State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1831-1836, 1836-10-11

lived? Time may have rendered some OF
its provisions unsuitable TO the present
condition of the State. Some changes are
proper and necessary, but who can say that
liberty is manfestly endangered, and that
all other means of redress are Intellectual,
but revolution?
1t is for you, freemen of Maryland, to
decide upon the destiny of your state,
whether she is to continue the pride and
boast of her sons, or to be involved in all
the horrors of revolution. Do not deceive
yourselves; the moment an effort is made,
unauthorized by the constitution to organ
iZe different government-the moment it
is understood that we are resolved into the
original elements Of society--the moment
it is attempted 10 force upon the people n
new Constitution, in any other mode than
that provided by the existing instrument,
Maryland ceases to exist. Once gone, she
will he no more, forever
We now propose briefly to examine the
grounds upon which your nineteen agents
seek to justify their conduct They are
found in an address Tor the first time rub.
lshed in the city of Baltimore, after they
had abandoned their trust at Annapolis.
You are there told that it is not the pur-
pose Of these gentlemen to meet us in col
lege, and that the power which was dele
gated to them is surrendered into your
hands, and that no Senate, because of their
absenting themselves, can be constitutional
ly chosen, or will hereafter exist in Mary
land, under the present constitution.
Warrington the present,all question as to
the right of such agents to surrender their
office, what are the reasons given for their
conduct? We have right to examine them
because they are designed to cast upon us
the responsibility of the present alarming
crisis Of affairs. We are told that they
would have been willing to have gone into
the election, TO have made q senate whose
powers would have been necessarily limited
by the constitution as it ISL before doing so
the undersigned should have given them
pledge to vote for eight persons as senators
10 be named by them, and this pledge they
assert they have right to expect, because
they received ma jority of all the votes
taken at the late electoral election, and
desired some radical changes in the const-
tuition and form of Government. Passing
by, for the present, the question whether
Electors of the senate could, consistently
with their oaths, and the nature of the trust
coniided to them, give any such pledge, let
us see the results to which the principle Of
the nineteen would lead.
In the first place it involves a subvcrson
of the very constitution we have sworn to
support, by the virtual substitution of nu-
merical for constitutional maiorities. 1t
requires of the majority of the college TO
surrender their judgments and their oaths
to the will of a minority. 1t destroys the
only ground upon which a representative
republic can be maintained, and conse-
quently aims fatal blow at all our forms
of government, state and general. This
might be shown fly variety of lluslro-
tons. One will be sufficient. A candidate
for the Presidency (Mr Van Buren, for
instance) might be elected by very large
majority of the electoral votes, a constitu-
tionnl majority, and his right to Office would
he clear beyond all doubt BY recurring,
however, to the votes given in the differ
ent states, at the same election, it might he
that AN overwhelming numerical majority
was against him. For example; suppose
the following states TO vote for Mir Van
Buren,, in the order, and by the majori,ies