The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1805-05-21
I1e G:s;:s:.:sr.
RICHMOND. MAr 81. 1905.
COMMUNICATION.


letters written by Mr.. Elliott Of Vermont, to
his conftituents. The game Of fat and loaf
which this gentleman has heen playing, will un.
Queitionaby leflen his reputation as a politici-
IN ard the malignant fpirit by which he is e.
Violently influenced, ought to dirniniih our ref
pect for him as n n.an.-Spited with thofe mem.
hers of congrefs whole excellence be eauno. reach
he has given himfelf up to envy and iealoufy
and would willingly draw into the vortex OF
his unhappy pailions, every citizen of the fnial-
Ter ftatcs. Fortunately however for the prof.
perity of the union, every recent political e.
vent has proven, that fpirit OF maenanimity
pervades thote fates, which the mifdirected
talents ola thoufand Buffers and Elliotts car
never flake.
| In one of the letters alluded TO, the follow.
ing remark is made. In forming the conIti.
"tution, immenfe facr6ces of weight and pow.
er were made by the fmall ftates and none
at all by the large itates." This oh.
iervation is drawn from the writer, in that part
of his epitle in which he feems to conceive
that the determination in baoting for Pre6den,
and Vice preiident, was calculated to i'm pair the
Influence of the fmalI ftates. Upon this fub.
ljeef, enough has been faid l,all therefore on.
! ly take view of the facriflces which were made
by the large ttates in the litutiou of the Re.
nate, to the UNREASONABLE ieaIoufies of the fmalI
ones and which, 70 far as they extend to the
treaty-making power are intellectually inpor-
tant, tincc it bellows upon this branch and the
Prefident, the executive right of legilation.-
1t has been remarked by an intelligent politici.
an, that the election of the PRECEDENT by rum
bers and not by itates, was intended as check
upon this coucei1ion. But how has this chez K
operated in practice? With fsderaiprefidents,
1t has been mere nullity. The frft, and great
eft of thofe, Ia character OF whom I fi,all
never fpeak but with veneration & refpeGt, al
tho differed very widely from him on political
fubieGs.l declared in the caf, of the Rri,irh
Treaty that be quoula not Aebar. from the adj
Uie, Of tie nnate.-I will here ufe the language OF
a friend, who, lamenting this example, declared
that by II, the preiident had transferred his
Responsibility from the nation to the Senate ;
and had made the fmallett fate in the union,
pofIefng but three votes in the election of Pre-
iident, as important in influencing his conduct,
as Virginia, which had twenty-one.-Such a
fuhftitution of fenatorial maiorities for the
will of the nation, is fymptomatic of violent
antipathy to republican principles becauie if
iubfitutes the diplomatic agents of fovereien-
ties, for popular influence-becaufe it prefers
a combination with individuals not ieletted by
an equal national El71-4ge, to a due refponfbii-
ity TO his confituents-and becanfe it inflitfs
mortal wound upon the contribution, BY en-
larging its mott friehtfu feature into perfect
caricature, intead of foftening its uglineis by
exerting the meditated check.
In vain do we boat of our afcendancy in the
houfe freprefentatives-when bill has receiv-
ed the juft weight which we can there throw
into the fcale, it marches up to the fenate, and
its progrefs is inftantly impedcd. Away with
your nominal advantage exclaims the fenator
from Delaware. What care for your boat
ed acres and population You have had a mo-
mentary CLEAN of power, but it has vaniihed
Ike phantom-here we meet youn,an to man i!
What has been here faid, is only to corre9
MIR. Elliott. Fortunately as the contribution
has distributed power TO the fnal Gates, am
content. Yet never could reconcile the inco-
herent reiuIt of the deliberations of the conven-
ton. If it were correct to give us a reprefen-
tation in proportion to numbers in one branch
Of the national Legislature, it was unqueffionaby
abflrd 70 counterae it completely and efe6tu-
| ally in the other.