Litchfield enquirer., 1840-10-22


 ? lms general earnestness, this universal con.
 cern of all men in public affairs is now vii. messed for the first time since inc Revnl.s- ton. Do not men abandon their fielSs ;,,. the midst of seed-time-db they not Ieave. their various occupations, as you have now oone' to attend. to matters which they deem more important? And is it not so throuoh all classes of our citizens all over the whole land! Now the important question wish to put, Is this, and put it as question fit for the mInd ot the statesmen of Virginia-I pro. pose It, with all respect, to the deep deliber- atlon and reflection. of every patriotic man !nroashont the conniry-it is this: lift be true that a majority of the People of the U., $. have, for some years, been opposed in sem. tlment to the policy of the present Admins. 'ra'ion' WHY IS IT NECESSARY that these extnu-s ordinary efforts should be put forth to filrn, tnat Administration out of power, and tr, mi better men in their places? We inhahif as iree eonRtry-every office of public trust is m our owHs hands, at the disposal of the Pen, ples own unbiased suffrages: all public concerns are controlled and managed bv mem, at their own pleasure |: and the trlIst. has always been to the ballot-box as m ee: lectuni means to keep the Government at all ,imes m m conformity with the public will.--- How' then, has it happened, that with alE tnls' such extraordinary efforts have been necessary to put out particular Admjhistra. ton! Why has it not been done bv the si.. lent power of the elective franchise? Why. mas nor the Government been changed both, !n Its policy and in the men who administer ! desire from the free, the thinking men
 I VTglnla, an answer to that oueStion.-~ When the elections are every where sbew. Ing that large majority of the People are opposed in sentiment to the existing Admin. stration, desire them to tell me how that adm'nistration has held it's place and pursued ns own peculiar system of measures so longs
 My answer to my own question is this In my Judgment, it has come to be true in the, actual working ot'our system of Government, that :he Executive power has increased it's lnruence and its patronage to such degree, 'nat II may counteract the will of a ma iOrity- oi the People, and continue to do so. until inat n'a}orNy has not only become very !arge' oot tlii It has united in its objects and m Its candidate. and by n strenuous effort. is enabled to turn the Administration out of power: believe that the power and pat ronage of the Executive in our Government mas increased, IS increasing, and ought 10 be dimlnlshed. l believe that it does enable the incumbents to resist the public will, untiE the country is reused to high, and simulta- neous eiiorf, and the imperative mandate of the public voice dismisses the unfaithtuTse ser. ! Sks be supposed that this Governments can 20 on. long m course of successful operation, no change can be produced without such an eff. lort us that in which the People of this coun- try nre now engaged? put 1t to the old- fashioned Republicans of Virginia. ask mem, whether it can be supposed that this free Republican Government ofours can last for half.a century longer, if it's Administra- ton cannot be changed without such an ex- ClfGmenf-H " osx,s1 as IS now in progress, and. 1 trust. is near it's completion! . present this case as the greatest and strongest Of all proofs that Executive power m this country has increased, and is danger ous 10 liberty; that when Q majority of the people have for a long time been opposed to an administration, it still requires such an eHort-t still demands that men should si- multaneously relinquish all their private pursuits to produce change of that admin istration. ... ..4
 If this be so. then ask. what are the eau ses which have given and have augmented ms force of Executive power! The disci- pies of the ancient school of Virginia long entertained the opinion that there was great danger of encroachment by the General Co., vernment, on the Just rights of the States: but they were also alarmed at the possibility | of m undue augmentation of the Executive power. It becomes us at crisis like the present, to recur to first principles-to go back to our early history, and to see how the question actually stands. -.. -.,
 You all well know that, in the formation of Constitution for the government of this country, the great difficulty its framers en. countered was with regard to the Executive power. It was easy to establish House of Representatives and . second branch of the Government, in the form of Senate, fOy 1t was very obvious thing to say that the Sc. nate should be represented in one House of Congress as the people were represented.-=- But the great and Perplexng question was, now to limit and regulate the Executive power In such manner that while it defen. ded the country, it should not be able to en- danger civil liberty. Our fathers had seen and fell the inconvenience during the revolu- tionary war, of a weak Executive in Govern. ment. The country had suffered much from that cause. There was not any unity of pur- pose or efficiency of action in its Executive power. As the country had just emerged from one war, and might be plunged into another, they were looking intently to such a consti- tuition as should secure an efficient Execu- tive. Perhaps it remains to be seen, wheth- CT in this respect they had not better have given less power to this branch and taken all the inconvenience arising from the want of it, rather than to hazard the granting of 60 much as might prove dangerous not only to the other departments of Government. but to the safety and freedom of the country at large. .,
 Because, in the first place. it is the Execu- five which cOnfers all the favors of Gov lAar naA C A....HA IL. E.. IA Q