and breaking the road itself.  Some living near it might be disappointed that it did not pass through their lands and commit these acts of violence and waste from revenge or in the hope of giving it that direction, though for a short time.  Injuries of this kind have been committed and are still complained of on the road from Cumberland to the Ohio.  To accomplish this object Congress should have a right to pass laws to punish offenders wherever they may be found.  Jurisdiction over the road would not be sufficient, though it were exclusive.  It would seldom happen that the parties would be detected in the act.  They would generally commit it in the night and fly far off before the sun appeared.  The power to punish these culprits must therefore reach them wherever they go.  They must also be amenable to competent tribunals, Federal or State.  The power must likewise extend to another object not less essential or important than those already mentioned.  Experience has shown that the establishment of turnpikes, with gates and tolls and persons to collect the tolls, is the best expedient that can be adopted to defray the expense of these improvements and the repairs which they necessarily require.  Congress must therefore have power to make such an establishment and to support it by such regulations, with fines and penalties in the case of injuries, as may be competent to the purpose.  The right must extend to all those objects, or it will be utterly incompetent.  It is possessed and exercised by the States individually, and it must be possessed by the United States or the pretension must be abandoned.

Let it be further supposed that Congress, believing that they do possess the power, have passed an act for those purposes, under which commissioners have been appointed, who have begun the work.  They are met at the first farm on which they enter by the owner, who forbids them to trespass on his land.  They offer to buy it at a fair price or at twice or thrice its value.  He persists in his refusal.  Can they, on the principle recognized and acted on by all the State governments that in cases of this kind the obstinacy and perverseness of an individual must yield to the public welfare, summon a jury of upright and discreet men to condemn the land, value it, and compel the owner to receive the amount and to deliver it up to them?  I believe that very few would concur in the opinion that such a power exists.

The next object is to preserve these improvements from injury.  The locks of the canal are broken, the walls which sustained the road are pulled down, the bridges are broken, the road itself is plowed up, toll is refused to be paid, the gates of the canal or turnpike are forced.  The offenders are pursued, caught, and brought to trial.  Can they be punished?  The question of right must be decided on principle.  The culprits will avail themselves of every barrier that may serve to screen them from punishment.  They will plead that the law under which they stand arraigned is unconstitutional, and that question must be decided by the court, whether Federal or State, on a fair investigation of the powers vested in the General Government by the Constitution.  If the judges find that these powers have not been granted to Congress, the prisoners must be acquitted, and by their acquittal all claim to the right to establish such a system is at an end.