for some time at Princetown without being again insulted, till, for the sake of greater convenience, they adjourned to Annapolis.* The general dissatisfaction with the proceedings of Pennsylvania, and the degrading spectacle of a fugitive Congress, were sufficiently (striking to produce this temedy. Indeed, if such a leßson coold have been lost upon the people, it would have been as humiliating to their intelligence as it would have been offensive to tbeir honor. - * * * §1222. The seat of Government has now, for more than thirty years.t been permanently fixed on the river Potomac, on a, tract often miles square, ceded by the States of Virginia and Maryland. It Was selected by that great man, the boast of all America, the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of Lub countrymen. It boars his name ; it is the monument of his fame and wisdom., May it be for ever con- ; secrated to its present noble purpose, Capitoli immobile saxum!" The unremovable rock of the oapilal ! I firmly believe that the establishment of a small " federal territory," by whatever name it may be designated, which should include the city of Wellington and its immediate neighborhood, would afford the greatest possible security against any further proposals to remove the seat of Government to Dunedin, Christchurch, or Auckland, whether temporarily or permanently, and' also against any further attempt or wish to dissolve the unity of the colony. If you should think fit to publish the above extracts from Judge Story's standard work on the United Stater, I will spare your space by taking another opportunity of examining bow far his arguments may be allowed to apply to the case of New Zealand, and bow such an institution would probably benefit every part of it, and especially Wellington itself. --•>■' l need hardly say that I think it out of ' ppce for the " Otago Guardian" to dictate in what particular spot the people of this provinoe should place the seat of their own Government' in case of the proposed change. My own individual opinion would be in favor of a . more central site than Wanganui, somewhere about the Gorge of the Manawatu. — I am,&c,

S. Jebhingham Wakbfibld, Glehbervie Terrace, 13th December .

♦Capital of Maryland, although Baltimore is the largest commercial city of that State ; just as Albany, 'and not New York, ia the seat of Government of New York State.

tlbafc it, from mm date previous to 1803.