Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-03-30

The Constitution-No. q.

The House Committee affirm that, power
and responsibility should go together :
the representative of political power = = ::
should be answerable for his acts to some GER
tain constituency" 1t is so now; but the il
legal statement of the committee fails to pre-
sent the inteut and meaning of the Constitu-
ton. The States, as such, are represented in,
and compose the Senate through their Sena
tors chosen by the Legislatures of the States.
The Legislature is department of the State
government and as such, is as enduring as
the Constitution. The Legislature gives ex-
preston in its enactments to the sovereign
will of the people whom they represent and
the power of the Commonwealth. The Legis-
lature represents the people and their entire
government in choosing Senators to the CO.
ordinate branch of the Federal Government
the q. S. Senate-where the States come to-
gether as equals in voice The report of the
committee says, amy amendment to the Con-
stitution which sought to break down this
initial principle in its construction would,
indeed, be dangerous &C. Why would it be
dangerous? Because the Senate is the citadel
in the system of the rights of the smaller
States and smaller populations. 1t is to keep
minority co-States from being overwhelmed
by unbridled excuses of unjust and unreason-
ing majorities. But the point is, are Senators
responsible to the Legislatures and the people
by reason of the change in the personnel of
the members of the Legislatures? The mis-
take comes in by supposing that the individual
members, as such, are the Legislature, and
that promises made to them constitute the
only abiding engagements of Senators
elected. The constitution says, ''chosen by
the Legislature, the constituted body as con-
tradistinguished from the individual men,
bers The sovereign State in the choice
speaks through the Legislative body. Promi-
ses made to the Legislature by Senators are as
continuous as the Senatorial term and the
Legislative department of the State govern
ment. That such has been the Interpretation
from the first is plainly shown by the practice
of the Legislature to ''instruct its Senators and
request the Representatives to support such
measures in Congress as the Legislature
thought best without regard to the fact that
the personnel of the Legislature may have
entirely changed since the election of the
Senators. Never has the reply by the Sena-
tors been made, reminding the members of
the Legislatures that they are not the same
persons who chose them. The practice in
the Constitutional ages of the country was for
the Senators to obey the instructions or re-
sign. They fully recognized their response
bility to the Legislature who voiced the senti-
ments of the people, tempered by the cooling
process of an intermediary representative
Senators are responsible for ''their acts to |
some certain constituency''-the Legislature, |
who, in their sphere under the constitutional |
limits, give expression to the sovereign power |
of the State-the intelligent and virtuous peo- |
pie. The Committee of the House have had |
their minds beclouded by an idolatrous wor- |
ship of ''the dear people," Now, 'the peo-
pie" are not such fools as to suppose that they |
know everything and are infalible. They |
have long since learned that our compound |
government is very complex in its adjust |
ments to the ends to be accomplished that it |
requires more time, study and learning than
all can devote to it hence they defer to the |
patriotism, integrity, learning and experience |
of those they can trust to represent the peo-
pies interests on such questions as are of !
greatest difficulty to understand The people |
do not attempt to legislate even in the small
municipal governments. They select council |
men and mayors to represent them. Our
practice nowhere is a pure Democracy. The
factions in the States of Greece have long
since settled all attempts at democracy.-l
While the people are the source of political
power under our theory, yet it has been uni
formly expressed through Representatives
authorized by their constitutional govern
ments.