The Northern star, and farmers' and mechanics' advocate. [volume] (Warren, R.I.) 1830-1834, 1834-08-02

vz1Hc Of 200 pounds, or 10 pounds pei
sonum or tue eldest son OF such a free
holder."
In I742, ii was farther declared, TIA
uo person shall be admitted to vote, bul
such only, who At the time of voting, are
dreemso, and possessed Of land, SC. al
above.
The preamble Of the Act Of l746 COM
plains VI the inroad Of bribery and cor
suption into the Colony and. gives as the
occasion Ut It, the manner of admitting
treemen, which "is 90 lax, and their quail
fications, as TO their estates, SO very low
shat many persons are admitted, who are
possessed Of little or no property" The
remedy Of the evil (whether real or pre-.
tended by the leading politicians to cover
their design, we need not now inquirc)
consisted in raising the qualification ol
400 hundred pounds value, or 90 pounds
srent per annun, ;-without which no one
was "allowed 10 vote CT act as free
man."
The qualification Of voters was chang
ed ngain "a 1862, and il was enacted,
that no person whatever should be per-
nIItted to vote, or act as freeman, but
such only ss were possessed of a real es-
tate ofthe value of forty pounds, or which
shall rent for 40 shillings per annum.
IL ls sufficiently evident from this brief
-examinasion, that freeman was not me-
-cessarily feeholder and that the mode
-of admitting freemen previously to the
act Of 1923, (Which act for the first time
IN the Colony established an exclusive
freehold quali6cation) was entirely irreg-
ular and the language used about It's
1axity and the lownoss Of qualifications,
and the allusion in the act Of 1924, to ga
custom or usage to the contrary" Of what
was then enacted, show that the restric-
tion had been nearly nominal. There is
another important fact apparent from the
acts raising the qualification 10 two and
four hundred pounds, namely, that dis
Dfinction was thus made among tho free
snen themselves. All persons (previous-
1y reemen, or not, it made no dilference)
who did not come up to the sum of two
and four hundred pounds, were by these
acts, deprived Of their privileges. The
nets Of i742-46 and SO, directed, not
merely who should be admitted freenen
in future, but also who should cease to
act as such.t This unmaking of offreemen,
or depriving them, without proof of crime,
of every thing but the mere name, was
clear violation Of The spirit of the Char
Aor, and goes, in addition to the remarks
already made upon the operation of that
instrument to show how little it was prac-
'tically regarded in the business of iegis-
.lation, and that tho General Assembly
then exercised, as now, an underlined
power, similar to that of the Parliament
of England. "If representatives of the
people," it has been well said, "chosen
tor the ordinary purposes of legislation.
could assume control over this right |
(the right of suffrage) to limit, curtail.
or extend it at will, they might dsfran-
chisc any portion they pleased of their
own electors might deprive them of the
power ever to remove them and thus
reduce the, government to permanent a.
The existing restriction on suffrage is
then, we think, clarly in opposition to the |
real intention of our ancestors, and TO the |
Democracy which they established. We
have already seen that it excludes many |
who pay taxes; it is farther objectiona-
BILE, because it occasions those taxes to
be imposed without consent and without
any control Of their expenditure. TWAS
this samo evil to which our fathers re-
fuse to submit and which led to the Revo-
lutionary contest. 1t is still an evil
though visited upon lsrge portion of the
people by their own fellow citizens. IfitI
were unjust for our forefathers to he tax
cd without representation, it is equally
unjust for their descendants to be SO tax
ed by their brethren, as long as they have
no voice in determining either the guam
tty or appropriation. How, let it be ask
ed, are the duties on those articles Of
foreign Importation, which arc consumed |
in this State, paid BY the body of the
consumers, who consist as we'll OF non
lfreeholders as Of the owners of the SOIL
Tho expenses of the General Govern
,spent, as we well know, are paid without
any resort TO direct taxation. The non
freeholders pay their full proportion to
government in the shape Of duties, and
yet they have no part in national affairs
because those only can vote for Repre-
ssontatives TO Congress, who are voters
for members Of the most popular branch
of the State Legislature. And these vo-
tiers are exclusively the owners Of the
soil. This injustice is so palpable, that
we think it must extort the confession ofI
all who give it a moments attention. i
Ought il not to be remedicd?
The objection that the non -freeholders,
If admitted, will vote away the money Of
other people, comes with very i'll grace
from those who are now voting away the
al IL