Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1829-11-14

,odis,dua, IL deprived Of his share in thu, uouo,..
4 ne gentleman win pardon me for saying that no
as done the advocates Of this principle great njus
tice, and that he and oil the other geniiumcn who
have followed him upon the same side of the question,
nave tIen into very great error, by attempting
10 apply tho principle rule improperly. The rule
but can with no propiety be though, to be applied
10 mere Conventional regulations, which owe
their existence to the will ofthe majority as express.
cd IN the Constitution.
If is provided by tho Constitution tb.t nopa
but persons possessing the freehold qualifications shall
be entitled to the light of suffrage or that plurav
OF votes only shall be required TO elect members 20
the Gene:l Asscnbiy orif the Legislature, in pur.
suance of authority derived from the Constition de-
clare that there must be unonimiiy in iurv trials
&c.-All these things right and proper, because
the majority have willed That it shall be So And If
the majority thiak proper at my time, they bavo
full power TO vary these regulations and TO adopt
others IN their stoad:-thcre con be nothing dscov-
cred, then, inconsistent with the unlimited right Of
the majority orule, in any Of these mere Convex.
tioncl regulations which have been so often and so
irumphantly referred to during this debate.
! The gentleman from Northampton attempts 70
AVOID the force and effect OF this principle. appl.
cable TO the question before u.s. by asserting TINT
there are in fact original fundamental principles
OF Government; that the principles Of our Govern
ment do not apply to anothc and that the same prir
cples will not apply in the country at different
times and under different circumstances" He also
asserted that ths principle that the majori,y shal
gove.n) dos not prevail IN England or in Turkey
aud that yet there Governments in both thetn
countries beg leave to differ with the gentle
man in every one OF these positions that he has ts-
ken / affirm that there are original Fundamental
principles of government which must and do prevail
IN all countries, at oil fines and under oil circum
stances that this very principle of the rigb.
or the majority TO govern has prevailed all tines
! both In England & Turkey. Every change which has
been effected IN the British Government, from
the days of King Alfred to the present mp.
melt has been made with the consent of the n,ajori
W. haua Ino, or.
all In France, this principle has been applied
IN the last hnlf century, to change the Govern
ment from an absolute Monarchy To limited Mon
| archy, from limited Monarchy TO n Republc; from
Republic to a DcSpoiism: and from 'Desnots,n
back again TO n limited Monarchy. And all tho
dreadful commissions of thnt country grew ont of an
attempt OF the minority to resist the will OF the ma
ljoty. The power Of the majority over the roycrn.
ment is unlimited and they may, at any time, con-
vert the government from Monarchy into n Repub-
he, or from Republic into Mcnarch,, at tlo;r
pleasure. In fine, the majority have !'an ndubablc
unaenable. and indcfcoslbc right to reform alter. O,
abolish the existing form of government at ,hciy
pleasure.
We have been Informed by the gentleman last niln.
ded 10, that there are two sorts of majorites viz
majority OF numbers and majority of intercsts I
confess Sir, do not exactly understand what s
meant by majority of interests, any more Than 7
should have been able 10 comprehend his meaning -
ne had talked TO me about majority Of air. or of re-
iigion, or any thing else, in speaking of which he
could not, with any proprety, the term maiority
understand by the word majority, us used in tb,
Bill of Rights, precisely what nine hundred md
nlneiy -nlne men out of thousand throughout q q
United States understands by it, that is, majority cf
numbers. And If the gentleman had consulted i;u
own constituents upon the subject, he would havo
found that the whole ofthem understand it as do
Il In order TO sustain this doctrine of majority OF
interests, the gentleman advanced a PROPOSITION
which shall endeavor to shew is utterly incorrnc,
that 49, that property is Of the clements of society
For the purpose ofasceraning the truth of this pro
osilion must look back 10 the original RIGHTS of
men in state Of nature. Each man had a rich, To
that which was i'll his immediate possession and 10
nothing more, and the moment he abandoned that
possession, any other individual could mcguire per
feet tile to IT, by Selling and approprating it 10 hs
own use. And the title which man acquires in a
state of society to property, its existence and
It's validity entirely 10 the expressed or I'M
Piled, of the other members Of the society 10 which
he belongs. For example, when the Legislature
acting uH.:cr authority derived from the maioritv
have said that the possession of deed executed with
certain formallties, Shall cntte to hold real
estate; or that the possession OF bond shall give tho
holder right to claim property in the hands of an
other: the validity of these claims depends entirely
upon Legislative enactment and have no foundation
whatever IN nature. And hesitate not to uffirm,
that whenever individuals possessing property baya
entered into, or become members of any social oom-
pact that they must have derived their title to TINT
property from the consent of some other society ia
which they had lived. Property then is not an elc.
ment Of society," is only Of the strongest induce.
uents which men have for entering into the social
compact II was said by the learned gentleman from
Northampton, that have no knowledge of any
people since the period when Bible history common.
ced, who went into n state Of society without any
property. do not pretend to be 80 accurately ac-
quainted with Bible history, that gentleman hut
am inclined TO think, the IsraeIfcs themselves muse
have had very little property to begin with, nftcr
passing through tho wilderness; and ! could name
several other nations, who, in the commencement,
must have been as destitute &C properly as We can
conceive Of men being.
Not being entirely satisfied with this new doctrine
Of minority Of interests the gentleman from NJ in
the next place, eRdeavoured to shew that there was
large majority of numbers on this side Of the Blue
Ridge, II we take the slaves into the estimate.
have already ondonvourod to prove that the slaves
| not beng part OF the community, or belonging 10
the body polite, cannot be counted at all. but IL
they are TO DO counted on either side, (Which Gc6
forbid what title has he to count them on his sde'
- because their interests and lis arc the same>
surely not for every interest they haye on Garth 10
adverse to his, and If counted at oil, they must be
! count ed AGAINST HIM