Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-08-19

! ter reason than this for placing himself ID op'
position to the great republican principle
that the people, and a majority of the people
have a right 70 decide great questions Of thil
! kind for themselves, | must expect him t
, weld bis resistance to this plain, simple, AMI
, emphaticaIly democratic mode Of settling thi.
perplexing question
But. sir have not done with this matter
vet. | am no democrat IN the modern ant
party sense of that word Nor do profes:
the people. Ny public acts are the best evil
dence on that point. | cannot forget, how
ever, that the very foundation upon which
our whole political system rests. is the maxim
that the people, especially as to all disputes
arising among their agents, are the tribuna
( Of last and iual resort, from whose decision
there is no appeal How, then. stands the
case? 1t is agreed on all sides that the
work of our hands--any Constitution we may
agree upon--is to be subjected to the ordeal
Of the popular vote; yes sir, the vote simply
of numbers--not any ledgerdemain of q
mixed basis vote, where the voice OF one man
is to count more than another, but the real
democratic process Of voting man to man.
|
ment About one great principle, however
of that instrument we are unfortunately di-
yided in such a manner as to threaten dlsas-
ter to the Commonwealth. Clouds and dark
ness are, or at least have been, very recently
all around our horizon. A wild and danger
Gus spirit of fanaticism in the North, and a
scarcely less dangerous or defensibls rage in
the South for disunion with all it's direiul
consequences, rendering it infinitely more
important than at any other period of our
State history, that Virginia should be unit,
one and ndivisble, bound together not only
in the forms of common government but in
principle in feeling. in sympathy, and in
| real brotherhood Under these circumstan-
| ces the West comes forward and tenders to
the East an appeal to our common masters,
the sovereign people of the State, to deter
mine, as a separate proposition, this danger
GUS and dis.raeting question. And yet such
a proposal is scornfully repealed by our East
ern friends; and in reply they contcmptuous-
ly ask "Do YOU think us so green as to
agree to submit such a question to the peo-
pie when We know that the people are agains.
us? We had rather vote the suffrage basis
at once" No sir. we have in our hands, say
they, the power of the governmental MAORI
ty, and before it, the great popular majority
of The people must bow.
! know nothing, Mr. Chairman, Of the
spirit of freedom know nothing Of the ir-
resistable force Of popular sovereignty, and
have studied human nature in its broadcast
aspects to little purpose if mistaken in be-
lleving that this assumption can never pre-
vail in this land, and that fooner or later the
popular voice will sweep it and its authors
into political humiliation. Sir, it will be no
excuse to say we were acting by power of
attorney, and in the terms of the commission
We cocld find 10 specific grant Of the power
to submit these alternative PROPOSITIONS to
tina people. An attorney. i'll tact, or agent,
requires no such authority to recommend to
his principal whatever he may deem advan-
tageous to the interests of that principal
much less does be require a specific authori-
ty for submitting point of difficulty to his
principal--in other words, TO ask instruction
from him. In conclusion Of this part of the
subject, must be permitted to say, without
meaning disrespect to any one, and least of
all to my friends from Loudoun and from
Henry, that weak indeed must be the cause,
and terrible the stress of necessity which
compcls gentlemen of their intelligence re-
sources Of mind, and sound judgement, to
occupy such grounds as these.
Why, then, Is our appeal unhecded : Isit
alone because you know that the result of
that election would be to condemn your fa-
yorite scheme VIII you, in opposition to
the advice of George Mason, refuse to do
what is right in itself, what is right upon
every principle Of repubicanism in its broad
est sense, what is right upon the sacred and
immutable principles of justice and fair deal.
ing, because, peradventurc it may cause the
sceptre to depart from the hands of Judah
You will have to meet it here. 1t will be
presented to you and trust that my East
ern friends will not evade it--that they will
not, by any parliamentary device, avoid the
responsibility of coming up to the mark
They have the nerve, it would seem, to do
anything, and hope they will come up to
the scratch and if they will not allow us to
test the strength Of our respective positions
before the people at large, let every member
of this body, by fair and direct vote. boldly
meet the consequences. Let us see whether
our people in the lower end of the valley will
take the one or the other Let them deter
hiine, alter respectfully considering the sage
counsels Of my friend from the County of Es
sex (Mr. NJ. Il. Ii. Garnct) whether, in
deed, it involves an act of judicial blindness,
to sympathise with, and adhere to, the for
tunes of our Western brethren in this strug
gle between i'll gotten or at least ILL., retained
power on the one side, and justice, right, and
republican equality on the other? Whether,
indeed. the position We occupy, being that
by which we cannot gain, but may ultimate
ly lose political power, does not imply some
degree o. disint rested chivalry-- an element Of
character heretofore supposed to long excu-
sively to our friends the sons of The Cavaliers
Mr.. Chairman, intended on this occasion
to have directed the attention of the commit
tee with some degree of particularly, and
somewhat in detail to the principles land
down, and objects contemplated in the report
made by the committee to raise upon the
specific subject of limitations, &c.
am very unwilling to detain the commit
tee just now, as the subject will come up
hereafter in different form.
SEVERAL MEMBERS Go on! 90 on E?
Mr. lluNrFn | will tbon on1oou.. A.