Herald of the times, and Rhode Islander. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1846-1849, 1848-02-10

liciiy Of its representative system. IT has waih
us, allow me to- say, somewhat different orr
!. gin from the representation OF the Commons IN
i England, though that has been worked up TO
some resemblance of our own system. The
representative system in England originated
: not in any supposed rights of the people them
selves, but in the necessities and commands Of
the crown. At first knights and burgesses
were summoned TO a parliament called by tho
j King, often against Their will. Many remon-
!, stranccs were presented against sending up
these representatives; the charge of paying
them was felt to be burdensome by the people.
: But the King wished their counsel and advice,
and perhaps the presence OF the popular body,
10 enable him to make greater headway against
I the feudal barons in the arstocratlc and hered-
ilary branch of the legislature. In process of
/ time these knights and burgesses assumed
! more and more popular character and became
/ the guardians of popular rights. The people
! through them obtained. protection against the
| encroachmenis of the 81, wn and the aristocra-
! cy, I'll in our day they are understood TO be
! the Representatives Of the People, charged
I with the protection of the rights of the people.
| With us it was always just So Representa-
! ton has always been this The power is with
| the people bat they cannot exercise II in mass
es or per capita; they can only excl else II by
us has been popular from tine beginning.
Well. the basis of this representation is suf-
irage. The right to choose representatives IL
every man part in the exercise Of sovereign
power TO have "A voice IN II, If he has the
proper qualifications, that Is the fundamental
exercise of political power by every e!cctor.-
That is the beginning. That is the mode in
which power emanatcs from It's source and gets
into the hands OF Conventions, Legislatures,
Courts of Law and the Chair of the EXecu-
tive. 1t begins In Suffrage. Suffrage is the
delegation the power ofan individual 10 some
agent.
II If this be so, then follow two other great
principles Of the American system
h |. The first is that the Right of Suffrage
shall be guarded, projected, secured against
force and against fraud and,
n 2. The second is, that It's exercise shall BE-
prescribed by previous law It's qualifications
Shall be prescribed by previous law the time
and place of It's exercise shall be prescribed by
previous law the manner of lis cXcrcise,-
under whose supervision always sworn oili-
/ GERS Of the laws tn be prescribed. And
j then again the results are 10 he certified 10 the
central power by some certain rule, by some
known public officers, by some clear and DEN
! mite form, 70 the end that two things may be
j done; first, that any man o.i!lled 10 vote,
may vote ; S,coad. that his vote may be sent
forward and counted, and SO he may exercise
his part OF sovereignty, IN common with his
fellow men.
/. In the exercise of political power through
representatives we know nothing, we never
have known any thing, but such an exercise
as should be carried through the prescribed
forms of law and when We depart from that,
we shall wander as widely from the American
track as the poe is from the track Of the
sun.
\ ! have said that it is one principle of the ~
merlcan System. that the people limit their
governments, national and state. They do So
but il is another principle, equally true and
certain, and according to my judgement Of
things. equally important, that the people Oft
en- hD,H hcmscIrtS. They set bounds to their
own lower. They have chosen To secure the
institutions they establish against the sudden
impulses of mere ajOnics- AL our lnsttL-
tons teen with instances of this. II was cher
great conservative principle, " constituting
forms of government, that they should secure
what they had established against sudden chan
ges of mere majoritcs. BY the fifth article Cf
the Constitution ofthc United States, Congress,
.two-hirds olboth Houses cUncurring, may pro-
pose amendments To the Constitution, or on the
application of the Legislatures of two-thirds OF
mcnis proposed in either Of these forms, must
be ratified by the Legislatures or Conventions
of threc-iourths of the States. The fifth art
Gle of the Constitution, If II was made "A topic
for those who framed the Peoples Consiltu-
ton" of Rhode Island could only have been
made "A topic of dcnuncaton. Ii gives no
countenancC to any of their proceedings or Ia
any thing like them. On the contrary, it is
one remarkable Instance of the enactment and
application of that great American principle
that the Constitution of Government should be
cautious and prudently mtcrierred with. and
that changes should not ordinarily be begun
and carried through by mere majoritics.
! But the people limit themselves also in other
ways. They limit themselves in this first cN-
ercse of their political rights. They limit
themselves, by all their constitution, in two
important rcspccts,--that is to say, in regard
to tho qualifications of electors, and in regard to
qualifications Of the eic1ed. In every State,
and in all the States, the people have preclud-
cd themselves from voting for anybody they
may choose they have limited their own
right of choosing. They have said We viii
elect no man who has not such and such quail
lfCatons. We VIII not vote ourselves unless
we have such and such qualifications. They
have also limited themselves Ia certain pre-
scrbrd forms for the conducts of clcctioEs.---
They must vote nj particular place.--at
particular time, and under particular conditions,
or not at all. 1t is in these modes thai We are
to ascertain the will of the American people;
and our constitution and laws know no other
mode We are not 10 take the will of the pco-
PIE from public meetings, nor from tunultuols
assemblies, nor from those assemblies OF the
people by which the prudent are alarmed, and
by which society is disturbed. These are not
American modes of sgniying the vii of the
people and they never were. lfanythirg ~ the
country, not ascertaincd by a regular vote, by
regular returns, and by regular representation,
has been established, II is an exception and not
the rulc,-lt Is an anomaly which, believe,
cannot be- found. II is true that at the Rcyo-
lut. ., when all government was immediately
dissolved, the people got together and what
did they do Did they exercise sovereign
power They began an incrpiyc organl2n-
iion the object of which was 20 get together
representatives of the people, who should form
a government This was the mode Of pro-
cecdng in those States where their legisa-
lures were Dissolved II was much like that
Il A l..