The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-03-12

ture of his State and that respectable
Of the old Wing party had
maintained the same doctrine. In his
present paper he seems disposed to go
back on his own admission and to sup
port his monstrous theory by half doz-
en- or more precedents of $ disobedience
extending over nearly century OF the
governments existence. These . prece-
dents are the very exceptions which
we have asserted prove the rule OF the
right Of instruction. Against them, We
place the almost universal practice Of
State Legislatures contemPoraneous with
the men who framed the Constitution
down to this time, numbering probably
thousands of instances of - instruction
by Legislatures, and Of obedience by the
Senators. Take our own State, Missis-
sippi. for example. Scarcely Legisla-
ture has ever assembled since its organ
ization in which resolutions Of . instruc-
lions have not been passed with no one
to challenge its right to instruct and its
right to be obeyed. In her array Of
illustrious Senators heretofore occupying
seats. we know of none who have called
the right in question. In the list are
numbered the honored names Of Walker,
Chalmers, FoOte, Brown and Davis,
all of whom illustrated by their
own acts the sentiment expressed
by Hon. Robert j. Walker in his let
ter Of August 1886, that % as agent and
sercant Of the people, hare eIadeaUored to
represent their 1UiU" And so in every
State where 4 single precedent" is
found In support of the despotic princi-
pie championed by A. B. G. a thousand
examples can be found to over balance
it. Though smacking of laborious
search in the Congressional Libary and
the American Encyclopedia how few do
they number compared with the teem-
inc examples furnished by the people
through their Legislatures Of the asser-
ton of their right of instruction" on
the one hand, and the acknowledgment
of the duty of obedience by Senators on
the other. We do not care to follow
our correspondent in an examination of
the peculiar circumstances attending
the exceptions which he has cited to
the rule. We are even willing to adj
nit that considerations may some
times exist which would justify its VIC
lation For example we are in favor of
Jury trial and the punishment of crime
by legal process, and yet there are
cases of criminality so revolving and
bestial (for instance the alta ok on te
male innocence and helplessness) that
we think the protection of society de
mands that they should be punished with
justice administered by the court OF Judge
Lynch. And so if ruffians obtain con-
troll of Northern Legislatures, and in
struct their Senators to override the
Constitution in order to trample upon
the rights Of the South, the refusal of
Senator to obey, would be extenuated
bv the extreme circumstances of the
case. And so we might excuse and
even applaud the refusal of Gen. Cass
to vote for the Wilmot Proviso,
measure designed by its originators to
deprive the Southern States of their
equality of rights under the Constitu-
ton Desperate cases oftentimes re-
quire desperate remedies. They are not
to be egarded as the rule, but as ex-
ceptiont
He persists in claiming Mr.. Cal
houn as authority for the heresy he es-
pouses. The speech of Edmund Burke
which Mr.. Calhoun is alleged to have
cited, justified himself in refusing to obey
instructions on the ground that they were
popular cIamor, stated that he could not
bear to show himself g representative
whose face did not reflect the face of his
face that did not joy in
their JOYS and sorrow in their sorrows "
As for Mr.. Calhoun himself, in his
latest work written in 1850, he distinct
" recognized Ito quote his own Ian
guage) . the right of a State to instruct
its Senators and request its Representa-
tives." The reference to Thomas III.
Benton is unfortunate for the cause of
our correspondent. He was a leader
whom the Democracy of Missouri idol
lied. He was to Missouri what Clay
was to Kentucky, jackson to Tennessee,
and Calhoun to South Carolina. The
of Missouri, composed of a.
majority of his political friends, instruct
ed him to vote against the Wilmot
Proviso. He refused to obey He as
sumed that he was wiser than the aggre-
gate of the constituency that elected
him. He appealed from the Legisla-
ture directly to the people. They said
g We have spoken through our accred-
tied agents" He was condemned and
for the Senate; and went
down to his grave soured and disappoint-
ed. Surely his was an example to be
Stunned; not precedent" to be fol-
lowed.
The following interesting tabular state
ment is taken from the reports of the
Chicago market, which is a fair illustra-
ton of the prices of produce and pro-
visions in the Western markets on the
first of October of each year from 1870
to 1873 inclusive. They show a great
reduction in the prices of the staples of
that section, and that the producers of
cotton in the reduced price of their staple
have suffered in common with the far
mers of the West: