Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1846-03-12

reform claim to have the right to call con-
venuon of delegates from the people?
If the right is an unalienable right it can
no more be transferred by the people to al
convention than it can be to the Legislature.
A convention composed of any number less
than the whole. or a majority of the whole
people, would be body Of delegated pow
t. ers only; and if the right to form new or
abolish an old government is right unal-
enable in the people, no such right can be
transferred by them to any such convention.
The advocates of conventional reform, there
fore, cannot fail to discover that such argu-
rments have tendency 10 defeat, ii they are
not entirely suicidal to their own objects,
and the undersigned will have reason to-
congratulate themselves, if none more for
midable shall be presented to their conside-
I ration.
i The undersigned yield their most unqua-
! lined assent to that great and fundamental
principle Of the Bill of Rights, which de-
clares, ''lhat all government, of right, orlgl-
mates from the people, is founded IN COM
pact only, and instituted solely for the good
of the wholeo By this, we understand,
the trainers of our Government to maintain,
in opposition to the theory of the divine
right of kings, on which the monarchical
: governments of the old world are based,
4 that the people are the rightful source of
power; and that all government is derived.
from, and founded on, their consent. But
when government has once been established
by the people, with their consent, and in
execution Of the compact, the undersigned
feel constrained to believe, that the trainers
of that sacred instrument meant also TO
maintain, that such government, when form
ed, is binding on the people to the remotest
generations, until changed or altered in the
, mode prescribed by the Form of Govern
ment itself, or until it becomes perverted
from its original uses, and wholly destruc-
tive of the ends for which it was instituted.
5 The article of the bill of rights now I'M
der review, has reference more Immediately
to the rights and power Of the people in the
!, original formation of government, than ii
f has to the effect and binding force of gov
? eminent Oh them when established. But
io-n44-r-~s-~--~'f at-ins trument- tie I'M
t dersigned discover the least justification for
: the doctrines now openly maintained, that
the people in the uncontrolled power OF
their might have the unlimited right to al
} ter and abolish governments of their own
formation whenever it may please them to
: do so. The undersigned submit that such
| principles are fraught with the most disas-
r trous consequences to human liberty ITSELF
: and if carried to their practical results must
e necessarily end in the destruction of all
, good government, and finally in the estab-
l Iishment of anarchy and despotism.
The government of Maryland is a gov
S eminent founded in comprehend COM
! pact between the people and the conven-
t ton which framed it, or between the people
l., and the Legislature, but compact by and
S among the people themselves-one with
} the other-all with each, and each with all;
i, by which they have agreed for the good oil
2 the whole, not only to be bound, but to re-
t main bound, so long as the original ends OF
2 the compact are preserved. A compact
/ which protects the weak against the strong,
f the rights of minorties against the en-
} croachments of majorities-and secures to
each and the whole all the privileges and
!, rights contemplated by it. The constitu-
] ton and the bill of rights are the fruits Of
e this compact, and constitutes the basis on
= which it now rests
s They contain provisions by which a
S change or alteration in the form of govern
;. ment can be made whenever a change is de-
e sired. These provisions ought to be adj
: hered to SO long as they stand unrepealed
They are the fundamental law of the land
/ and are therefore binding with the force oil
e law, upon the whole people of the State
e and upon each one of them. The under
\ signed would regard change of the con-
\ stitution, in any other mode than the one
}. provided for in that instrument, as viola
f ton of lis own provisions, and, consequent
= ly, imperative and void. A change of 60
i vernment under such circumstances could
= never become legitimate it would be but
# usurpation at last, and would SO continue
= until the end Of time-never to be justified
e upon any of those great and cardinal prn-
0 cipIes of civil liberty which sanctify revo-
S lutions and render usurpations just.
III But while the undersigned have SO far
r agreed with the ma ority of the committee,
= that the Legislature have under existing
circumstances no constitutional power to
call convention 10 form new constitu-
y ton, they have felt themselves constrained
d to differ from the majority as to the expe-
dency of SO amending the ilty-ninth arti-
: Gle of the present constitution as to pro-
] vide for the call of convention of the peo-