Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1834-12-16
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10 agy you ON To the Election, before members have re-
ceivcd their Instruction papers, or have had time To salts
~ their scruples about the majority OF the signers, and
before the rising power of the People can have made its
due operation upon your body. Let the Election come
when il will, you ought to know il to be the will of the
People that MIR. Leigh shall no longer remain in the Sc
nate. DO you intend to respect and regard that will.
and not contemn it, by following your own? When the
election is over, and when we have elected his success
sor, will MIR. Leigh seize the opportunity of imitating the
noble example of MIR. Rives by Immediately resigning his
seat and giving place to the one whom you may honor
with the appointments; and who, like Mr.. Leigh. we
trust, will not join the ranks ofClaya and Webster-inen,
whom Virginia, as politicians, must ever dctest. saw
gentlemen, let MIR. Leigh have AN opportunity of retiring.
and thus relieve him from n station which, he says, he
never sought, but to which he appears now to cling,
and give the Administration ofthe General Government
that support TO which by the wisdom of its measures il
Is SO justly entitied.|l will say no more-rertum sat.
ONE OF PEOPLE.
TO 7Wh EDITOR, or TA. k.vQ UTRER.
TIE RIGHT * II MODE OF INSTRUCTION.
The general principle ofthc right of instruction is now
50 universally acknowledged, that it is scarcely ncccssa-
ny for INC to add any thing in support of it-but since
modern refinements have 50 FILTERED away the rule. as
T. render the right almost nugatory and unavailing, l
would beg leave to advance one idea on the subject,
which, though perhaps not entirely new, yet il might be-
well to be remembered. The representative, as the very
name implies, is the mere agent, or attorney in fact Of
the pcople-or, in other words, he is the constituted or
gan, for making known the will of his constituents
The people, in their native and original indepcndcncy.
had, las they still would have, but for constitutional pro-
visions to the contrary } the right, la proper person, to con-
ycne, and make their own laws and regulations Tor con-
huSt aii vi HoNcTuiltnt-but the tNCOlrCutcnCc tnlt
would attend such n system of legislation, induced our
%provident and rejecting forefathcrs, TO think of adopting
some other and more feasible and convenient method oil
making their desires known-They committed the matter,
therefore, by a general consent, into the hands of the
wise trainers of our OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES wisdom, us the
wisdom ofueir ancestors for almost countless aves before,
led them to adopt the present existing convenient and
most beautiful system-bcautitul, whilst II is exercised
with prudence and with good faith on the part OF the re-
prescntahve-but wretchcd. beyond comparison wretch
ed, when prostitnted and abused for the unhallowed pur-
poses of party, of sectarianisn, and cabal.
Ii becomes then the Jonndcu duty ofthe Representative
TO say and TO do whatsoever he may think would be said
and would be done by his constituents themselves, were
they personally present and acting in his stead-his own
pirate opinion TO the contrary Notwithstanding. And
though today they may tell him that they desire one
thing TO be done, yet should they direct linn otherwise
fonaorro.o, he must act in accordance with their last as
ccrtmned Will; and Mdt, too, however many changes they
may have undergone-ior, ne IL not their master, but
their servant, and should obey them us such, or else re-
sign them the tratst which has been committed into his
hands, and give place for another, who can truly repre-
sent their WISHES.
But the mode ofinstruction seems now to be the matter
Tor our Chief consideration-with respect to which, |
would say, 1T becomes not the agent To inquire what par
tlcular method his principal may have chosen TO adopt for
the making of his wishes known. provided il be in a
manner that Is respectful and Lcconing. Nor has he
the right, when ne receives an instruction regularly sign
ed by him for whom he is acting, to say, "Sr, | will not
obey i'll ann wiser than thou. You should first have con-
suited me. and all the Other big men of the nation. You
should have heard our speeches and listened to our coun-
sells. You were, no doubt, sober when you constituted
me your agent but | hare no eridence that YOU were not
drunh when you sent me this instruction-and above all,
it was signed by you when you were at home, instead
of doing it at the Courthouse or at some other place that
l would designate; which, of itself would be sufficient to
make me disregard such an instruction-or, to say the
least OF IT, you have been Ill adciScd, and l feel under no
obligation to comply"
Would not this be trihing with the Just rights of the
principal! And do not our representatives. exceed the due
limits OF their authority, when they refuse to obey the
VIII oil their constituents, however IL may have been made
known! lsit not saying to thcm-"Fellow Citizens, YOU
are aset fbochheads--you have not sense enough to know
even hOio to give your instructions. and much less To d.
rect me as 10 tie proper course for me To pursue p III is
a trihing by the ScTrant with the authority of the master.
We might with equal or greater propricty. thus accost
the Virginia Legislature "Messrs. Senators and Repre-
sentatives, we will not obey your Observation-Disclosures are
some of you who have been drunk-there are more of
you that are unwise-you have been gullcd-and YOU
have been deceived-you have been misled by bad advi-
sers-there is Johnson and Tazcwell, Watkins Leigh 81
Co, with others, a iunto in the City of Richmond who,
IKE the concealed agent of HedheJcr, in his famous
scheme of perpetual motion" have exerled a secret in
huencc over your actions and deliberations. and brought
you TO make laws, TO devise and concert plans and
schemes for our government, which are unwise, and I'M
wholesome, and we arc resolved not to submit To them"
Yes, this we might say, with at least as much ~propricty,
rs we arc now accosted by our representatives.
Bot we are told, that we (the people arc a poor. dull. con-
eeaed set OF beings, ignorant in the extreme, and preraled
o1er by the shcriifs, by the constablcs, and others. who car
ny around the Instruction papers, for the purpose of obtain
ing signatures, TO sign noe kaOlo not Iuhat, and to give in
siructiois as to matters which we have no capacity to un-
dcrstand-and if this assertion were true. perhaps there
might be some c0ior of pretcxt for the representative TO dis
obey the will ofhis onstituents-But the fact is not so the
attribute OF 'otSdom Is not confined solely to our LegiSla-
10 IL tDYtt dt fbFHG uiNt ~ fNIC"1nu Wlln IletE
7oiSdom they have detberation-a quality which all men
do not possess, though clothed with all the di0nify of n
representative OF ireemen. Yet. admitting, for sake
oil argument, that we are not 50 intelligent as our repre-
sentatives-thcn | would ask of these icorthies (our filth
Jm representatives in the Legislature whether or not
they think they are more D0iiaat in the hands of such
men as Leigh and others aforementioned then zoe are in
the hands oil the humble circulators of our Instruction
papers'-and are not Mey as likely to be misled and de-
ceIyed by them, as lc are by the COaStaUeS, by the She
riffs, and the like?
But it viii be answered. that these Richmond gentry
are wiser and more learned than the Constables. &c, and
therefore more capable of advising to what is right-To
which | would reply, that 20 the errors of the lcise are
the greatest of all follies'-and men laborin0 under CT
cttemenf are, OF all others, the least competent to q Judge
jury of f'oere, taken at random from the country, can
better decide on n question, even the gravest and the
most important, than a jury of f0rty Of the controversial
rsts, though OF the most eminent talents and the brightest
httarlmeuts. And thus, with their Richmond advisers.
they are parties, as il were, to the controversy-tbey feel
rather would | have the opinion of an honest woman of
the country, who sits calmly at home, and reflects coolly
on the scenes that are passing around him, than the fine
spun and extravaganza theory of the most learned man i'm
hichmond. But, viii say no more on this subject at
present-only let inc add that were a Representative
and should come to a bouier, | think ! should ask, not the
opinion OF MIR. Tazewell, nor the opinion of Mr. johnson,
nor the opinion of any other pcrsol-but the opinion of
my constituents. would consult their wishes, and moi
the wishes ola Richmond junto. / would consider what
they would have me 90 do, and | would do accordinolv
regardless ofthe opinion ofcvery other person ghatsoe.
ver-and even of my 0toR-and, as Balaam with the
children of lszael, though curses were in my hcnrf. vet
at Their bidding, should ny n,0aok speak forth blessings:
LOT teey would be lmy master, aud my masters will should
be done ANXIOUS POPULI.
RIGHT OP TNeTp yfr1,IE '~"N"H"