New-York daily tribune., 1845-01-21

he is still as ignorant as hog and e7il-disposed
iato The bargain. At tie same time, the most
intelligent native youth Of twenty or Immigrant
,,; four vears IN .hs country, is not ailo7rcd To
gote at ell, though wise as Solomon Or Eich as
.slur. We arc speaking here OF the fundzsiea-
tai law Of New. York, with one of the most De-
raocraiic Constitutions ever established in any
community OF the face Of the earth.
Let u sum up, then, the established principles
Of Popular Government as they bear en- ths Don
Question
/. Every person in the community is entitled
to equal and full protection from the State.
2. But every parson DOES mol constitute part
of the governing power OF the STATE. The most
Democratic Constitutions ever framed exclude
ron the list Of Legal Voters four fJtSs Of those
subjec: To and entitled 10 protection from 'hs
laws-namely, Women, Minors, Aliens, Grim
inals, and those who have not resided for speci-
fed term within the locality where onlg they are
sevsrally allowed TO vote at all.
s. Hence 1t follows that the Right 70 exercise
Political Power is net in any State based OF eao
commensurate with the duty Of Obedience to or
the claim OF Protection from such State. On'he
contrary, the Right of suf:ageis bassdupon end
regulated 5y the presumed .ftaess Of certain
gsrfion Of the community to exercise that Right
,0i,ely and 5enefciallytor the genera' t'eA6e'ng'
+ 4. From the nature of the case, the limitations
of the Right of Suffrage must DC, to great ex.
tent, arbitrary, and can but roughly approximate
these essential standards of capacity and fitness
which are aimed at. Il he's every where baen
deemed best to confine :his Right to Mer, though
ulasy Women are better qualified to exercise i:
tam many Men are, and some Women would
gladiy have the Right extended to their sex. We
presume the mass of them hare thus far tho5gat
otherwise.
S. A frame Of government being establishes,
and the boundaries of Political power clearly
marked, those Joundorie, can Be legally and
PEACEFULLY altered only through the action o.
those in lshom p,wer is thus vestsd, and in ae-
crdqnce NTH the letter or spirit Of suea COnsti-
tuition.
For instance, if the Women Of this State should
SEQ fit at some future days they very probably
and reasonably may-to claim participation In
Political Rights, they have just one legal course
to takethat is, to petition the ezisting Political
Pouer of the State to call a Convention and ex-
tend the Suffrage to Women. Should they de-
termine not to take this course, but themselves to
call Convention, and thus, by virtue of their
numerical superiority, to alter the fundamental
law of the State, their acts will have no legal va
lidity, but if persevered in to the extent ffrcbe
resistance to the pree1isting authority, will be
oalpable Rebellion and Treason.
Take another case: Suppose One Hundred
Thousand Irishmen or Germans should see fit to
emigrate this rear TO Rhode. Island or Delaware,
and should resolve, after being there six months,
(" We won't be governed by the Ten Thousand
. Legal Voters of the State. tbs unreasonable
and glaringly anti tirepublcan that One Hun
{ dred Thousand Men should be absolutely ruled
8 By Ten Thousand, and enjoy no Political
8 Rights of their own" These men might call
and get up Convention, frame Constitution
TO their mind, ard adopt it by vote Of 100000
to O-nine.tenths, as they would say, Of ali the
Free White Male Adults of the S!ate-and yet
this Constitution would have no more legal va
ldity than a series of Ward Meeting Resolu-
tons. True, they might establish and enforce
it by the power of numbers, Of bayoneis and
bludpeons; but their conduct would be Rebellion
and Usurpation and their troops would be brl.
gands and murderers.
Such, if we can read, are the established and
recognizadprinciples OF Rightful Popular Govern
ment, wherein the People act through the Law,
and deem all other const,aint on individual freedom
Tyranny AMI Violence. The Majority have no
original right to govern even the smallest minori
ty-if they do govern, tits by compact or by sheer
force. If seventy-6ve French and twenty fve
English sailors shsuld be cast away Simultaneous
ly on an uninhabited island, the smaller number
would owe no sort of obedience to the DEGREES Of
the larger, until some Social Compact STIMULATING
or implying such obedience should be formed.-
And herein is the essence of Freedom, that, in
yielding a hearty obedience TO law, new Con
stitut;on. new Administration, which | have
struggled against to the utmost, d. not merely
obey majority which has outvo:ed me, but my
own compact, to be governed by such laws, by
such rulers, as the prescribed legal power Of the
State shall create. THIS every constitutional act
ofa riehtful Government is the ac!of the whole
People, and must be obeyed and respected as such
Time and again have We challenged the Dorr-
ties to point us to one State, one instance, in
which Political Franchises have been extended in
tho manner attempted by Dorr in Rhode Island
that is, by the original action of these not pre-
viously invested with the Right OF Sufftagc. They
do not, for they canuot, point 10 any. In every
one of more than twenty instances in different
States of the Extension of Sufliage, it was the
work of Convention called by The Legislative
authority of the State-that is, by those who
before were Legal Voters. Right well is thi:
known TO Dofr and his adherents, And when We
ind them, whether en- the stump or in the pulpit
II