Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1802-10-25

would doubtlels endeavcr TO introduce e.
milar arrangements into the government
of his own tate, the PROPERTY of which
cannot be leis dear to him than that of the
unicn. His horefy then may be tefed
by this criterion: If he wifhes TO place
the Senate Of Virginia upon the fame
footing as the houle Of representatives, to
Eeduce their time of leryice to the fame
period, and to abol!a1 tie fyaem Of claH-
ing them; and if he wihes the judges Of
Virginia to hold their cf:ccs at the plea.
fure of ehe Legislature, ard to be elected
for a period Of years, We may then ven
ture TO pronounce thar be is mole weak
than wicked, for he las never been fuf-
peted Of harbouring fn'Aer dehgns "a
gaint the frength and permanency Of the
government of that fate. On the contra
ry, lhould it appear that he has wlfhed 60
widen the diainttion between the two
branches Of the legilatuse of Virginia,
and to place the judicial department. above
all dependence upon the Legislature, even
for law to pay their falaries, we hall
then be compelled to ieek lome ether mo-
tive than the public good TO account fer
fuch contrary views relative 10 the &C.
yernment Of the United STATES.
In the Notes on Virginia, Query XIII
and reply, will be found, in part, what
MIR. JefeIlon denominales the CAPITAL
DEFECTS CT the contit1ticn CT Virginia.
He makes many grievous complaints of the
contraction OF the Senate, as not efficient
ly aritfocratic, though the lenators are
cholsn fer four years. He is highly diff
p!ealed that the fensse ard tie electors of
the lenate do not cohaitu,e different in.
tereh from the ref of the community.
" Tie Senate, fays he, is, by its con.
f}itution loo homogeneous with the houle OF
delegates, being ehoien BY the fame elect
ors, a, the fame tire aad out CT The fame
/aJjeas, the choice falls OF coulie on men
Of tie Jane dl/tr;ftior. The purPole OF
eaablilhing different houfes is 10 introduce
The influence of diBs,ent interef5, CT DIFF
fereut principles. In (me of the Ameri-
can ftates, the delegates and fena,ors are
10 chofen, as that the fIA repreient the
tey/sns, and the fecond the trotert# of the
fate; but with Us 7ytaAb and zvJdom
have an equal chapce FOX adrsiflion into
both houfes. We do NOT, therefore, de-
rive from the lepaIation Of our legislature
into two houics, tho1e benets which pro-
Per eombAeatiSu Of principles is capable of
producing, ard thoie which alone can COM
Fenfa;e Tor the evils produced BY their dif-
lensions."
In all this there appears no fymptems
Of deGre "to reduce the time of fer
vice of the fsnators to the fame period
with the houie of representatives, nor
to "mtroduee he la~e Ibi,it that per-
uadfs the hzu<r beglf." he here con-
tends manfuliy fer permanent ieparation
Of the two orders Of /abjeRs, as he is
plcaled to term them; that the qveahby
may be represented by the fenase, and
the aoye by the houfc Of delegates; and
srieyes that 4vJfdow has an equal chance
with queaitb for adm l!ion into the lenate.+
He is even offended that thofe who are
fimply eo;}s without being evs4ltky fhould
be allowed to meet at the fame time and
place as thofe whom he wilhes to have
formed into t,ivIegea order, for the
puTpoie Of chulng their representatives,
becaufe he iays the choic- will neceaarily
fall on men Of the fame deicription.
How is all this to be accounted for, |
without involving conviction that Mr.. |
Iefferfon wilhes an energetic governmenr
for Virginia, while be is endcavouring to
relax and debilitate, and democratize and
deGroy thar of the United States 1t is
well known that the manner in which Pre-. |
Gdent Bonaparte became mater Of all the
republics of Europe, was by hra prefcrib-
ing to them amendments TO ;heir conHitu-