Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1826-01-26


IN The Legislature, to bes,ow the vote of the Stat
according TO their own of public duty or pri
vate interest. Both these systems are liable t
.he Sravest objections, and Justly condemned
by the public voice. even some OF the States which
retain them, make plea of the necessity which
compels them TO counteract the same system in
some other State; while the district system, which
the committee recommend, possesses not only the
advantage OF being in itself the best, but of being
aiso' Inc one which is pow in force i'm a majority
OF the states, and the one which many others would
gladly adopt II all others could be made to do SC
al the same time. Ii is, besides, the mode OF e.
iecooh In which, either, electors may be used, or
u'rect vote given by the People; while the general
ticket and the legislative ballot necessarily exclude
he direct vote, and require the agency of those in
iemedia,e electors which il is part of The obiec;
OIL TINS report, 10 prove to be both useless and dan
Serous to the rights OF the people,
The second leading feature IN the COMMITTEE,
o'ah Oh amendment is the substitution of direct
vote, for the Indirect one which the people now
giving IN the election of President and Vice Presi-
oeht. lts In this part OF the Constitutions that TIE
tsHuon VI this instrument has most completely
ianeu' Every advarsS5- expected to have been
derived from the Institution ofelec,ors has failed in
practice, and multitude of evils, not foreseen,
nave sprung up in place OF the anticipated good.
IL was the intention OF the Constitution that these
electors should be an independent BODY Of men,
CHOSEN by the people from among theu,sel es, on
account OF 'heir superior discernment, virtue, and
iniorms'ion; and that this select body should be
to make the election according TO their own will
without the slightest control from the body of the
people That this intention has failed of its obiec,
IN every election, IS fact OF such uni versa noto-
rely, tnat no one can dispute IL. That il ous hi
10 nave Jailed, Is equally ncontestible; for sucl
independence IN the electors was wholly ncompati-
bic with the safety Of the people That it was, in
TACT, a chhnerical and impractcable idea in any
community except among people sunk in that
apathy which precedes the death OF iberty, is pro
position too clear to need illustration The failure
then, was as it ought have been, and wa. obiir-
ed to be, complete from the very frs, institution
oil electors. In the first election held under the
constitution, the people looked beyond these "a
geh's' hxed upon Their own candidates for Presi-
ofht ana wee President, aud took pledges from the
electoral candidates 20 obey their will la every
uose4oen, eiectioh, The same thing has been done.
Electors, therefore, have not answered The design
oil their Institution. They are not the iodependen,
oo"y anu superior Characters which they were in j.
tended 10 be. They are not left 10 the exerciss
VI .Neii own Juosment; on the contrary, they give
their vote, or bind themselves to give it, according
10 the will of their constituents. They have do
generated into mere agents, in a case which re-
qunes M. agency, and where the agent must be use
!ess' II lie Is faithful and dangerous if he Is not
instead oil being chosen for the noble qualities Sc,
iorti, in the Federaist,' candidates for eIec,or.
are now most usually selected for their devotion n
a party their popular manners, and supposed talent
al eiectoneering, which the trainers oil the consti-
'uhon would nave been ashamed TO possess In the
election by general ticket, the candidates are pre-
sehted 10 people In masses equal TO the whole num-
Der oil votes which the State has a right to rive
lhe ticket bearing their names is comDos,,I nv
some unseen and irresponsible power, printed and
sent ierth 10 the people 10 be voted for by many
VINO know them not, but who are required 10 Weld
implicit confidence both in the ticket itself. and The
unseen body which prepared it. Discipline and
management most usually ensures success to this
uckei /; and thus string of electors become nos
sessea OF me votes OF state, without being suffi-
c'ehuy known TO most OF the voters to merit their
confidence in the smallest particular u: and of,or
less known TO them than the Presidential candidate.
themselves When chosen by Legislative ballot
these tituar electors are still further removed fo,
al knowledge & control of the people, & act par
sun more sue4uedto the purposes OF a party Ever
IN the district moie of election, where electors ar,
ieasf dangerous, they are still Sufficiently So TO me
III REJECTION from service which every individua
voter Is competent to perform i'm his own nerson
In the hrst place, wherever the evil OF the eeuera
ticket Is avoided, another evil of an opposite cha
racer Is encountered, in the multitude OF electoral
candidates winch offer themselves on the part OF
Inc same person; those who offer first are f,e.
qnently the most unfit in the district; bur HAVING
put forth their names, they consider themselves a.
vested with sort of pre-empfion right TO tht
place, and refuse to surrender their self created IRE
tensions. The spirit of intrigue and artfice TAKE
advantage OF this state of things, and working upor
The vanity and obstiuacy of various candidates
contrives 10 perpIex, distract, divide, and DISCUS
the PEOPLE with their irreconcilabe pretensions.
~, last, when reduced TO the Proper number. an,
one Tor each Presidential Candidate is fairly ~,
oeiore The people, 1t may happen that the conf
uehce OF many voters VIII be destroyed in the can
dldate OF their own party; by insidious or bold at
tacks upon the integrity of bis intentions. Yut
supposing this danger TO be avoided, and (sitbtn
candidate believed 10 he found his sincerity PLACED
above suspicion, and himself fairly piited against
rlvai candidate IN the opposite ranks; even then h,
does an injury to the purity of tie election, b,
bringing his own exertions, and the weight OF hi
own Character, good or bad, 10 mix in the Presi
Dental canvass, and 10 influence its result. ]
elected, the people who voted fof him, have n,
power to control him. He may give or sell hi
vote TO Tile adverse candidate, in violation of al
the pledges which had been taken from him. Tn
crime Is easily committed, for he votes by ballot
detection diiicut, because he does not sign it pre
vention is impossible, for he cannot be coerced
the injury rrepsrable for the vote cannot be vaca-
ted; legal punishment is unknown, and would b.
inadequate; and thus the derauded voters, after al
their care aud toll, remain without redress for the
past or security OF the future. That the,
mischlefs have pot yet happened, is no answer
to an objection that they may happen. Tn,
infancy aud consequent purity for the Repub-
lie, is not the age 10 expect them. They
belong TO that ripper period, 10 which the increas-
ing wealth and population Of the country is rapidly
carrying us-to an age not far distant, in which
the lustoi power in our own citizens, and IN,
criminal designs offoreign nations, will give hun
dreds OF Offices and millions Of money for a. ma '
votes as would turn the scale in a PresiIentia
election. Then why preserve an institution which