Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1842-09-22
UDerdIO Of the u { III c q
II d w p o q Wo
THURSDAY, SEPT. 90, l842.
For the Herald Of the Times.
Letters of Governors Clrayeland Hubbard

upon the numbers concerned WIN Doff;
the word majority is a word of mighty
import with his Excellency he makes
the crime Of treason to depend upon it.
This is the first instance, | believe, in
which any magistrate has ever made the
crime of treason, a question not Of law,
but Of arithmetic and to be determined
as balances are determined, by compar-
ing the debit with the credit side Of the
account. When you were Judge, Co
vernon, believe you were once judge
would you on the bench, so have defin-
ed the crime of treason and have said
in your charge to the Jury :-"Gcntle-
men, the prisoner at the bar stands
charged with the crime Of treason but
whether guilty or not depends upon the
number of his dccomplices ; ifthese were
only so many, you will pronounce him
guilty !. but if so many, not guilty.-Be
exact in your reckoning, guard against
any, the least, mistake for one more,
or one less, may change the nature Of
the fact and make il either criminal or
not criminal, and the prisoner either
guilty or not guilty OF the crime charg-
ed" | know not what you would have
said as Judge but this, in effect, is
precisely what you have said, ms Chief
Magistrate of New Hampshire, to the
Chief Magistrate Of Rhode Island in the
case Of Dorr.
Majority, and minority, can have no
place, as a governing rule, but in reto-
renee to one and the same entire body;
it is absurd to talk of them, as such
rule, in reference to different and dis
tinct bodies. Now Dorr, and his ac.
completes had separated themselves
from the corporate people of Rhode is
land; professcd publicly TO do so, boast
ed of having done so, gloried in it and
thus made themselves n different and
distinct body. Their numbers, there
fore, compared to the corporate people,
were Of no consequence ; the majority
principle not only applying to both, as
being one and the same body. iThe
fact undoubtedly is, they were a mino-
rity, compared TO the corporate people,
much the minority but the fact is i'm
material, the bodies being different and
distinct, not one and the same body.
Suppose n vababond bandi,ti, or gang
of marauders, to come from the neigh
boring States to Rhode-Island and To-
cate themselves there, claiming to be a
numerical majority Of all the persons in
the State and claiming, therefore, a
right to possess the State would you
say that their numbers gave them this
right that they and the other persons
of the State made one and the same en-
tire body, and subject to the majority
rule {; Surely, you would not. Now
Governor Dorr and his accomplices are
just as separate and distinct body from
the corporate people of the State, as
would be this vagabond banditti, or
gang Of marauders. Yet disregarding
this obvious distinction, you confound
Gov. Dorr and his accomplices with the
corporate people Of Rhode. Island, and
consider them as one and the same bo-
dy and thus cndeavor to make your
majority-principle applicable.
Governor Hubbard assumes, that the
majority has right to rule ; and that
this right attaches itself to the numerical
This supposcs it to be nat
ural right, and invarable. Whereas,
so far from being natural right, it is
no right at all, and has no existence at
all, till it has been agreed upon and a
dopted as n rule and then only by the !
body by whom it is adopted The ma
jorty-rule is just what the agreement
makes il to be, and is different in differ
ent bodies. 1t may be the numerical
in all cases or it may be not
in all, or not in any. 1t may be that |
more than numerical majority shall be
necessary, in all cases, say one-fllh
majority, or one-lourlh, or any other
just as the body adopting il
agree it shall be. We see it so modi-
fed by different bodies in different ways,
and in different ways by the same body 4
and hardly by any two, modified in the
same way. 1t is idle, therefore, TO talk
,f il as natural right; or as applicable
% body other than the one by whom il /
nas been adopted. Now if it were a ma
ural right, as you, Gov. Hubbard, as
,ume it to bc,-attaching itself to the
majority, and invariable, it
must extend itself To all the people Of n II