Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1836-01-19

ed by the Federal Government, but is actu.
,1lv burdcnsome to it. The National Trea.
,,,rv is full to oyerhowing, and the question
With that Government is not now how ways
and means arc to be raised to meet all its
legitimate and necessary expenditures, but |
it is, how are they to get rid of superabun.
dant revenue. Nothing would seem to fit
the occasion better, or to be more conso.
nant with the principles of equal justice and
the genius of our institutions, than the dis
tribution of these lands, or the revenue
thence arising, among the several States IN
inst and fair proportion, for the purposes'9ai 81
education and internal improvements. II
cannot be that Congress will hearken to the
proposition once made Of ceding these
lands gratuitously to the States within whose
limits they lie. 1t cannot be that the junior
of our political family have so en-.
crossed the affections Of the federal head,
as that the common parents of both arc to
be discarded and forgotten. 1t cannot be
that the original States will ever patiently
submit to such fragrant violation of the
principles of the original cession, and the
dues Of equal justice.
MOBS. -
1t pains US to be obliged to advert to the
spirit of INSTRUMENTATION which has of late
so frequently manifested itself in many parts
of the country; and deep and unfeigned is
our modification, while we are compelled to
admit that our own State has exhibited some
of its worst examples. In governments
not formed on the principles of republican.
ism, where persons claiming to be mdepen.
dent of and superior to the people, under
color of laws enacted by themselves, prac-
tice tyranny and oppression, these popular
connections may sometimes be palliated or
excused, as the only means possessed by
an cnslaved people of checking the inordi.
nate excesses, and striking terror into the
hearts of their oppressors. But in coun-
try like ours, country of liberty and laws,
where the People are acknowledged to be
supreme, and in fact are in the constant
practical exercise of absolute sovereignty;
where the Government, instituted by the
People themselves, claims no power but
what is Immediately derived from the con.
sent of the governed, and is administered
solely and exclusively for the good of the
whole; where the laws are made by the I'm.
mediate agents Of the people, and designed
for the protection and security Of the rights,
privileges and possessions Of all equally,
and are subject at all times to be altered, re-
pealed, or amended, as may be agreeable to
the wish, conducive to the interests, or pro-
motive of the happiness of the People,
there can be no apology, there Is no cxtenu,
alton or excuse, for such commotlons, and
their occurrence stains the character Of the
Government, and wounds deeply the cause
of equal liberty. If existing laws are de.
fcctivc; if artful villainy can pervert their
meaning or elude their justice, surely there
is virtue and intelligence enough to amend
such defects and to devise the means OF
bringing those who will practise wrong and
injustice to legitimate punishment; but let
not the restraints, the security Of the laws,
be thrown of. How terrible is the condi.
ton of that community where anarchy
reigns4 How much more of cruelty,
wrong, and injustice flows from it than from
the most desputic Of Governments How
soon are aa having claim to virtuous mo-
tives driven from control or sacrificed to
tilryt How completely is the voice Of
reason silenced, and every thing useful or
valuable, sacred or profane, prostltutcd, a.
based, or destroyed, as may suit the caprice,
or be suggested in the wantonness of brutal
force, acting without yirtuous motives, and
guided only by the principle of evil! How
natural, nay, almost inevitable, the refuge
from these horrors to the power most Ger.
tain to afford effective protection! And
what power so effectual, when the people
have forgotten their duty to themselves, as
Il despetism? To this such things tend,
and in this they must ultimately terminate,
unless a Just adherence for them can be
kept alive among the great body of the citi-
zcns of the Republic, and there shall be
awakened and cherished, in the bosoms Of
a majority ef the community, sufficient
sense Of their fatal tendency, and devo.
ton to our laws and institutions, which shall
induce them promptly to rcpress all similar
and to aid in visiting the jud gments
of the law upon all who shall aim such ia.
tai blows at the nature and genius Of our
happy form of government.