The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-03-02

plause and if you will pardon 'n, nc lsP
,no9liglng in the spirit of prophecy ~
pfeaIct that when the future bistoy;'o
snaii come to write the epic of the do h'
Glne and fall Of the Great America, v
Republic, he will have TO record ,'oa' ~ =, "a
.as. ana most desperate struggle ior lib
LII. ~ tiis Union occurred in the towr
r,,n,i ah,'s OF sturdy New England. TAD
. I call upon the Englanders on nj,
moor 10 give us New House of Repre-
aen!aAVes here, to extend to the whoIe
Ia.loh lne blessings of q national town
snip legislature. i have often though
tue greatest misfortune OF the American
Peopie mas been that John Adams wa,
aosent acting rs minister to england q,
the time when he ought to have beer
helping to frame the Constitution ofth.
United States. Ifhe had participated il,
the construction of that instrument
cannot help but believe, at least hone
that he would have impressed uu.n Ike
Federal Constitution something more n,
permanent and numerous legislative
assembly chosen by small districts thar
it mas now. '''"l
What an absurdity to say that small
body Of representative can act heat wh;Ie TJ,i,
II takes n large body ofthe people to do
Ses.; !hat the peoples agents can dc
better in small numbers while the people
themselves can do best only in large
numbers. Such proposition questionq
me ability of the people to govern them.
serves, because it assumes that the country
can % best governed by the wisdom OF
lis representatives in Congress acting per
sc, and not by the wisdom of the people
Montesquiue, the great French political
philosopher, as some call him, saws thai
every law making body of more than one
hundred men degenerates into mob. a
sort of bear garden; and this I suppose is
the reason why 30 many States of the
Union have limited their House of Rem.
resentatives to one hundred members.
Now. this Frenchman, who picked nm
In England what little knowledge of free
institutions he possessed, might have
found convincing argument against his
theory in the British Commons. That
body does sometimes seemingly act like
a pandemonium to a superficial observer
by growing like cocks, braying like asses
shuffilng feet, coughing, &C., but it ia ali
III good humor, nine times out of ten
simply to silence bore. The Roman
Senate. Cicero tells us, used to do the
same thing for the same purpose. A
man must either talk sense or fun to be
listened to with attention long in any
deliberative assembly. Occasionally n
few members, say half dozen of the
Commons or of this House, forget the
prophecies, but to reduce the size Of the
House en- that account would be to con-
dcmn the representatives of the people
for being what their constituents desire
them to be. If they are not what
the people wish. they can easily be
changed when n new election occur.
There is always more or less .umult
among large body OF free men, whether
they be educated gentlemen or iIliteraie
scorns to speak with ba!ed breath or tread
with tender feet in any presence. Eter.
nal violence as we'll as eternal vigilance
is an attendant on liberty. Even only
two fTecmen will now and then have
fierce discord, especially when making
expoundiDg, or executing laws for others.
In proportion to numbers and relative
ages of the members of the two houses
about as many diegraceful scenes, as they
are sometimes called, have occurred in
the Senate Of the United States as in the
House.
When some one tried to persuade LORD
Faimerston 10 enact tyrannicai laws to
restrain dram drinking in (hgland. he
replied: ~ would rather have England
free than sober"
r,NYvrDc,r er-rpD.o,, ,DAr>s ro ,,>-,
vERSAL DAMNATION.
Representation was thoroughly re
formed in England ip 1921 half cen
tury ago; and it has been reapportionet
on aeveral occasions since, extending thu
suffrage every time, until now it may
fairly be said England has a hetter rep
resentation than We have. 1t istrue she
has not universal suffrage, and God forbit
she ever should have, because univer
sal suffrage leads to universal dam
nation wherever and whenever it may
be tried, [laughter,l but she his {
generous, liberal suffrage, sufficient t;
express the real will of the people. Yes
sir, l do not mince words. Universal
suffrage leads to universal demoraliza
tion.
have had that demonstrated to me
sir, by several years of close observation
and bitter experience near home
Laughter. And, Mr.. Speaker, SEE
some gentlemen before me from Massa
chusetts and Rhode Island who have
been DISTINGUISHING white men, and
think they must have the same opinion.
as do about universal suffrage. 10 fact
all my friends Of the Republican party
for I am glad to say we are on the eve o
the era of good feeling, if we have no
actually entered upon til say that
believe that all my friends admit tha
there is great deal of truth in my re-
marks, by the course they have pursued
in respect to suffrage in this district
They gave certain colored people the
right to vote; in other words, universe
suffrage, and to get rid of it and its hor
rors they had to disfranchise n considera
BILE number of white voters, too. Ant
now, sir, should like to know from any
gentleman on the Republican aide, O
any other side, who is disposed to dispute
the proposition that universal suffrag
leads to universal damnation, to explain
why they have deprived both white ant
black of suffrage here, if they do no
agree with me. lrue, you nave Bol nv
Of the afiictinn here, but it is still fes
tering ulcer on the body polite from tn
Potomac to the Rio Grande. Laugh
ter. &s
"THY PEOPLE SHALL DE MY PEOPLE.
Mr.. Speaker, rejoice from the centr
of my heart that better day appear
dawning upon this country than has bee
witnessed since the war. sincerely be
lieye, as have stated, that the war wa
brought on very largely, if not entirely
by the small representation of the peopl
in their Federal Government, and tina
nothing will serve so much to restor