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4188. JUDICIARY (Federal), Sappers and miners.—[further continued].

This member of the Government
was at first considered as the most harmless and helpless of all its organs. But
it has proved that the power of declaring what
the law is, ad libitum, by sapping and mining,
slyly, and without alarm, the foundations of
the Constitution, can do what open force
would not dare to attempt.—
To Edward Livingston. Washington ed. vii, 404.
(M. 1825)