Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-07-16

the great thinkers of every age, as master
in the science of government. 1t is the key
word to all the unnumbered mysteries o
checks and balances which have hitherto
clogged the proper development of this great
science
1t has been the fashion to assail the com.
promise between the upper and lower divi.
sions as mere arbitrary arrangement, not
founded upon any principles of abstract JUS
tice. But we would ask, can there be any
mere abstraction acknowledged in The con.
stituency of any, the freest government on
earth? Even in the narrow sense of these
obiectors, where is the abstract justice by
which sixty thousand voters in South Caro-.
lima govern population Of more than six
hundred thousand, if population should be
the only element represented! Where is the
principle which would make it more just that
a freeman should have his slaves-which are
his, and not the State's-represented as pop.
ulation-which they are not, strictly, in a
free repubic-rather than as property, which
they are! Is it not itself contradiction of
abstract justice that slaves, which have no
personal rights except by mere convention,
should be known in the body polite as per-
sons, rather than as taxable chattes, which
they are. There might be some logic in
government Of freemen, in excluding slaves
from the constituency of law making power;
but every conceivable abstraction demands,
if they are known in the State at all, that
they should be known only as property.
But who but a fanatic would assert that this
great interest, now exceeding in point of
numbers our whole white population, should
not have more than the guarantees of pro.
lection of ordinary chattles afforded to TT
In respect of the element Of election dis
tricts in the basis Of representation, what
interest can the middle districts have in cut.
ting down the senatorial protection now
possessed by the lower country, and thus
throwing the whole State--themselves nclu.
ded-under the domination of the mountain
districts? Would it not be prudent in the
medium sized, or smaller districts in every
part of the State, not to lend too willing ears
to the clamor of the larger districts; that abb
stract justice has been violated in allowing
the parishes an equal representation with
themselves, lest they should find, in turn,
when it is too late to repair the error, that
under the same clamor, they will be des.
poiled of their own territorial protection, by
being abridged in their own senatorial rep
resentation?
We will conclude number already too
BIZ JUhp Jtith tb enear that if
Northern and Southern sections of.sthis
Union--giving, for the sake Of peace, pre-.
dominance in the Senate to the one, and
predominance in the House Of Representa-.
tives to the other--we cannot see what in
Justice would be done to either; while the
bane of the times, Northern sectional aggres-
sion might possibly be curbed.
We will not, therefore, admit that the
State--the common mother of US all-has
necessarily done any injustice to either of
the sections of her territory, when she com.
promised their conflicting claims, and secured
them against each other for all future time,
by making precisely that arrangement, viz,
giving the lower country majority in the
Senate, and the upper country majority in
the House of Representatives. And though
neither section may have been perfectly sat
isfed with the details Of the adjustment be.
fore it was made ard it may not, in every
respect, be satisfactory to our own minds)
after it was solemnly agreed upon, neither
party may, with honor, endeavor to annul it
by stcaltby indrection, but, if it must be re.
pealed, is bound to attempt it, in the same
open manner in which it was enacted.
UPPER COUNTRY.
Monday Morning, May 26, 1856.