Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1874-04-30
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body. The earnest and astute body, Of
statesmen who, created a republican form
81. government, and who designed that
glorious Instrument for. security Of them
selves and their posterity, disregarrdsd
forms when they counseled q separation
from the mother country, ,on "a the ground
the. tssslen aithoqsayplp III tly
senta.ion was a form without substance,
however much ,doctrinaires Of thas age
might show the beauty Of f'the Brjtiab
Constitution And nd when lie nnsS NE contemplate
that taxation, without t2fs representa- mas
the sole cause Of our separation from Tie
crown Of Great Britain. are arsi we es' not ire;
sistibly brought to tie isantclsi conclusion that
that right Of representation as condition
precedent to taxation was was the very corbes
stone Of that republican, Sedifce gulHl gutlIHhtl..
teed to each State 81, Tie new cconftdsrrate
nation which Washington Jefferson
Adams, and Rutledge Intended to secufe
to us? '''i''ps '..'ioii39f G'' 9a8 i
Suppose every State in the Union had
such a form and practice Of government
as now exists In South Carolina, and the
same principle Of aact;lion should extend
itself Gas it surely would to the Federss
Government: how long would the Consti-
tuticn continue to guarantee republican
form to itself? But we haves the stestii:.l
mony Of the wise farmers and commenta
tors on the Constitution itselt on this
subject. Mr.. Hamilton, in his No. 81 oil
the Federalist, while defending the Con:
stisution, ,to insure its adoption by the
States, writes as follows: :aag ,...
1T s.of greatlimportance in n republic
not only to guard society against the cps
preston Of rulers. but to guard one part
of society against the injustice efthe otner
part. Justice is the end of government;
it is the end Of civil society; it ever has
been aud ever will be pursued until itSi65e.
obtained, or until liberty be lost in the
pursuit. In society under the forms of
which the stronger factions can readily
unite and ,oppress the weaker anarchy
may as truly be said to reign us in state
of nature when the weaker individual is
not secured against the violence of the
strong. u.
Is not this the acknowledged condition
of South Carolina by the evidence ad-.
duced from leading and official men who
direct its affairs at present?
Jefferson, in letter to Madison, says
"The executive power in our Govern.
ment is not the only, perhaps not even
the principal, object of my solicitude.
The tyranny of'thc legislature is really
the danger most to be feared"
And, of course, a tyrannical legislature
is one of the elements which the power
of the Federal Government was intended
to guard against under the guarantee Of
the fourth article of the Constitution
Madison remarked in the conventions:
"An increase ofpopulation will, of neces
sity, increase the proportion of those who
will labor under all the hardships of life
and secretly sigh for more equal distri-
button of its blessings. These may in
time outnumberg those who are placed
above feelings of Indulgence. According
to the equal laws Of suffrage, tire power
will slide into the hands of the former;
no agrarinn attempts have yet been made
in this country, but symptoms of level
ing spirit, as we have understood, have
sufficiently appeared in certain quarter
to give notice of the future danger. How
is this danger to be guarded against on
republican principles? How is the dan
ger in all cases of interested coalitions to
Cypress the minority to be guarded
against2" The guarantee clause of the
Federal Constitution answers the ques-
ton, and it has been reserved to the
present time to justify the wisdom of that
provision. Mr. Gerry, in his reply to this
said: "He did not deny tho position of