The Arkansas banner., 1843-12-16

thor of its existence, every thing of 1t and about its from the people,
 In proclaiming that ratification of the fed eral constitution, from which it derives all its authority over her citizens, Virginia again accompanied this new delegation of power with the same emphatic declaration, s'that all power Is naturally vested in, and consequent ly derived from the people; that magistrates, therefore, are their trustees and agents, and at all times amenable to themn In the very act of ratification itself she again declares, ''that the powers granted under the Consti- tuition, being derived from the people of the United States, may be resumed by them, whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression"
 Was l right, when just now inferred, from the use of such language as coupled with the delegation of power to the function- aries of the State Governments, that by that delegation the sovereignty of the people was Tn no wise surrendered or impaired? And shall be wrong when draw the like infer ence Row? !s the sovereign right of the peo- pie to annlhilate the work of their hands, to recall the powers they have granted, to abo- llsil tde government they have established, the less sacred, the less unquestionable, be- cause the exercise of the right might be at tended with greater difficulty in the latter case than in the former?
 l foresee that many will be reluctant to give to these questions the only answer they admit of. Their democracy is content to exercise itself iii domneering over the poor limited and feeble State Government, which meellly recognises its responsibility and de- pendence on the people for it's existence, and which is not provided with the means to pur- chase favor, or to overawe disaflection. At Washington things wear different face; and men require double conviction before they will consent to adopt opinions which may not find favor ill the eyes of those who dis pense honors to which the loftest ambition may aspire, and distribute revenues that might giut the rapacity of avarice Such gentlemen will tell me, that though sover- eighty is not to be imputed to the gorern. ment of the United States, yet resides in an imaginary body polite which they call the people of the United States.
 To this, 1 answer at once, there is no such body polite, and no such people. In proof of the first of these assertions, appeal to the recold. The Journal of the Convention, by which the Constitution was framed and sub mltted to the States, respectively, shows that 1t was proposed in that assembly to eonsti- ute the United States a body polite, endow- ed with the powers appropriate to that cha racter; and that this proposition was either rejected or withdrawn by the proposer as inadmissible. There is then no such body r,olifio tbo VIni4o1 op1 there can be no such people as the people of the United States. The idea of people is not that of a mere multitude of men. It is that of men so associated as to form body politic Where there is no body polite there Is no people and though number of bodies polite may associate their combined author lty and force, for the accomplishment of any common purpose, the several bodies polite thus associated do but form league, each retaining it's several and distinct political in- dividuality, without constituting new body polite compounded of the whole.
 But do not choose to rest this proposi- ton on an argument, which may seem toe technical for the magnitude of the subject shall be the last to contend that the great and essential rights of men are to be deter mined by the niceties of special pleading |, It IS to the test of practical consequence tha [ propose to bring the question.
 If the inhabitants of these United State have indeed undergone that sort of politica } fusion, by which States are melted down int, one aggregate body polite, then in that body polite reside all the rights and powers incl dent to that character. A body polite owe } not it's authority to the government by whiA 1t is pleased to act, nor to the constitution establishing that government. These are bu its creatures, and instruments. It Is para mount to both, and it's existence and powers will survive the abolition of both. We art all familiar with the recent instance in whicl the commonwealth of Virginia, no longer satisfied with the constitution first adopted no longer willing to have its authority re- presented by the functionaries appointed un- der that constitution, came forward on the stage, and, by one word of power, annihilated both. But was the commonwealth of Vir- ginia annihilated Was the arm of her au- thority shortened Was the right ef the collective whole to give law to itself in all its parts at all impared2 Just the reverse o this was the fact. The limited authority o tiiC aSCHh " uo iOl tiC ulliiiiltCu authority of the master. A government oi mitigated and restricted powers had disap- peared, and we found ourselves in the pre- sence of an authority indefinite-boundless -to which all things were ..2a"Tinl. Then it was that the absurdty of imputing sovereign ty to governments was indeed made manifest That beggarly counterfeit sovereignty vanish ed like the detected valet at the appearance of the master whose clothes he had stolen, and whose name he had assumed That which before had seemed the source of authority was now found to be its instrument That which before had seemed the fountain of light aud heat, now proved to have been but a screen to soften the intensity of its rays It was removed, and we stood at once in the unmitigated blaze of sovereign power, to which none might say :. What doest thou ?'' From the government existing under the constitution, men were safe in life and liberty and property, save only their responsibility ,1aGuoI anJ Enlu-n