necessity of the case, imposed upon them the task of overlooking their constitutional limits. But is not the fact an alarming proof of the dangers resulting from a government which does not possess regular powers commensurate to its objects?

"1

Mr. Horace Gray, now an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in an elaborate review of the Dred Scott case in the Monthly Law Reporter of June, 1857, says, "The power of the Congress of the Confederation to pass the Ordinance (of 1787) and to provide for the admission of new States into the Confederacy, having been doubted, the following clause was introduced into the Constitution: New States may be admitted by the Congress into the Union, but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, &c. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territories and other property belonging to the United States," &c.

Citations of other authorities, showing the want of power in the old Congress to legislate effectively for the territories, and the purpose of the framers of the Constitution of the United States to confer upon the government of the Union that necessary authority, might easily be multiplied. But enough has been said for the present purpose of calling attention to the subject. And it may be added that although the Ordinance was passed without a shadow of constitutional authority, yet it fully accomplished its beneficent design, which has never been better described than by Webster. "It fixed," said the great orator and statesman, "forever the character of the population in the vast region northwest of the Ohio, by excluding from them involuntary servitude. It imposed on the soil itself, while it was yet a wilderness, an incapacity to sustain any other than freemen. It laid an interdict against personal servitude, in original com

1 Hamilton's Works (Lodge's ed.), Vol. IX., p. 231.

pact, not only deeper than all local law, but deeper also than all local institutions."1

It may not be without use to say, by way of a note to what goes before, as tending further to show the contemporary opinion of the invalidity of the Ordinance as a legal enactment, that the first Congress of the United States under the Constitution, at its first session passed an act, the express purpose of which, as declared in the preamble, was that the Ordinance of 1787 should continue to have full effect.

1 Webster's Works, Vol. III., pp. 264, 278.

ACTION OF THE COUNCIL.

DEATH OF JOSEPH SARGENT, M.D.

AT a meeting held October 20, 1888, the President, STEPHEN SALISBURY, offered resolutions of respect, and said:

It is my sad duty to call the attention of the Council to the death of Dr. Joseph Sargent, which occurred Oct. 13. Dr. Sargent was elected a member of our Society in October, 1860, and three years later he became a member of the Council, and has served the Society in that office since that time. Of the strong interest that he felt in all that concerned the American Antiquarian Society I do not need to remind you, for you yourselves are cognizant of it. The same fidelity he displayed in the discharge of his many professional and business obligations, he showed in full measure in the various societies and institutions with which he was connected. Dr. Sargent took especial delight in literature, and, an accomplished linguist and a writer of very graceful expression, he found in our Society and its associations what was most congenial to his refined and cultivated mind. style as a writer was clear and terse. His easy familiarity with the Latin gave to all his productions a grace and directness which, united with a facility of composition and a quick mental process, caused him to be frequently called upon for literary service. He made the report of the Council in 1865, on "The Medical Department of the U. S. Army during the War of the Rebellion," a subject which his own observations in the field and in the hospital, during a portion of the war, made of great value to history. In

His

April, 1874, he made the report for the Council, choosing for his theme "The Angel of Bethesda" of Cotton Mather, which he considered from a medical point of view. This essay also attracted much attention. In April, 1878, he made his last report for the Council, on "the completion of the Library extension and the possible future of the Society." His feeling tribute to the memory of his friend the Hon. Henry Chapin, October 15, 1878, to the memory of our late President, Stephen Salisbury, in October, 1884, and to the memory of Dr. Rufus Woodward, in April, 1886, were among the more formal writings of our associate, published in our proceedings. It is fitting that our sentiments should find expression, and I offer for your consideration the following resolutions :

Resolved: That in the death of Dr. Joseph Sargent, the Council of the American Antiquarian Society have lost an associate whose character and attainments qualified him, in an unusual degree, for the position which he has filled as an officer of this society, while his gifts of mind and heart endeared him to all the members of this board.

Resolved: That we desire to bear in mind that Dr. Sargent was always faithful to his obligations towards the society, and that we have observed the same punctilious service in his action as officer of other institutions with which he has been connected.

Resolved: That we recognize in Dr. Sargent to a remarkable degree that rare quality of mind which enabled him to consider both sides of a proposition, and that generosity of disposition which led him to endeavor to do justice to all, as nearly as imperfect human judgment would allow.

Resolved: That the Council feel deeply the loss of a friend ever ready to sympathize with others in their griefs, and quick to suggest consolation.

Hon. JOHN D. WASHBURN seconded the resolutions, and said:

Mr. President:-Many institutions of business or finance have, during the past week, paid and published their tributes to the memory of Dr. Sargent, their promoter, advocate or