Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-12-09


currence Of the executive and legislative branch
es, and nomination by the executive alone: no
mination to Office is an executive junction; 70
give it to the legislature, as we do, Is VIOLA
ton Of the principle of the separation OF powers,
it swervcs the members from correctness ny
temptation to intrigue for Office themselves,
and to corrupt barter Of votes; and destroys
responsibility by dividing it among multitude.
By leaving nomination its proper place among
executive functions, the principle Of the distrl-
button of mower is preserved, and responsible.
ty weighs with its heaviest force on single
head The organization Of our county admi-
nistrations may be thought more difficult, but
follow principle, and the knot unties itself: di-
vide the counties into wards OF such size as that
every citizen can attend when called OF, and act
in person; ascribe to them the government OF
their wards in all things relating to themselves,
exclusively; justice chosen by themselves In
each, constable, military company, a pa.
trole, school, the care OF their own poor, OF
| the public roads, the choice OF one or more Ju'
rors to serve in some court, and the delivery,
| within their own wards Of their own votes for
all elective officers Of higher sphere, will relieve
the county administration Of nearly all its bu-
| siness, will have it better done, and by making
| every citizen al acting member OF the govern
esting to him, will attach him by his strongest
| feelings to the independence OF his country,
and lis republican constitution. The justices
thus chosen by every ward, would constitute
the county court, would do its judiciary busi-
ness, direct roads and bridges, levy county and
poor rates, and administer all the matters OF
| common interest to the whole county: these
wards, called townships, in New-England, are
the vital principle of their governments, and
| have proved themselves the wisest invention
ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect
exercise Of selfgovernment and tor its preser-
! vation We should thus marshall our govern.
ment into--l. The General Federal Republic,
for all concerns foreign and federal-2. That
Of the State, for what relates TO our own citl-
zens exclusively-3 The county republics, for
the duties and concerns of the y,-and 4.
The Ward Republics, for the small, and yet
numerous s, interesting concerns of the neigh
borhood; and in government, as well as in every
other business Of life, it is by division and sub
division alone, that all matters, great and small,
can be managed to perfection, and the whole is
cemented by giving TO every citizen personally
part in the administration of the public at
| fairs.
! The sum Of these amendments-l. general
| Suffrage. equal representation In the legis-
| lature-3. an executive chosen by the people
a Judges elective or amovable-5. justices, ju-
rors and sherifs elecrive-6. ward divisions,
and Z periodical amendments of the constitu-
| ton. have thrown out these, as loose heads
of amendment, for consideration and correc-
ton: and their object is TO secure self govern.
| men. by the republicanism Of our constitution,
as we'll as by the spirit Of the people; and it is
to nourish and Perpetuate that spirit. ! am
not among those who fear the people. They,
| and not the rich, are our dependence for CONT
nued freedom; and, to preserve their indepen-
Sence we must not let rulers load us with per-
petuai debt; we must make our election between
economy and liberty or profusion and serUitude-If
we run into such debts that we must be taxed
| in our meat and in our drink, in our necessa-
| ries and Our comforts, In our labors and our
| amusements, for our callings and our creeds,
as the people of England are, our people, like
them, must come TO labor Is hours in 81, give
the earnings of is of these to the government
for their debts and daily expences and the 9th
being insufficient to afford us bread, we must
live as they now do, on, oatmeal and potatoes;
have no time to think, no means Of calling the
mismanagers to account, but be glad to obtain
subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their
chains on the necks of our fellow sufferers
Our land holders too, like theirs, retaining in
|
theirs, but held really in trust for the treasury,
must wander, like theirs, in foreign countries,
and be contented with penury, obscurity, exile,
and the glory of the nation. This example
reads to US the salutary lesson that private for
tunes are destroyed by public, as we'll as by pri-
vate extravaganza. And this is the tendency Of
all human governments. A departure from
principles in one instance becomes precedent
for Cd, that second for a Sd, and SO on till the
bulk o. the society is reduced to be mere auto
nations of misery, to have no sensibilities left
but for SHINING and suffering Then begins in
| deed the bellum omnium in omnia, which some
philosophers observing to be SO general in his
world, have mistaken it for the natural, instead
| of the abusive, state of man, and the foreborse
of this frightful team is Public Debt.--Taxa-
ton follows that, and its train wretchedness
and oppression.
Some men look at Constitutions with sancti-
monlous reverence, and deem them like the ark
| Of the covenant, too sacred to be touched
| They ascribe 10 the men of the preceding age
a wisdom more than human, and suppose what
| they did TO be beyond amendment. knew that
age well. belonged to it; and labored with it;
it deserved we'll Of its country; it was very like