Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1812-02-08
VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE.

4 Ar JGs Al
/ die. 70 the Preamble and Resolutions, on ff
sub;ect oycthe right Of the Stare LeSgislaturf
10 instruct their Senators in me Lob
gress of tie United States.
CONFINED.
Instances also are ON record OF the delbd
rate formal acknowledgement OF the right
instruction by the House Of Commons ltseN
especially in old times. Thus the common
hesitatea to grant supplies to King Edwar
iii. till they had The consent of'then' coastifI
EMS, and desired that new parilamen
might be summoned, which might
hrehared with authority from their constifu
ents. Passing by other ancient precedentI
one more instance shall be added, occurring
in modern times, in lhe purest era. OF tile
English constitution, the reign OF Wa
liam III. of an acknowledgement by the Es-
glish commons, Gin substance at least, II not
in terms) Of their absolute dehenaence on Their
constituents it will be found in the propos-
ed remon STRANGE Of the commons, on the &C.
casion of the king refusing his assent to the
bill ior free and impartial proceedings IN par
liainent. Moreover, we are informed by au-
thentic history, that formerly Z" when the
commons gave their answer touching the sub
sidy demanded for the wars, they desired leave
to return into the country, to conttr with their
nsigh6ors :" and again, that the commons
Gften refused to agree TO propositions from
the court, for this reason only, that they could
not, Till ihev zrent home and consulted qvith
their constituents"
[" Instructions (saysa member Of the House
of Commons) ought to be followed lmthcitly
after the member has respectfully given his
constituents his ohiion of them: Far be it
from me TO o13hese my judgment to that Of
5000 ofmy ftNo7y citizens. >" The practice
says another) of consulting our constituents
was good. wish it was continued. We
can discharge our duty no better, than III fol-
lozving the direction Of those 7vho sent us hi
Their. Uhat the heofle chuse is right, because
then chase ut we've an endless LABOR to
collect a catalogue of illustrious statesmen,
the wisest and best England ever saw, who
have from time to time, publicly subscribed
to these opinions but 1t were impossible not
to single out the name OF Russel, who is par
ticularly recorded to have acceded to the SEN
tlment last quoted
Without referring to the minor political au-
thors, without number, as they are without
fame, who have maintained these positions
(quoted from one of them)--" that the people
have right to instruct their representatives
that no man ought to be chosen that will not
receive INSTRUCT ns-that the people under
stand enough of the interests OF the country
to give general Observation-Disclosures 1t was the
custom formerly tn instruct all the nenlbcrs,
and the nature of deputation sheWs that the
custom was well grounded''-it is proper to
mention, that the great constitutional lawyer
Coke, though he fourished in the days of
Queen Elizabeth, (whose attorney general he
was) when prerogatlve was stretched to Its
uttermost bounds-and Sydney, the martyr of
freedom and republicanism, concur on this
head,-Coke says I" it is the custom Of far
Lament, when any new device is moved for on
the kings behalf, for his aid, and the like,
that the commons may answer, they dare not
agree to it without conference zoi5h their cou7s-
ties'' And Sydney (while he admits that the
constituents cannot call the representatives to
account, otherwise than by not re-eiecting
them, if they dlSapproye their conducD main
tains--" that members derive their power
from those that chuse them--that those who
give power, donot give an unreserved pow
many members, i'll all ages, and s@me-
times the whole body Of the commons have re-
fused to vote, Kill they consulted q0iSh those
7vho sent thea.-that-the houses haze often ad-
iofuned to gfUe them time to do so-and Ii
this were done more frequently, or if cities,
towns and counties had on some occasions gl-
ven instructions to their deputies, matters
would probably have gone better in parlia-
men, that they have done" In strict union
with these opinions ofSydney, are the inieren-
ces deducibIe from all the principles of go
maintained and established, con-
corning the nature of political trusts, by the a
postle of truth and liberty, the immortal Locke.
Blackstone indeed dissents-he denies the
right of the constituent to instruct the repre-
but while the praise OF classic and
Of illegal learning is universally accorded him,