Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-04-13

dc' declares, that any person persons who shall
eec' or establish or cause be erected or cstab-
ns"eo' any government separate from, indcpcn-
don't OF, the government of Virginia. within the lin
ITS thereof, unless by act of the Legislature "sha
De adudged guilty OF, and subject to the pains Of
h'Sh Hscs0n The last clause of the act gives to
the Governor, Wit! the advice of Council, the power
OF calling out the militia, to suppress such unlawful
combinations II Mr.. Nicholas was, therefore, still
attorney General, we might calculate that the first
| Law oihcer OF the government, would advise the
Executive that this statute was violated, aud the
cnizens OF Richmond might expect an immediate
oragooning from the militia, and empen for
the reasonable meeting of Saturday night.
Dut to leave this jsstng, which is unworthy of the
SUBJECT 1t was seriously contended by both gentle
men, that the statute quoted, applied 10 the Meeting
o' Saturday. They both averred that pcaceabe
aSscmoage OF citizens, to deliberate on the defects
OIL tue Constitutions, and to debate the proprcty of
calling Convention, twas an attempt to establish
" government separate FROM, and independent OF,
the government OF Virginia. and consco ucnty that
alwho concurrcd in the objects If the ncetiny had
incurred the penalty of HIGH TREASON.
10 combat seriously, such an argument as this,
would be evincing the doubt and disrcspect of
the understanding OF our readers, as Mcssrs Ncho-
las and Leigh displayed towards the meeting an Sa-
turuay evening. Suffice it say, that if it be So
law oil the General Assembly is superior in authority
10 the Bill OF Rights, hch expressly recognises and
aihrns the right of the people to alter amend. or
aoolsh their Constitution. The Legislature is SUI
perof 10 the people, since without the consent of
the former, the latter even permitted Dcacc-
obly to assemble, and express themselves" The
sovereignty oi the people is mockery, md we have
already before we knew slipped into the doctrines
of the Holy Alliance" The Staunlon Converr-
ton IN 1916, was an assembly OF Traitors, and the
gentlemen who composed that respectable body
ought every one of them chapman johnson and
prnf ~ :,
c', since there is no Limitation pardon for rca SON.
but from the mercy and free grace OF the Sorereiyn
Legislature.
But the meaning of the statute referred to- is to-
tally different from this construction. The Lccsla-
turc of 1875 were placed as il related 10 time too
near the Revolution to have forgotten that al was
justified by, and turned alone on, the soycrepnty
OF the people. W. have heard the opinion s,usc
cd, that it produced by the desire manifested by
Kentucky, then part of Virginia, to separate fiom
her. Ia she after did, io,cl and have an in
dependent government. Virginia was willing to
crafty Kentucky i'll pcaceable and legitimate way,
nut shc did no; choose to be forced into il, by rebel
'on or to permit kentucky To erecta separate and
independent government while she was vet a COM
ponnnt part of Virginia, and before she wa, autho-
riscd by law.
But the law, even If enacted general primc-
ples,is good one An attempt To form 9separate
government is, and ought to be, treason. We only
protest against its application to pcaceable and
constitutional meeting of the people, not to estab-
iish separate and independent government, bu to
alter, amend, abolish the old one. Even if
the law had been formed for the very occasion OF
the Richmond meeting, every republican is prepared
to dcsp;se ito look upon it as high treason to the
people in the Legislature who passed it, and for
which every mothers Of them ought to have
been hanged.
For the general arguments of the opponents to "a
Convention, we refer to the speeches of Messrs Nj
ciroas and Leigh. They breathe nothing but dis
trust of the people" launching out into the ocean
OF uncertainty mischiefs " that weknow
not Of" and all the common place with which the
country has been familiar for the last forty years
They are the arguments in fact, which, if the
majority had acknowledged in &c. we should still
have been subjects of the House of Hanover