The southern press., 1851-05-03
VOL. II
THE SEARCH AFTER TRUTH.

B
THE SEARCH AFTER TRUTH.
D., who was a sincere and ardent enquirer
after truth, complained to me that with all his
pains he often ended in doubt rather than convic-
ton; and that he sometimes thought it was safer
to cling old errors, than lose ones way in search
of new truths, without ever finding them. doubt
If he was not right, since il is safer to be safely
anchored in shoal water sand banks, than floating
about at random in the great deep without rudder,
compass, or pilot. After all, implicit faith is
salutary check on the vagaries of human vanity
and presumption.
Taxes should be laid on spendings, not earn
lings. They should be direct, 20 that all may
know what they pay, and be thus prepared to
check the extravagance Of government; and they
should be as light possible, since the less peo
pie pay for the protection Of their rights, the bet
ter are they protected in general. s
LEGISLATION.
Nothing is more common than to see the news
papers railing at Congress for spending SO much
time in speech-making instead oflaw making; but
for my part, ! think the former by far the most
harmless of the two It seems rather strange that
three score-years Of legislation, during which 1
presume, on an average, two or three thousand
laws have been passed by Congress and the State
legislatures annually, that any necessity should
exist for perpetual legislation. Men are the same
they were sixty years ago. in their nature, pas
sions, and pursuits, and one might reasonably
suppose the same laws would answer the same
purposes Of public utility, unless our ancestors
were deplorably ignorant in the f.st instance.
But go far from this being the case, the necessity
for increasing them, seems to increase with their
multiplication, inasmuch that few of our legisla-
tive bodies now adjourn without enacting from
one to three hundred new laws, the shortest of
which is longer than the decalogue, and not few
Of them so complicated and minute, as to con-
# iund not only the judges who are to interpret,
but the legislators who passed them. Such is
their multiplicity and complexity, that if men
were to rely on them for the government ftheir
conduct in their relations towards each other,
they would be set adrift on an ocean of uncer-
tainty. Fortunately, however, most men have
some ideas of their rights and duties, independent
lily of the statutes which may be said to be innate
such as the sense fjustice, and the obligations
of truth-and do not require to be initiated by hu-
man legislation into that knowledge which is de-
rived from heaven.
Yet one might suppose from the meddling. busy
interference of our lawmakers, in the direction Of
our business, our domestic relations, pur amuse-
ments, habits, manners and morals, that this wise
generation of men, which, like the Mississippi
boatmen Scan dive deeper, stay under longer, and
come up drier, than any or all that have pre-
ceded them, were utterly ignorant Of what was
best for themselves, and what was due to others
The time seems close at hand when a man will
not be able to take pinch of snuff and sneeze,
without an act of Congress, or at least the State
legislature. Let them then, in heavens name,
indulge the itch for talking-it is better than the
itch for lawmalking. The production Of a wise
and salutary system Of laws, is one ofthe highest
efforts of the human intellect and il should never
be forgotten that in theChrstian world, their code
Of laws, SO far as respects the moral duties at
least, may be distinctly traced to the ten COM
mandments of God, and the precepts Of the Saw
ior. Yet every pettifogger in law; every tyro in
philosophy; every fanatic in religion; every cob
Ter and every political tinker nowadays, fancies
he can improve on infinite wisdom, and go be-
yond infinite power. lfincreasing pride and pre-
sumption, be, as the Scripture AYERS, an omen Of
the speedy downfall Of man, then may we reason
ably expect soon to see the fu6llment Of Father
Miller g predictions. Like "Agnes my wife, the
plague of my life" in the German tale, we began
by wishing ourselves translated from hut in a
ditch to pleasant cottage and garden; then to a
splendid palace, then to become king, next an
emperor, next pope, and finally the Almighty. If
we don't take care, we may, like her, be sent back
TO the old hut in the ditch again.
THE SOVEREIGNTY or THE PEOPLE.
The frequent appeals to the sovereignty Of the
people have produced in their minds very errone-
GUS impressions, as to its powers and limitations.
Il is not an unqualified sovereignty, for that,
whether exercised by millions, or single person
would be sheer despotism. The sovereignty OF
the people ofth United States is restrained and
limited by the Constitution. and till that is altered
by the assent and authority Of three-fouths-not
Of the people, but ofthe States-the majority is
bound by solemn compact not TO 60 beyond the
limits OF the authority which il confers. The
sovereignty Of the people is therefore not, like
that Of an absolute monarch, the mere exercise Of
the will. Il has its limits strictly prescribed, and
If the people wish to 60 beyond them, they must
first remove these barriers in the manner pre-
scribed by the compact to which they originally
assented, and by which they are bound, until al.
tered or abrogated in the only mode authorized
by the instrument ITSELF This is the only secur-
ity to the rights of minority, or even msjori-
ty. In its absence, even the latter may be ag-
grieved and oppressed by an act Of Congress.
passed by the casting vote Of a presiding officer,
in direct opposition to their feelings their inter-
es,s. In compmenting the people on their SOW
ereignty, il would be well occasionally to add
ciihin The limits prescribed by The Consultation. So
long as these remdn, the people are not ab'oiute sor-
sreigns.