Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1805-09-11

/ The Pennsylvania convention OF i776,
copied nothing from the Erghsh govern
mept. 1t formed constitution on the pa
sis of honesty. The defect. ss have Al
ready said Of that coBstittfion, was the
lprecipi,ancy to which the legislatures
4 might be subject in cnaeling laws. All
the members OF that legislature establist-
led by that consultation, satin one cham
Der and debated in one body, and thus sub
je6led them 10 precipitancy. Blu, this pre-.
Icipitancy was provided aga'ns', but not ct.
lfecfuaiiy. The constitution ordered that
the laws, before being finally enacted,
should be published for public considsratt.
on. But as no given time was fixed for
that consideration, npr any means for coll
iecting its'effect, nor were there then any
public news papers in The state bot what
were printed in Philadelphia, the .proyisi
on did not reach the irtcn ion of IL, and
thus good and wise intention sunk into
mere form, which is generally the case,
when the means are not adequate 10 the
end
The ground work, however. of.that con-
sti,ution was good, and deserves to be re-
sorted to. Every thing tina, Franklin was
concerned in producing merits attention.
tie was the wise aud benevolent friend OF
man. Riches and honors made no alter
alton in his principles or his manners.
| The CONSTITUTION of 70 was coniormable
to the Declaration OF Independence and
The declaration Of rights, which the present
constitution is not for it makes artificial
Distinctions among men in The nigh of suf-
fragc, which The principles of equity know
nothing Of; neither is IT consistent with
soend policy We every day see the rich
,hcccming poor, and those who were poor
bcfore becoming k.ches, The refore,
! having no stability. cannot and ought no,
20 b. made criterion Of rights. Mans
man in every condition of lie, and the va
rie,ies OF fortune and misfortune a,e open
to all.
Had the number OF representatives IN
the legislature, established by that consti-
tuition, been encrcased, and instead of their
sitting together ia one chamber and debat
ing and voting all at one time, TO have di-
vided them by lot into two equal paris and
70 have sat IN separate chambers, he al,
vantage would have been, that one half
By not being entaDgled in the FIRST debate
nor having committed itself by voting
would be silently possessed cf he acet,-
meats, tor and against, of the foriner bart
and be III a calm condi,ion 10 re view the
whole. Ard instead Of one chamber, or
one house, or by whatever name they may
be called, ncgatiyihg the vote of the other.
which IS now the case, and which admits
cl inconsistencies even 10 absurdities, 10
hsve added the votes OF both chambers to-
ge,her and the IN jority Of the whole to be
the hnaI decision. There would be reason
in this but there is none in The pressnt
rode he mstarce ,ba, occurred mthe
Pennsylvania senate in he year 500 or
the billfar choosing electors, Where a small
maJoftY III that house CONTRIBUTED and ne
ig%used large majority ~ the o,her house.
shews the aosufdity Of such a DIVISION Of
/ legislative power.
TO know If any theory or position be
true or RATIONAL in prael'cc, tho method is,
to carry It to It's grea.ess extent !; il it be
not true upon the whole, or be absurd, i, IS
so IN al its parts however small. For in
stance
II one house consists Of two hundred
members aud he other Of fifty, which il
about The proportion they are in some of
/ he states, and if proposed law be CARR
ed IN the affirmative I'D the larger house
With only one dissenting voice. and be ne
ga,ived in The smaller 5ouse by majority
OF one, the event will be, that twenty -seyen
control and govern two hundred and tweu
/ ~ three, which IS too Absurd even for al
lgument, and totally inconsistent with the
principles of Representative government,
which know no difference in the value and
limPortance its members bn, what arises
from their virtues and talents, and not at
all from the name Of The house or chamber
they sit in,
AS the practice Of a smaller number me-
gativing greater is no, founded on reason
we must look for It's origin in some Other
cause.
| The americans have copied il from En-
gland, and It was brought ioto E0glpnd BY
the Norman conqneror and is derived from
the ANCIENT French practice OF voting by
ORDERS, of which they counted three me
efer8y Chat is Roman caiholic cistgy) The
nobicsse Chose who had liiles) and he Hers
rfnf, or third estate which includedall " no
were NOT of fne of The fxy =, foronsr f.r<t..r..