The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-08-06
THE RIGHTS OF THE MINORITY.
Unrestrained Majorities in Our Legislative
Bodies Are Menace to Civil Liberty.
Majorities are Not Infallible and
the Weaker Power Must
be Respected.
BY HON. W. G. BUTLER.
BY HON. W. c. BUTLER.

IIOUeO ana promulgated Dy men III
high public station that ought to be
exposed. and to which | beg to address
myself tonight.
The doctrine has been enunciated
that ours is a government controlled
by ,najorities, and that legislative
assemblies should be organized solely
with view Of carrying out the will Of
its majority. This proposition has
been approved in q manner that makes
it dangerous.
There was time in our history when
the science of government, the most
complicated and difficult of all sciences,
was studied and taught by men with
leisure to study and ability to teach.
They were deeply imbued with the
spirit and principles of popular govern
ment, and had the courage aud inde-
pendence of their convictions.
There was a time also when the
press and periodicals and the hustings
were presided over by men of genius
and matured thought. These agencies
furnished a ready and convenient
medium of communication to the pub
lie Of the most acceptable and best
principles for our guidance. The con-
fict between the centralist and home
ruler was "a battle Of the GIANTS
and the people were intelligently in
Structed in what was the real founda-
ton of our popular representative sys-
tenn. Some of those teachings are now
regarded as heresies, but whatever the
choice or predictions Of those holding
conflicting views, the outcome of the
intellectual controversies was instruc-
ton and information to the public.
It cannot be denied that there are
now many men Of commanding talents
in public life and mauy-brilliant
writers connected with the pre- IS, but
the trouble of our time is the rapidity
with which we live and move about,
and in the pressure of this wonderfully
industrial age for making money we
have too little time to think or reflect
maturely.' Much Of the best talent Of
the country finds channels of employ
ment in The pursuit of fortunes, and
commands high salaries in the lines of
business, in the arts and sciences and
what may be termed material, in con-
tradistinction to strictly intellectual,
pursuits. The result is, men Of high
attachments, of trained minds and
sound judgments take up avocatons
for the money that is in them, and
make traffic Of their abilities. This
observation is not made in a spirit of
reproach or adverse criticism, but to
point fact which am sure will not
be denied.
I presume this condition is a neces-
sary incident to the great material de-
velopment in progress, especiallyin this
country, aud more or less throughout
the civilized world Whatever the
cause, it is not uuaccompanied by
danger to our popular form Of govern
ment. We have so little time to think,
that false teachings and vicious theories
of government, plausibly presented,
are too apt to find lodgment in the
minds of good men, and warp their
judgments. Men Of intelligence and
patriotism, absorbed by the busy, active
pursuits Of our modern life, are prone
to be nisled by TIE attractive audacity
of charlatans and I.uagogues and their
zeal for party success. They have not
the time, or will no3 take the time, to
investigate for themselves and conse-
quentiy yield their better impulses and
judgment to the fallacies of those
whose business it is to achieve party
success at all haZards-and take for
granted that which ought to he care
fully inquired into and maturely con-
sidered. More than that, there are
men in public life at this time, and
many not in public life, Of ability, edu
cation and we'll trained intellects, Of
independent fortunes and incomes, who
do not believe in the principles of popu-
lar government established by the Con-
stitution, and developed by the fathers
of the republic. Prudence alone pre-
vents their open avowal of distrust in
the people for self government, and the
next great conflict in this country will
be between this class and the aG-
herents of popular sovereignty.
What do I mean by popular SOW
erignty? This is much hackneyed
phrase, as common almost as the al
phabet of our language, and yet is not
as we'll understood, or as fully compre-
hended, as it behooves liberty loving
people to understand and comprehend
it. Persons living under the brow Of
great mountains, made common by
constant proximity, rarely inquire into
their origin or source, or the great ranges
of eternal hills of which they are
part. They scarcely observe the count
less and ever varying lights and shad-
ows reflected on their rugged sides, or
study the phenomena or atmospheric
influences of their great attitudes.
Residents on the banks Of a great river,
daily witDess Of the downward flow
Of its eXhaustless current, seldom know
OF its source or terminus or inquire Of
its origin. So with Us, we hear so
much Of popular sovereignty, republi-
can form of government, etc, many Of
us do not stop to inquire what they
mean; in what respect they differ from
other forms of government, how il is,
or should be administered and what
its origu and probable fate.
My friends, popular sovereignty means
the rule of the people, that the power
and sovereignty of government is vested
in the people. You will doubtless ask,
Why announce such trite truism?
why repeat what every intelligent
man knows? I answer, because it can
not be too often stated and urged
especially to the young men of the
country; second, because great many
apparently intelligenr men ard women
have very vague idea Of the rule Of
the people, and third, because many,
very many men, more than we are
willing to acknowledge, do not believe
the people can or ought to rule. If we
go to the genesis of this inquiry, you
would perhaps ask, how can the people
rule, distributed separately as;they are,
in all parts of this vast country? How
can they rule and govern, how can
they exercise sovereign, supreme power?
The answer is simple and easily under
stood. They rule and govern through
agents, servants, selected by them at
the ballot box. Those agents or ser
wants are endowed with no power. no
divine right 70 govern, no authority,
except what is specifically delegated to
and bestowed upon them by the au-
thors of their official being. The Presi
dent of the United States is not ruler,
in the sense usually applied TO that
term, in the sense Of ha:ing in his own