Western Sun & General Advertiser, Volume 17, Number 2, Vincennes, Knox County, 25 February 1826 — Page 1

WESTEKN SIM & GENEKAL ABVERHSEK

BY ELIHU STOUT. VINCENNES, (1ND.) SATURDAY, FEBKUARY 25, 1826. Vol. 17 No. S.

THE WESTERN SUN, IS published at Two Dollars and yirTY cents, for Fifty. Two J'umbersy which may be discharged by the payment of TWO DOLLARS at the time of Subscription. Payment in advance being the mutual interest of both parties, that mode is solicited. A failure to notify a wish to discontinue at the expiration of the time subscribed for, will be considered a new engagement. No subscriber at liberty to discontinue until all arrearages are paid. Subscribers must pay the postage of their papers sent by mail. Letters by mail to the Editor on business must be paid, or they will not be attended to. Advertisements inserted on the customary terms. J Persons sending Advertisements, must specify the number of times they wish them inserted, or they will be continued until ordered out, and must be paid for accordingly. CONGRESS in senate, Jan. 19. Mr Benton, from me select committee, to vhicli was referred the several resolutions proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States. ( Continued from last ivck ) But what is this objection, this cry of violence which is raised again u the people ? Is it any tiling more than heated discussion, boldne-s in speaking and writing, and some casual affays between individ

uals. su:h as evc;y other election produ- i ces ? Is not this the idea of popular vio-

letice a'nong u ? And Tub this wholesome animation be checked, u djr the notion of preventing civ'n wars ami popular scdi'i ? Is excitements of this kind dangcious to republics ? On the contiary is it not necessary to their existence ? Are not talents dcvflmcd, new ideas struck out, use'ul designs conceived, grat enterpiizes achi- ved, and iib -ny itself preserved, by the agitath n, the collision, the active rivalry, ft ai,i.(atcd competitions of the whole body of the citizens ? The sleep of the spirit is as dangerous to republics as it is auspicious to monarchies, St it is only in the latter that it should be the policy of the government to reduce the people to the quietude of machines. Instead, then, of yielding to the force of this objection, this supposed excitement of the people, it should be hailed as one of the chief advantages to be

fjeried from the exercise of the direct

vote. It should be looked to as ue identical circumstance which is to infuse new life into the election, reanimate the voters, and encourage the real people to attend the polls, and to discharge with becoming p'ide, that exalted privilege of freemen, which is now so much neglected. Finally, who are this fieoile who are not to be trusted with a direct vote; whose ignorance, violence, Sc corruption, arc so much dreaded ? Wherein do they differ from those who make the objection ? Are they not of the same order of beings, possessed of the same capacities, nearly or quite as well informed, more deeply interested in the welfare of their country, and infinitely further removed from the operation of indirect causes : Arc they not, in fact, the identical persons who are greeted with the appellation of Sovereign, whose will is admitted to be the source of all power, and whoc happiness is proclaimed to be the end of all

government? 'I hen, with what face can we turn upon these people, and tell them that thev arc incapable of exercising the only attribute of sovereignty which they have ever claimed that of election ? The existence of slavery in some parts of the confederation is supposed by some, to present an insuperable obstacle to the plan of amendment proposed by the committee In the opinion of these persons, the operation of the direct vote will involve the loss of the qualified votes which they now give for their black population.

Such wouid undoubtedly be the effect, if

"the plan of the committee was the same which it was understood by many to be, apian of consolidation, in which all the votes of all the states were to be collected into one general return, and the election decreed to him who had a majority of the whole, uch a plan would work an injury not only to the slave holding states, but in a greater or less degree, to almost every state in the Union ; for the qualifications of vo'.cts differing in each, some prescribing a teehold possession, some the payment of a tax, some a residence of a few months, others of a year, and others ugatn the privilege of universal suffrage ; it would thence result that the same mass

of population would yield, in different states, a very unequal number of votes. But the plan of the committee is not one of consolidation ; it disturbs no principle of relative weight among the states now

fixed in the constitution; each will give , the same number of presidential votes, ; with, or without the amendment. The states will be divided into districts, in the same manner as if for the choice of electors. The qualified voters will then vote for a president and vice president, instead of voting for an elector, and the persons having the highest number of votes for these offices, respectively, will be considered as elected in the distlict, and entitled to count one vote. To the result, it will be wholly immaterial whether a district containing a given number of souls, say 40,000, shall possess 1000 or 5v 00 qualified voters. The slate will have its number of presidential votes Sc the people of each distiiet will j;ive each ore vote according to their own sense of their O own interest. The formation of tlx districts, and the qualifications nf i he voters, and the regula'i -ns of the elections, powders of essential importance to t! e sta'es, and most capable of bcinij pioj iiy exercised by them, are left to the blaus respectively. Thus, the plan of t.c committee avoids all questions growing.otit of the existence of slavery in some states, the various qualification of voters in others, and presents not a ingle objection, which would not apply with equal force to the choice of electors by districts. Considering these several objections as effectually disposed ol, thcio sull remains ; an argument to be answered, which demands from all the IViends of our picsent ; forms of government, the most rcspe.ciiul ! anel deliberate consideration. It is one ; which derives itself from a sacred rega: d ' for the rights of. the atad.s, and from an apprehension that the committee's plan el amendment will tend to produce thai con- ! solidation of this league ot republics, ; which every fiiend of libeily mustdepiceate and oppose It such was indeed to he the effect of their amendment ; and the committee couid be made sensible it, they v.ou.d be the firt to cqiposeVvV!.?t : plan of election which they aie now . re-, commending with so nr.ich e : rnesincs.

far from locking w ith m that jealous s;.i:it oi s'..l;

live longer in a league of Reiubhcs than in a Refmblic one and indivisible.

gress, and the executive officers, arc nothing but agents for the teal sovertirns.

Reason and history support this proposi-, confined to the exercise of dclei-ated now.

tion. In the first place, a is more difficult j ers, and become meie nsurpeis, it iney to overcome many governments, acting presume to exercise the pjvicis of sove-togclher-for a common cause, than it rcignty. From these positions, it results, would be to overturn a sin gie government that these agents may lose a pan of their possessed of their united territories, ! pow ers, not only w ithe m tiinmdshii g the

strength, and resouiccs. The history of; sovereignty of a Scte, but, m icaliiy, to

ignant example j produce the effect ol increasing that so-

our own revolution u a pregn;

of this truth. In the next place, the con-

eluet of the capital, m a gieat nation, cl-

vcrcignty by so much as is taken freni the servants and icstotid to the master.

ten decides the fate of the nation itself. This is beiicved jo be the exact case Thus we have seen in history, that v. hoc- which is now piescnttd for eieciskn in ver had Uomc, had the Empire, and, in the point of objection fust stated The

our own day, that whoever had Faris, had j state Legislatures now pr ssess the tight Ftui.cu Bui in a league of re-publics, the t to say, whether electors shall be chosen

by districts, or bv a general ticket; and

:nc:ie;;ce u,:on

,1

UOiS.

S a

s which

oi cn-

si;!J'it of

v.cn.iiy oi oetrg ies--juerou-dy chc: i ' r-

The pi esc. .

feels alarm at the

croachment, thev re

the hani.l omen

pectfuiiy ti cur ed, gene and caulud) kept alive

tion of stale governments, suci. as the y left themselves whur they gave up a past ! of their powers to compose this federal ! govei nmcnt, is not only necessaiy to ihe well being of the people within those ; states, but is indispensable to the con'in- ; nation of the federal government itsi If. : If they are broken down, or materially! weakened, the federal government musi j cease to he what it is, must be broken j down also, and recompiled under some ; new and infinitely stronger form. In ail ; its operations in defence of liberty, and in j all its contests with foreign powers, the i governments of the states can give the i most efficient aid to the government of j the confederation; & if this latter should ;

undertake any thing against the dves, liberties, or propeity of individuals, the state governments alone are competent to check the encroachment, and give "pro tection to the rights of the citizen, lficy arc the best directors of all the powers which were reserved to the states in the convention of 1 787, and if the time shall ever come when, these reserved powers shall fall into the hands of the fedcial government, and be exercised bv members

of congress drawn from all the stales, the : fate of the weaker members and smaller sections of the confederation may be read j in the history of all the confederacies which ancient or modern times have pro I ciuccd : tyranny and oppicssion on the ; part of the strong; misery and degrada1 tion on the part of the weak ; burthens ; unequally imposed, benefits unequally di vided ; the most unjust decrees enforced with arms and penalties I Such is the frightful picture w hich the history of all ; such confederacies present, and from which this, in its turn, could expect no exemption. The dtad of these evils , should alone be sufficient to make us guard the rights of the states with jealous : care, k mr.lniain with inflexible firmness ; that equilcbrium of power which was adjusted between them and the federal government, at the establishment of the present constitution. But a consideration of still higher and more imneii'ms import, demands the same policy. That consideration is this, that Liberty itself, ivi'!

coiruption, cowardice, or treason of the Metio oiitan Cay, comd net i;ffect the f-afctv of inc. rtrr.etcr men bcrs of the cenfedciasion. 'i he mother capital might open her gates to .. iwicign ci.cmy, or bend hei neck to the kc of a domestic master, but olhei o.ivs vveuld tenia in, capitals of powetlui slates, the xats of organized governments, niisii esses of aimics, loivs, and a'senals, anil deriving supplies hum a :tguiar system of revenue. To li.csc the li ieniis ot liheny ccukl icsort, and arm again for the renewal oi the contest, instead ol flying to a foreign shore to die in despair. Biutusar.d Cato need not to have fallen upon their swoids il they had had such points of retreat ; the revo lutions in Fans might not have lost the republic, nor its taptuie the Fmpiie, if the Ciirvndista in '93, and the wrecks of the armies in 1314, could have found in the departments oi the Rhone and ihe Loire, a Virginia or a Xeiv York, to have received and sustained the faithful fiiends of Fiance. Thus deepiy impressed with ihe evils of consolidation, ai d looking to the picservation of the slate governments as equally neecr.sary to the well beii g of their own citizens, and to the perpctua'ion oi the general iiheitv, it cannot he sitnposed that ihe committee have wittingly proposed any thing which lend? to pioduce i tic ovil which they deprecate with so ir uch zeal and sincerity. Still il is the opinion of some, thai the rights of the states will be endar.e.rcd by toe adoption ol the committee's plan ci amendment the committee tiiink otherwise; here then, is a difference betw een those who have a common object in view, anel to deei 'c it, ihe poins in issu must be lai.iy

stai

b'islintr

' 9

a

,i .... i

lS li i C

examine c

some of them, without est,

clear right, cxeicise the piiwieere of

chcosing the electors thenches. By ihe proposed amendn.et t, it is cdmiued, as ibjtcttd, that these several powers will be taken from the hgisla'uie, oi el a uniform mode of vo'ii.g bv distiicts will be substi utcd, which they cannot charge. But, so far from admitting that tl c soveriignty of the Sta'v ioses ai y lhii-ir by this operation, the dicct rev en c is n aintair.ed ; the servants i nly beirg the losers, while the rcv.i -ovenign gain For, it is not to b.- q.. e-'ior.ed, but that the district system gsves t! r ftirtrst piay to eveiy voter, ai d the fullest effect to every vote; nor can it be eenicd that it e.nfoimsto th.e it. ten . . ihe p;ise, t constitution, which, i. gM ' an inelepc-n'lei.t vote to evei y elector, iiiN'eado' a consolidated vote to he college of est etc: s. governed by a v aji i'y, m; n fcsth htir ded that each n:ss of eifz .s. i'led to choose one e ic'or, sh( u d have fie ?ight of disposiiig of one vote aicoidii g 'oihtir own sense of iht'v own interest I i a fact, of histoti al l etoneiy, that the general ticket pi u o! t lee;: n has beeu ,?d.pted in some sta'es for tie c.oweii jutposc of co:.tio;mg this intention d 'he constitution; aid for th.e purpose of stbjecting the vvtoker strtif.r.s of tht state to the policy ot the slit-i-i.ei ; ilu. giving, on a smaller scale, an'i in c'.c. ; ce to counties and stale divisions, n c..mple of tl.ai tendency el ?' e ih t g tu oppies the weak, which i ot.e ot the main objections to the consolidation of these confederated states

. (j (liov.: o"

i

I'i .i c.'ii'.'r-, ij eiK'nrc o . I ." e '. ! t i . J .;"- j la ive, tiie i-eneieii ticket, and thedisliict '

modes ot election. 2d. In the supposed diminution of the power of the Suae in ceucenti uting her slti.g'Ji in those elections. 3d In the supposed tendency of the di

rect vote towatds the consolidation of all !

the oV.i.cs.

The obiection, that the. estal lishmcnt

1 r . j , .

I " M.. yv. H'i'Viv in LiVV 111 II U lllOllllllfj

will trench upon the tights ol the Sdes cannot be admitted. Unifamvy. as - tic h, cann-t be an evil: ami, ii it was. the infliction of it could not be avoided bv tejecting the comn itte: 's plan i f amendment For, ifunift imiiy by di-.trie's is not established by the lit ( eos cnt of the states, uniformity by gcu a' title or legisiative ballot, n.ut be impede tt iy necessity. Fill, when the lareri s;a.ts eonsoli tale their votes to overwhelm the small one, those, in their iun, must con-

rM!-i- Ivpinrr f Up t t ml c rf 4 1 r r 1 i rt

.11 .i cenlt ::te 1 1 i t n own si nTlh to tesist tl em. the ques'.ion is plainly presented, w helhcr ... vaisnivui. . .. . ' ...r.... . u A lew states mav, netseveie for rme

e'.e.y dinwiiei 111 it.uiiy iu any eueiwucu

iv, p.tseveie lor f-me

time, in what they believe to he thefaitst system ; but, when they sec the un.iv of

j action which ottcr derive f om the ocn-

menl upon the ngius ol the states, or eon tain any of those tendencies tpvvatdscon

cl'fliiiiin ti IiicK lirn'r lirt, i ,T rnt ni tri I

' 1 ' tll twl'lt 'ilirl ... .-.x r A v- . t 1

them. But, before proceeding to answer . , , , . . r Hon, they v. u not, and, vvnh due setratd thii question, it is necessary lo fix pie- . , . 3 ' ' lu , . , j . ',, to thrir own s tv, ti-ev cannot, reit the else ideas to several terms which arc the i r ., . .. , , ,; :,u- v. . i tcmpiation ot todow iner t' t- st.e r!. n very hincrcs of ihe question itself. " state , TT 1 . . . . . o . . k,.., ; Hence, unformvy be n v si d t v ne-

7 ' I 'It jf. 7r f fit fi I II l J MI r Alliitr- . I f "

I i tj 0 ye w e- l J J m w r x, . w . v V f J

the terms leferred to. Iiy some, who use

these terms, the General shscjnbly of the state is considcied as the State itself, possessed ot all its rights and sovereign powers ; by others, the Executive officers of tlie state govcinment, arc held to be the 67are, and to lavc the possession during their continuance in office, of the rights and sovereignty of the State ; byothers again, tiie senate: s and representatives in congress frcm a state, arc supposed to represent the sovereignly of the stale itself ; and to hold in ihcir banc's, for the time being, the same high rights and sovcrcig7i powers All these opinions are held to be erroneous, and, without accumulating authorities and quotations, and may be laid down in brief and plain language, that the Qualfi(d Voters of a State, to the exclusion of the Geneial Assembly, the Executive officers, and the Members of Congress, constitute the Sovereignty of th.e State, and hold its rights in their hands. Who these qualified voters shall be, depends upon themselves, through their representatives in convention, or general assembly, to say ; but whosoever they maybe, whether fiechol ders, householders, or holtleis of no propuy at all, ihey hold in their hands the lights and sovereignty of the State, and all the public officers are nothing more than their servants. The members of the general assembly, the members of con-

cessity, if it is not : d p'cdfuu- eho'c e,

with this grr-al ( iff. ; rnce, that h fi bt uniformity will delive- up the votes the state, to the active m i atrers in the r n-

i eral assemblies, whi c the lat ci vou-d

leave them in H e hi d o' the real sovcleigns, the quahficd o is f the wfn, e state. Il cim ha dlv, b. said iiat the sta'es would have a choice, when the r piien would be between fall it g into tl e $ci. al ticket system, and subn.ii'ing to a matctial diminution of their relative weight in the election. Theqms'ion, thei mtns upon the relativ e adv at 'oi.es of the g( neal ticket ai d (! stpc mr des of votii g ; ene or the other- (J which must soon univeriaMy prcvai ; ?nd it matters i.otl ing to the sovcieigniy of the state, whether one shall be established by the ccnstituiion, or the other impeded by necessi v ; and, as the w hole point f this objection is confined to the meie right of cheice, and of changing the Msten s from time to time, it results that this right can be of no vilue where choice is impossible, and change not desirable. 2 The secor d point in the objection is, 'he supposed diminution of the powc of the State in that tendency to scatter the votes which the ditrict system is admitted to possess. Admitting that a unity of its votes may be desiiable to a state ; that uni y wi" bo produced by the district system, as often