Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-06-11

,tiiair absolute democracy, and rel I'face them
with constitutional republic. They will
thus have demonstrated 10 themselves, that
they have emerged from form Of gorcrn-
meut, in whici, their rights were absolute,
vet, mono secure, to one, in which by well
adjusted chicks upon their own power, they
had sccarcd the highest d"gTee OF Liberty;
from dcspotis",, in which the will OF 4
bare najoriiy WAS supreme, TO Il free COM
monwcaIth. in which the weakest citizen
may defy the oppression Of The whole
State Itself; from an absolute den ocFacy,
in which, life, and liberty, and property were
held at the caprice Of the hour, to Il constr
rational republic, in which tie power oil
numbers was dispensed under the auspices
of law and order; in which balance ol
power conserved the rights OF r,inorl;Ics;
anl in Which all lis action, delayed through
well ordered removes, was crowned with the
wisdom OF the second thought.
The philosophy of the republican forms
Of government may be summed up in word.
1t is impossible, where the powers OF ail are
coual, to rule without being ruled. When,
therefore, rights are unlimited, the ruling
power is absolute; but where they are re-
s.ricted by common checks, that power Is
10 some extent restrained. Every surrender,
therefore, Of :. power which an individual
may capriciousiy exercise, secures so much
frcadom for it preserves him from the Cal
pricinus exercise Of it in others.
Now the dac measure of tie surrender OF
the rights necessary to attain these high
ends, will always be a problem, hccahse it
is not L matter of demonstration, but ol
Judgment. But ii its ulterior limit may not
be defined, yet there is Il point short OF
which it may not stop. Every system OF
liberty must embrace all those maxlms and
conventions which the common sense OF
mankind in every age has approved. Law
is, itso!f but the embodiment of the maSims
Of experience; and the Whole structure oil
our society rests upon well established con.
ventions. THUS, in theory, all men are SOW.
ereign; but the conventional sovereignty
resides in the voters. Again, it is OF the
essence of soverei ynty that it las no supe-
rior. An extremist would assert that women
and mnorss are cn:lavcd because they are
excluded from Tie ballot box. But who
l,t 2 radical or n,a,lnan would change this
state Of things for Il mere abstraction!
Again, in theory, the abstract idea of equal
RIGHTS has been run into Aboltionism. In
practice, it is our boast, that "slavery Is
the very corner stone Of our republican
edifce." In short, all the radicalsm which
clogs the civilization of our day, is but tue
,!erivalivc of Acknowledged rights, urged to
an extreme.
We c,I the nltrasts who cmhracc these
distractions, faua:cs; aHd so they arc. But
tey are only tie s:"a! leading minds AMI
their followers, who have or!run the ge"in
of Il cir idea To the goal to which i: tends.
c=ow of all the distractions upon which
the theory of republic rests, an unqnai'i.
cd reception of none las been more insisted
on lban that which asserts the capacity OF
the pcoplr for self government They have
h.cn nrunounccd ilalI;br omnp"te't; and
Their voice l.ls been impiousiy called the
aWomen an., minors constitute f'nr'h'hs "i r our
white ppnnla,ffn The p"wcr OF the State Is lisreiF
in ih. hands of fifth oF its white. or nnr.i"n' "i
;rs who'll, popalnn LIT the reader recall 'He pop'iI
Iapn of his own district and he may see ivr himself
y hat nropor,ion OF il is actually soYereiSn.