Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1852-03-24


natural and proper guardian, which cannot, con-
sistently with mans dignity and freedom, be en-
trusted TO any government however organized,
and that, in the Constitution and frame work OF
society, those rights should be so trenched round
and fortified as TO be made forever impregnabie
against all manner of governmental intervention.
This is the principle upon which the Constitution
of &c was founded.
This idea, that the powers of the State are not
absolute: that the citizen has, or can have, any
rights as against the State; that his life, liberty,
property, himself and everything that Is his, are
not within the sovereign control and disposition
of the State: this idea, as have already intlma-
ted, is peculiar to modern civilization and the
distinguishing glory of modern liberty. 1t has
no place in the ancient world. 1t was introduced
as we shall presently see, into modern Europe ny
those northern barbarians, who overthrow the
Roman Empire, and who, bringing 1T with them
from the woods of Germany, infused 1t as a new
and vital element into the second clvlllzatlon
of the European races. In the ancient world
upon the contrary, the 0mnipotenee OF the state
was fundamental id "a, and that ancient liberty
of which we hear so much-the boasted liberty of
Greece and Rome--was ctUlI, and not personal
1iberty,-mans liberty as citizen and not as an
Individual: his franchises and privileges as men,
Der of society, and not his rights against soci-
ty. The idea that that there was or could be any
thing useful or desirable to the general society,
which that society had not perfect right to ex-
act of every individual member of it, was never
conceived by any philosopher or statesman
of Greece or Rome. And in an age and country
where the jurisdiction of government is more or
less limited, and where personal independence and
individual free agency, in greater or less degrees,
are fundamental maxims, it is almost impossible
to form any Just conception of the extent to which
the ancient Republics pushed the despotlsm OF
society over the citizen. The powers exercised
by those Republics were not merely civil and po-
nal. The government placed itself an loco paren-
It's to every citizen, directing his whole education
for him, prescribing what he should eat and what
he should drink, when he should marry and
whom he should marry, which children he should
rear and which he should sacritice-ln word,
it took charge of his entire existence, public and
private from the cradle to the grave; thinking for
him. acting for him, doing everything for him,
leaving him nothing to do for himself, and call
ing upon him at every turn, to lay down the
deepest instincts of human nature, and the dear
est affections of the human heart as sacrifice on
the altar of an memorable State policy. This des-
potism of the society over the individual which
reached its greatest intensity at Sparta, was a
fundamental political maxim In all the free Re-
publics of antiquity. 1t was one of the badges
of its oriental origin, which the first civilization
of Europe retained to the last, and which was
the cause both of it's rapid development, and its
yet more rapid decline.
This principle, then, lying at the basis of ouI
government, and so important in the annals o.
Constitutional liberty-the principle, l mean
which draws a line between the government ant
the indvidual-has no place in the ancient world
1t is, as [ have stated, of comparatively recent
and, as [ shall now show, Of faudal and arasto
cratic origin.
We hear great deal, in our times, in common
dation of the free spirit of the Saxon laws, ant
there is much Justice in these eulogieS 1t Is
however, an ndsputable fact-truth requires MI
to speak tit is an indisputable fact that al
those limitations and restrictions, which the Anne
rican people have everywhere imposed upon tn
omnipotence of their governments, are of Nor
man descent, land that those great principles whic
now lie at the foundation of the Liberties of tn
Democratic Anglo Saxon Republics of Mort
America, have been transmitted from the bosom
of proud and naughty aristocracy; that Nor
man arlStocracy, which, In the mother country
ruled our fathers for centuries with tyranny a
relentless and remorseless as any the world ha
ever seem This, the Norman branch of thu
great European peerage, is the original source
from which our American Democratic Anglo Sax
on Republics have derived their high-born liber
ties. Strange it may seem, the fact is So
1t is history, irrefutable history. | shall maxi
this perfectly plain, and it should teach us tina
the ways of God are not the ways of man.
should also teach US humility, and to repose will
resolute hope and confidence, on that Providence
which
ssOut of evil, still seeks to bring forth good.''
The English from whom we descended
trace back all their liberties to Magma Charta.-
Now what is Magma Charta! Is it not a Feuda
Charta? And what is feudal charta, when analy
tically and philosophcally considered! Is it no
an instrument drawing line between the pow
ers of the crown and the rights of the feudal ba
rons! And is not Magma Charta (the greatest o
feudal Chartas,) an instrument drawing line be-
between the powers of the English kings and the
rights of English barons; guaranteeing certain
rights and privileges to those barons, which the
King shall, under all circumstances, respect and
hold sacreds And what are the rights and priv.
1eges thus guaranteed in Magma Charta to the ba-
rons of England? Here they are; ''that no tax
shall be levied upon them except by their free
CONSENT" that emo fine shall be imposed, unless
by the Judgment of their peers;" that emo free
man shall be injured or impaired in person or es-
tate, banished or despoiled of his Inheritance, y
unless by the same Judgment, and many others,
the most important of which have all of them
the security of person and property for their end
and object.
And now, as to the origin of these rights and
liberties guaranteed to the barons of England in
Magma Charta; what was it! Were they usur-
patons; encroachments made by the barons,
arms in hand, upon the legitimate prerogatives of
the crown? Not so. Lord Coke, and all writers
upon Magma Charta, tell us that that instrument
was declaratory Declaratory of what! l an
swer, of the ilnmemorial common law of feuds;
Of those ancient rights and franchises, which were
the brthright and inheritance of the feudal peer
age everywhere, but which the English barons
had lost by the usurpations of the crown during
the first century after the conquest. Magma
Charta was but reclamation of those lost lights
and franchises, after the pressure of those cir
cumstances, out of which the loss had sprung,
had passed away. For more than a century af-
ter the Conquest Duke William and his Norman
followers were but band of soldiers encamped
in the midst of people, subjugated, it is true,