Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-07-16
SSSSauEsr.
From gSe Carolina Times.
THE RLH III 8.ILissGIEsTIaN. ]

We cannot ;foy8sh here making remark
though withost a9vs design to sustain it by
argument-thatt 66S con sttuton of South
Carolina in our ss seems to be specially
adapted to whatsWsald appear to be her own
peculiar policy.s
When Mr.. Caahem was taunted in the
immortal debatesaeI s33-perhaps by his
great adversaEYjsE. Webster-wth the
smallness Of theas}ate he represented, he
replied: " Wehs8been sneeringly told
that she is q ,suaE State; that her popula-
ton does not m1E6.exceed half million OF
souls; and that .a6fathan one half are not
of the EuropeanSsEe: The facts are so. |
know she neversssRbe great State; and
that the only disMstion to which she can
aspire must be baad ;on the moral and in
tellectual acquirshaats of her sons. To the
developernent ofdhase, much of her atten.
ton has been drssRd."
Small as she issle has her weight not
only in the confeasfacy, but in each individ.
ual State which: :edmposes it. And it is not
that her own citizens are wiser or better
than those Of heHmore populous sisters, but
in a great degreeAecause she has maintained
a policy, which, asWe have heretofore OBJ
served, has kept Hhem aloof from the dis.
fractions of fed@aE politics, and by this
means concentraisdsthe undivided love and
genius of her soKIpon her own domestic
affairs thus perfseting every branch of her
government, and Aeyeloping system of laws
that has won theEonfdence of her own citi.
zens and the admiration of her neighbors.
while at the SANG time they elevated the
tone of her peope
Nothing has more conduced to this than
the conservatism which springs from her
own peculiar organization; which it is one
of the proposed aims of the contemplated
change in our mode of electing the electors
to subvert. WeIegret that an attack has
been made uponltbe constitution in this ndi-
rect way. AnSopen and manly assault
would certainly !6e;more to the taste of those
who are not obliged to fortify their argu
ment by an appeal to prejudice instead Of to
reason. If theissheme by which power is
distributed in ouEconstitution is to be at.
tackled, let it beNene in a manner which
shall bring the nater before the people upon
its own merits; s;SsBnssabove all, let it not be
done in such asIeSsas shall make us false
to those who afsSaf own fellow citizens,
for the sake ofsameaspre which can only
ssitfif me state 1hts: Hes
The peculiar. feature of our own State
organization is, that representation in the
Legislature is distributed upon a basis of pop.
ulation, taxation, and election districts. Up.
on the excellence of this system, we have
no argument to offer y our concern is only
with the objection which makes the organi-
cation of the legislature itself an argument
against the appointment of the electors being
made by it.
We assert, then, that it is the interest of
every citizen of South Carolina to sustain
the present constitution Of the Legislature,
not as compromise between the Upper aud
Lower Divisions, but as in the main the most
efectual preseryative of the rights of the
people, that could possibly be devised.
Let citizen Of the State remove into any
portion of her territory he chooses, lie may
now feel secure that no combinations be.
tween other sections can avail to oppress
him. II he goes into the lower country, he
may be confident that no unequal burden
will be laid upon him there, through its sta.
pie productions (rice, for instance) because
that section has tine preponderance in the
Senate; or, if he goes into the upper coun.
try, he may feel the same security there, be.
cause that section has the preponderance in
the House.o Representatives In any dis.
trict of either section, Re is safe against the
imposition OF unequal burdens upon it by
the representatives of more populous dis
tricts because his district has, under the
constitution, an influence in the Senate equal
to that Of any other district.
The provision that each election district,
without reference to its size or population,
shall have but one Senator, is a most espe.
cial friend to the rights of the people; in
that it protects the more thinly settled agri-
cultural districts against the greater popula.
ton of the commercial districts. If popu-
iation alone should become the basis OF rep.
resentation, it is possible that single popu-
lous city may at some future time control
the whole State. Even with population and
taxation combined-yet were such combi-
nation made, the basis Of representation in
the Senate, as well as in the House of Rep.
resentatives-Cbarleston, with her present
representation Of eighteen members, or near
ly one.sixth Of the whole House, and her
additional quota Of members in the Senate,
might, with very little address, always prevail
to carry her measures, particularly measures
in which other cities throughout the State
might feel a community of interest With her.
But while the present constitution remains,
recognising an equal representation of each
election district.i in the Senate, combinations,
however skillful, among several districts
though they may succeed by a vote Of the
majority in the House-must always fail to
carry their point in the Senate.
But the feature of this constitution which
is most held up to public reproba,iou,
and through which the whole scheme of the
compromise is attacked, is that which re-
cognizes taxable property as an element of
representation. lis exhibited to the indi-
vidual citizen, as if the property of the rich
was made a means Of augmenting their in.
fluence in the government, to the extent of
their taxes. 1t is kept carefully out Of view
that no man has more than one vote; and
that the taxable property within each dis.
trict, being made to serve but the one pur'
pose of increasing the representation of that
.We refer those who would see the philosophy o.