Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-09-05

3 Constitution itself, N II can enact u'
valid laws except such as the Constitu
. ton permits.
SO depressed, the will Of the people is thr
law Of the land, and 80 it ought to be
e But General GRANT did not refer to thu
will Of the people constitutionally ex
pressed IS law. He meant, on the con
q trary, that the President and every one
. else concerned in the government Of tbs
; country ought to do whatever they
might in any mode ascertain to be th'
wish Of the people at any given moment
E 20 that the popular caprice should be, j
possible, instantly uttered in legislation
and carried into effect in Executive ae.
d ton. That doctrine, we again say, /:
? a~trocious. The object Of the COnstitu.
ton Of the United states was to prevent
r that very evil, which would immediately
make the government = turbulent and
unregulated democracy, ike that o.
Athens.
General GRANT meant that the pres
ent pleasure and will Of the majority Of
numbers is the supreme and paramount
law. 1t never grGs 50 in the United
states. and never was meant TO be so.
II If were. II it had been, how could Del
sware and Rhode Island have two votes
E each in the Senate, and New York no
more? If it were so, how came Mr.. LIN
colin to be President In 1851, when there
were g4S,J 900 more votes given for electors
who voted against him, than for those
who voted for aims There were sixteen
States ia which be did not receive g sin
gle electoral vote.
The object Of the Constitution was to
prevent the evils that in all republics
have sprung up, to the ruin and destruc-
ton of the Commonwealth, from the
tyraunical despotism Of the mere major
ity Of numbers. The men who made the
Consultation knew that the mere majority
Of individuals had no natural right o rule
the minority against their consent. Sup
pose there were SO, 999 electors ia s. state,
and they divided into a majority Of Sc, 900
and 3 minority Of A., 9g9, and two Of the
majority were after q time to die. If the
rfghf TO rule would then sniFt from the
majority 10 the minority, and il il would
do 50 upon one Of the msj3rity dsserting
and going over to the minority, is that
not 20 say that one man has the power
10 make masters or slaves OF 1888 men
at his pleasure?
The majority Of numbers in the United
l States have no right at all to rule, unless
they eau succeed in doing so under and
accordance with the Constitution. That
instrument was made by the people Of
thirteen independent and sovereign
States. Nobody doubts that they JCers
/ sovereign and independent when it
was made, whatever they have become
since. The purpose Of the trainers was
! that the sober, settled, we'd and maturely
considered opinions and convictions Of
the people, not Of the mob or p~ODUlHce,
should be condensed and concentrated,
and, as it were, cbry5tILissd into law,
after they had taken counsel OF their
wisest and best men, and Of their wi
reason and reflection that the viii Of
the people should not pour over the
country to sweep away all restraints i'm
posed by wisdom and prudence, and in
hict on it all the curses Of an unbridled,
Iicsntious, impassioned, tickle, deIuded,
misled. foolish and often malignant and
always tyrsnDicsl and intolerant democ-
racy, like the Amazon overlooking 8
country large enough for 3 Kingdom, or
the sea tearing away its restraining dikes
and devastating Holland; but that this
wild energy and immense force should
be conducted by devious ways and long
circuits, and with long delays, to issue
forth at lastin well-c0nsidered legislation
and administration; as the waters Of the
Nile were conveyed by canals and re-
ceived into reservoirs, 10y the wise old
kings Of Egypt, TO overflow the land in
moderation, and enrich aud f]ertilize it.
The will Of the people, instantly act
ing with all its tremendous energy and
intensity Is law, would be like the in
mense and terrible force Of one of those
great engines, driven by steam, which,
permitted to act without restraint, tears
and skaters itself to pieces, by the rs-
pidity and violence Of its own move.
ment. If it Uere the law Of the land, in
the sense in which General GRANT used
a phrase familiar to the demagogues and
military usuTpers Of al ages, what were
the use OF need OF any Constitution at
all?
The Constitution was made, also, to
protect minOrities and the States, against
the despotism Of numbers. It was and
IS q solemn compact, contract and agree
ment, outside Of Ubieh Congress has no
DoCers at all. Not the doctrine that the
mere majority has the right to rule, but
the principle that minorities and single
States have rights that the majority and
the other States cannot infringe o is
the foundation Of our national Govern
ment. The weight Of numbers does not
make right, here, nor ever did make it
any where.
The Senate does not represent the ma
jority Of numbers. It represents the
States. A Senator may not ever repre-
sent the majority Of numbers in his own
state. In that body miBorities are repre-
scented because Nevada has as many
votes as Ohio. The President does not
represent the majority Of numbers for
Delaware has three electoral votes.
though only one representative in Con-
gress. Representation in the House is in
proportion to the population. II We as
sumo that the number OF voters is equally
propOrtioned to the population every
where, the electoral vote Of MARYLAND
has 800 per cent. more weight than her
number Of voters would give her while
New York with t~hirty-six repre-
seDtatives, has, with her two adj
ditonal electoral votes for her
Senators, only six per cent. more
that is, every individual vote In Della.
ware and the same is the case with
Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska and Ore
gon, counts nearly as much, 10 the
election for President, as three votes in
New York.
The will Of The people is not the law ia
making and ratifying Treaties. They
are made by the President aud can only
be ratified by ~two-thirds Of the Senate.
The majority Of Senators does not govern
Ia that, aud the representative Of num-
befs 10 the House are not consulted.
And yet Treaties are part or the Supreme
law Of the land.
The President may even be elected by
the States, 10 the House Of Representa-
tives, each State having one vote.
The representative Of numbers cannot
make any law. The vote Of the States.
in the Senate, must concur. The Presi-
dent, representing a minority Of mum
bers, may interpose bis veto, and then a
majority Of each House cannot enact the
law. It requires two-thirds and after
all. the Supreme Court whose Judges
the majority Of numbers does not elect,
annuI the law by pronouneing 1t
unconstitutional