Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1829-11-12


and consigned TO ruin and poverty, a whole
generation of the people Of Virginia
And yet these principles Of government
were styled, even by those who had yesterday
joined in an unanimouse vote, (as unanimous
at least as nen0ie consradicents vote can be-
affirming their orrectness--these principles
were dispaTagingly styled, by those who had
coacurred an that vote, "Gbstractions" or
tsmere abstract principles"
Now, Sir, said ne, i'll understand the i'm
port OF the term ''abStract" when applied IN
O disparagiag selse, to any general principle,
it means, that the principle, though true, or
oppressed is nevertheless expressed in terms
SO general, that when IN attempt is made to
apply il to any given subject, it Is almost al
ways found that the subject is included, not
within the rule, but within ore or more Oh
those exceptions which dctract from the Vnt-
oersal correctness of all general rides. in other
words, that the principle is an unanimous gen
crafty, scarcely susceptible of application to
the every day affairs eff men. In short, that IT
is Wild visionary and Impractical.
let as examine, then, the principles IN
question, and see whether they do not come
horse to ssthe business and bosoms OF men."--
First; then,
DAl power is vested in, and consequently
derived from the people"
At the present day, this principle nay seem,
10 sSnc Of US, at least, trIsm Of little interest
OF importance. But at thai dag it was truth
oil great rith and moment The coionies were
stnarting under the tyranical exercise OF pew
er moi derived from the people Under the
exercise ofpower assumed by the King and
Parliament of Great Britain, te;tLosa The cont
sent Of the People. fierc then is bold dc
ton that The People of Virginia are the only
sorereiqns of Virginia, and that they would
tolerate in all time to come, neither foreign
parliaments, nor kings, nor Caesars A de
claration that the only legitimate government
is government of magistrates deriving their
power from the people, and responsible to the
people.-He could not wen conceive with
what propriety principle so pregnant with
meaning, so subversiye, in Its practical eff
fects, of power usurped, and abused, could
be called mere abstraction.
Bu, again, sir, The bill of right declares
THAT all men are, by nature, equally free
And this is considered .he very abstraction
Of abstractions-andy yet it is practical princi
pie, if ever there was practical principle
The governments ofFurope were al incunber-
| ed aitis privileged orders The colonists had
found, to their cost, that the privileged orders
in England, tie Priests and MOBILES, uniform
y teok sides with the crown, in every scheme
| of usurpatIon or oppression. Privileged or
ders had therefore become Justly odious to
| thea, and they denounced them in this arti-
Gle of their declaration. They moreover de-
clared the great practical truth, that no one
man - born with q natural right to control @
nv other man. They declared. in effect, that
all men are originally equal in political rig@ls
They arc not to be understood as having been
| guilty OF the absurdty of saying that political
rights belong cqually TO oil ,aea, al ,rosaen,
| aud all children They knew a. well as we
do, that as on the ja,ticio,s and Intelligent ex-
erciee Of political power by the citizen, which
is, in short, the sigM Of sl0fd.e, depends the
ellbentg of society, it could not, iron, ITS ce
~ nature, be exercised by children, or per
sons ofimm&ture reason, They knew, too,
that as electiosor choice, in which the right of
suffrage, or political power, essentially con
sists, necessarily implies free agency, 1t could
| ture, which has made them weak and timid,
in comparison with men, had been placed
| Under The control Of MN
They knew too, and tasy declared, that
the universally Of this principle of the equal
political rights of men was further limited by
the power of the @'majority every commu-
! nity," to exclude, by its fundamental law, a
portion, even of the men oi,mature age, from
| the exercise fpoli6calpower, because of their
nfltness to exercise it 5ndeclaring, eftaat the
majority of a community possesses, and of
necessity must possess, the supreme 'cmtrol
ofjts concerns, they but affirmed the supreme
laH of necessity, and therefore of mature. AS
in all free communities, questions must be de
| clded by the people or their representatives,
some rule Of decision must be adopted. 1t
| must necessarily be assumed, either that the
ma orsty or the minority As right Ii the rule
were adopted, that the minority were to be
! considered right, thesaajosity would not sub
init to it, and the rude would be nulity! But
the j,iS najoyis carries its own sanction with it,
| and Is law imposed by necessity on all free
communities.
III is difficulty to conceive of any principle
more essentially practical than this of the
| right Of the majority to govern. And yet this
of beng an abstract principle principle
which cannot be applied to the ordinary af
fairs and business of government
But it has been said that the authors of the
declaration of lights themselves, admitted, IN
effect, the abstract and s9aprGctic0t character
of the principles which it contains, by estaA-
fishing government whose practical regula-
lions are wholly inconsistent with those theo-
retical principles. That while, ia the decla-
ration of rights, they asserted that all power
is vested IN The people, and should he exercis-
ed by majority ofthe people, they established
a government IN which i1eqs4i counties, OK
pressing their sense by the representatives Of
a selected tcqo in those counties, to wit, he
tieeholders, were the read political units, or