MASSACHUSETTS. The legislature of this state met at Boston on the 25th ult. Mr. Timothy Fuller, late a member of congress, was elected speaker of the house of representatives, without any regular opposition. Mr. N. Silsbee was re-chosen president of the senate. MICHIGAN. Another newspaper,* called the "Michigan Herald" is publishing at Detroit. It is a neatly printed and well managed journal, and there is, or soon will be, room enough for more than two papers, for the progress of population and improvement is astonishingly rapid. Michigan is about to be a powerful state; and, by the lakes and canals, will have direct intercourse with New York and New Orleans! We are glad to observe that the seat of justice of Lenawe county, is called Tecumseh. That great Indian chief was a severe enemy to the American people--but this compliment is well paid to his memory, on account of the many superior qualifications which he possessed. Tecumseh is located on the River Raisin, famous for the massacre of the prisoners and the wounded, by the British and their allies, during the late war. IMPORT-to prevent importation. It is stated that about forty glass blowers lately arrived at Boston from Europe, to be employed in the valuable glass works in the neighborhood of that city. It may safely be calculated that, by their labor and skill, they will add not less than 50,000 dollars a year to the general amount of the products of our country, besides the value of the employment that they will indirectly give to others. A neat little item-and one that will be found, "after many days," not to have disappeared. EARTHQUAKE. A letter from a soldier in the 28th, [British] regiment, now at Corfu, to his father in Hereford, alluding to the earthquake at the island of Santa Maura, says, by this calamity, "between two and three hundred lives were lost, young and old; but all the soldiers, about 400, quartered in the island, escaped unhurt. Some men working, saw a valley between two high mountains sink, and with it two villages houses, inhabitants, and all they contained, were swallowed up. The two mountains which, before the earthquake were nearly three miles apart, were, by the engulphment of the valley, brought to within 200 yards of each other." MR. BROUGHAM. The following is an abstract from a speech spoken by Henry Brougham, (the counsel for the queen of England during her persecution, and now the leader of the opposition in parliament), at a public dinner given in honor of this gentleman at Edinburg. the defenceless victim is turned out, exposed to every shaft which the malice of her enemies can invent or point, and when wisdom and power unite with the powers of darkness-trial it was none where all the forms of justice were violated by those who had broken through them ere yet they could produce themselves in court. Talk to me of the pachas, the deys and the beys of Africa, and call them, as they call themselves, judges! Talk to me of them with their ministers of vengeance, crouching under their frowns, and prepared obsequiously to do their master's behests, against their own feelings, in violation of their own oaths and principles, and all because their master commands them!-If you hold that a trial, then come and say that the queen was tried. Six days have I stood in that place which they sacrilegiously called a court of justice. I dared to tell them my mind, and I did it day by day. I dare not now tell them my mind, because I would have occasion to see them once more, but were they to call me before them for telling you what I thought of them to day, they would style that too a judicial proceeding: they would style it a trial!-Were I to compare the place to any thing, I would say that den, where I stood and saw their victim cast down, and trodden upon by one of her judges-one especially who was bound by every honorable tie to protect her, but who I shall not to you, and you for hearing me; and, therefore, I do name, for they would fall upon me for thus speaking not say a word upon that subject." After returning thanks for the honor done him, in drinking his health, [at the dinner given to Mr. Brougham] Mr. Jeffery said: Since he was on his feet, he would propose the health of a meritorious and distinguished individual, who though not of our country, yet any country might be proud to claim him as her own. He meant the Marquis de la Fayette. (Cheers.) This distinguished individual still retained the same temperate love of liberty which he had imbibed when he served He had shared more in the toils than in triumphs of his adopted country, and which still animated him. ceiving the honors that were due to his exertions, liberty. (Hear, hear.) He was now, however, rebeing animated by the thanks of that country which shared his youthful aspirations (cheers;) and he was enjoying the spectacle of the creation of a mighty kingdom, [why not say nation?] sprung up in less space than suffices to conduct a human being from the cradle to the grave-(applause). He did not think that there was any thing so magnificent in the whole in that country which he had left, and to that which of human history, as the change that had taken place he had returned. (hear.) It was as the liberator or adopted son of America that he wished to recommend him to their notice. The hazards of that country were his native country, before he had sought for it in But he had seen liberty twice crushed in now over. another land. "The Marquis de La Fayette, and the friends of liberty in France." "I am not a person who is much in the habit of countenancing discussions, nor are we likely to be engaged in many of them this night; but were I to reply to the speech which my learned friend addressed to you, I think I could object to all of it, but without objecting to any but one expression which he made use of, that of the trial of the queen. I never, in pubWhen he had finished, Mr. John Cunninghame lic or in private, heard so great a profanation of the took a brief view of the political situation of the Unitword trial as such an application of it. The judicial ed States; and on doing so, disclaimed all intention proceedings which we are accustomed to call trial, I to draw an inference against the government under am personally and habitually taught to revere. The which he lived; but he maintained, that the United thing is gone by, but with all the respect due to the States ought to be held up to all other countries as a administration of justice, to which I owe reverence, model how a well ordered government can be conthe statement made from the chair obliges me to ex-ducted. Mr. Cunninghame gave "The president of pose, before I proceed further, the farce which he of the United States." (applause.) calls trial. Trial, it is none, where the accuser, who is interested, sits on the bench of justice, and pretends to administer it, hear, hear]. None, where *Yet another is about to be published in Monroe county. *I have inserted the words in brackets because of what I regard as a great and glorious distinction-a "mighty kingdom" may be built in blood and raised up by conquest in a single campaign-but the building of a "mighty nation" is the work of time. ED. REG. ers were in such demand as to cause a considerable rise in their wages. A letter from Staffordshire, dated April 20, gives the following account of the state of the potteries. "I wrote you some days past of an intended meeting of the manufacturers of earthenware and china. Since then, the meeting has taken place, and business complete stand. in their line is at PROSPERITY OF ENGLAND. We have gathered together the following items, partially to show what is the present wonderful state of things in EnglandA late letter from London says:-"So great is the rage for building in every direction round this immense city, that builders are frequently obliged to wait three or four weeks for bricks, and the strife and eagerness to obtain them is such, that, in many instances, from being removed from the kilns red "All the workmen have turned out for higher hot, the carts in which they have been stowed have wages; you may see the potteries filled with idle, taken fire. Already have most of the villages round strolling poor people; they are determined not to London been nearly united to it; thus, along the come to the old price; also all the colliers have turnwhole road to Greenwich (almost six miles) there is ed out for higher wages-the manufacturer cannot buy scarcely an interval between the rows of houses-the coal at the present asking price, and many of their same may be said of those leading to Vauxhall, Ken- ovens remain half fired. The lord lieutenant of this sington, Brixton, Clapham, &c. in that direction. On part of the country, has demanded from lord Dartthe other side of the river, Chelsea, Fulham, and Ham-mouth, two regiments of soldiers,until things are finalmersmith, &c. bid fair to be united to it. In the northly settled here. I find it difficult to purchase goods west, north and north-east of London, equal progress at any thing near the old prices. My opinion is, if the to an union are made, for Bayswater, Kilburn, Hamp-workmen can hold out, goods must advance 20 per stead, Highgate, Hackney and Blackwell, may be cent; in fact they must advance, as all the raw materials have risen considerably." called portions of it, all the intermediate space being filled up by streets, squares, crescents, terraces, &c. thickly planted with new churches, ornamented with spires, and domes, and steeples of every possible shape. The duke of Bedford's estate, commeneing at the bottom of Southampton-street, Strand, and running in a direct and uninterrupted line to the Southampton Arms,ncar Kentish and Camden Towns, a distance of at least three miles, including already Bloomsbury, Bedford, Russel, Tavistock and Euston Squares. THE DISSENTERS in England amount to about six millions of persons, and yet they are compelled to support the ministers of the members of the established church, who are a minority of the whole popula tion. PERU. The arms of the Peruvian nation consist of an oscutcheon divided into three fields; the right azure with a Vicuna, (an animal a native of South America), looking inward; the left white, bearing a "The other great proprietors, whose estates in the Quina tree; inferior red and smaller, with a cornuneighborhood of London are now covered with houses, copia pouring out money signifying by these symbols are earl Grosvenor and Mr. Portman. Those of the the riches of Peru in the three kingdoms of nature. former extending from Oxford-street to Chelsea; The crest shall be a civic brown, and be accompanied those of the latter includes a great portion of the on each side with a banner and a standard of the naParish of Mary-le-Bone. Lord Grosvenor's rental is tional colors. These arms shall constitute the great said to be at present 1.420,000 per annum. Mr. Port-seal of the state, placed in a circumference formed of man's property will, it is estimated, in a few years be worth eleven millions sterling." The weavers of Coventry are full of business.Those who work in the patent looms earn three to four pounds per week, but those engaged in common old looms do not get more than ten shillings per week. So much for improved machinery. The poor rates at Coventry have fallen from 1s. 6d. to 5d. in the pound. The state of the trade in Nottingham was never so flourishing as at present. The town has had an increase of not less than 10,000 inhabitants within the last year, and the carnings of the operative classes, are so considerable, that many [even females] get from 20s. to 21. per week. At Leicester the weavers are earning from 21. to 31. per week. From 4 to 5000 persons, from 7 to 20 years of age are wanted at Macclesfield, for the silk trade. The weavers at Coventry earn from 3 to 4 pounds per week, and are full of business. The tailors of Exeter have struck for wages-they demand an increase of half penny per hour and other advantages. The manufactories in England are represented as flourishing beyond all former precedents. Artisans of every description were in full employment, and so arxious were the manufacturers to have their orders executed, that it was by no means an uncommon thing to lock up the doors where the workmen were, and to supply them with food gratis, in order to save the time which would otherwise be expended in going to their respective lodgings. Orders to immense amounts were daily received at the manufacturing towns, many of which could not be fulfilled within the prescribed period. Wages were every where extremely high, and mechanics were enabled to fare sumptuously well for seven days, out of the proceeds of two days work. Even common labour the inscription: "Republica Peruviana." The national standard shall be composed of three vertical stripes; red, white and red, with the arms and crest in the centre, with a palm and a laurel interlaced beneath. The merchant flag is to be plain without the arms. Among the measures adopted concerning interior regulations, a direction for the mines has been established in every department. CUBA AND PORTO RICO. The editor of the NewYork Evening Post makes the following communication relating to these islands: "We have been informed, by a gentleman of respectability, and on whose statement we can rely, that a treaty has been concluded between the French and Spanish governments, by which the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico are to be occupied, like Cadiz, with the troops of the former nation. Of 16,000 French soldiers now in the West Indies, 8,000 are to be drafted for Cuba, and 4,000 for Porto Rico; and the garrisons now occupying these places are to be disbanded and sent to Spain, or to some other station. A Frenchman has been appointed to succeed gen. Vives in the government of Cuba, which, with Porto Rico, is to be held by the French, until the alarm, arising from revolutionary principles, and from the fear of invasion, has completely subsided. Whether Great Britain will permit this arrangement to be carried into effect, remains to be seen. She has from 17,007 to 18,000 troops in her West India islands, and a powerful naval force, equal at least to that of France and Spain. It is scarcely possible that so great a European force can continue long on this station without coming in contact with each other; and, if the views of the different cabinets are not in uniop, we may expect soon to hear of some decided event aris ing out of the present uncertain state of affairs in this the writers are acquainted with the subjects of which quarter of the world. they write, and the intendant, in his zeal for the prompt and efficacious administration of justice, proROME. The most important affair that has lately mises, on his honor, his conscience and his most sohappened at Rome, is noticed in the following ex- lemn oaths, that nobody, who will make known by tract of a letter from that city-"But, now to more word or writing, the means to be taken to obtain the important matters-our lord the pope, as a sample of necessary information, shall be betrayed; and those his admirable faculty of pontificating, &c. has lately who desire to conceal their names are requested to been fulminating from the Vatican the most thunder-indicate other persons who may communicate facts, ing ediets, touching that part of the femenine attire, &c. G. DE LA TORREEDE TRASIERNE. yelept stays; the which, he declares, are worn by [N. Y. Daily Adv. the Roman ladies, so tightly laced, as to make a "maliziossima pompa di lascivia!" The elderly gentleman is then most irreverent touching certain myste-23. ries of coiffure, and lays particular stress upon the remarkable indecency of wearing ornamental caps in church, "forgetful of the reverence due to God in the sanctuary of his temple!" All fathers, husbands, masters and others, capi di casa, permitting or conniving at this impropriety of conduct, or rather, of vest-premature, and, in fact, surprised a great proportion ment, in the female members of their household, to gether with all tailors, tailoresses, milliners, et hoc genus omne, who may furnish contumacious ladies with the excommunicated habiliments, arc, as well as themselves, to be subjected to pecuniary fines, laid on, a ragione della colpa, according to the particular iniquity of each individual transgression!" [Vol. 6, page 49, of Boston records-Anno. 1776, May 23.3. That article, in the warrant, viz:-"To consider whether the town will, in conformity to a resolve of THE REVOLUTION. From the Boston Gazette of May It will be seen, by the following extract from the records of our city, that forty-nine years ago, this day, our townsmen were called to consider the most important question which could ever be submitted to a people. It has been stated by historians that the declaration of independence was sudden and of the people. This is answered by showing that in most, and, perhaps, in every primary assembly in this commonwealth, the subject was solemnly discussed, at least, forty days before the declaration was made in congress. On that day was laid the corner stone of independence, and the foundation of a |political edifice, in better taste and symmetry than Greece or Rome ever saw. It was founded upon a EGYPT. This ancient land is again rising in the love of freedom-built up by unconquerable perseverance seale of nations, and bids fair to resume its rank-supported by the pillars of knowledge and virtue— among the empires of thearth. At present, the bulk and, we trust, will stand, in majestic grandeur, of its population is sunk in the most abject state of amidst the storms of time, to the latest posterity. servitude and moral degradation. The Turks have long held undisputed sway over this fine country; and the condition of its inhabitants is a necessary effect of the ignorance and barbarity of its rulers.the late honorable house of representatives for this The fellah of Egypt is little more than a beast of burthen, subject to the caprice of his Mahomedan master. Civilization has long since fled from a land in which anciently she loved to dwell, and which is associated with our earliest recollections. But a redeeming spirit is at work, even in degraded and fallen Egypt. The industry, the arts, and even the civilization of Europe, are reversing the usual order of events, migrating from the west to the east; and they will, in time, effect a complete revolution in the moral and political condition of the people. Her Great Britain and Ireland We mentioned in our staple productions are numerous, and invaluable to last, that the Catholic bill had been carried in the England as a great manufacturing country. Already house of commons-ayes 268, noes 241. The followa vast number of British vessels, and especially ves-ing are the majorities by which a bill, similar in its sels from Liverpool, are engaged in transporting the raw products of Egypt to this country, and the trade between the two states is every day increasing. The export of goods from hence, in exchange for the products of the east, bears no proportion to the import from thence, Bullion is the principal medium of exchange at present; but this state of things cannot continue long. The principles of trade will soon come into active operation, and the pacha be made to disgorge the vast treasures which he has swallowed.-Liv. pap. SPIES IN SPAIN. The following official notice from the police of Avignon, which we translated from one of our late Cadiz papers, gives a gloomy idea of the state of things in the peninsula, since the restoration of the legitimate monarch. colony, advise their representatives, "That, if the honorable continental congress should, for the safety of the colonies, declare them independent of the kingdom of Great Britain, they, the inhabitants, will solemnly engage, with their lives and fortunes, to support them in the measure," was read, and duly considered, and the question being accordingly put, passed in the affirmative unanimously. FOREIGN NEWS. general objects, was carried at two former periods, though ultimately lost. In 1813, Mr. Grattan's bill was read a second time by a majority of 42 in a house of 448 members; and in 1821, Mr. Plunkett's bill by a majority of 11 in a house of 497 members:-on its third reading, this bill had 19 majority in a house of 413. It was subsequently thrown out of the lords by a majority of 99 out of 279 votes. France. An excess of capital is felt at Paris, and large sums are expended in the erection of new buildings. Prussia. The king of Prussia has appointed Mr. Niederstetter charge d'affaires to the United States, in the place of Mr Greuhm, the late minister, deceas ed. A Berlin paper, in announcing the appointment says, "he is especially enjoined to pay attention to the interests of the mercantile world." Denmark. The Danish government has made a loan of 1.2,025,000 in England, at three per cent. to pay off the loan of 1821, made at a higher rate of 、interest. SARAGOSSA, April 5th. Latendency of the police of Aragon. Certain persons, animated with a commendable zeal for the service of the king, our master, and religion, have communicated various advices to the intendent of police and other authorities, by anonymous letters The Burmese. The king of Ava was supposed to be and papers. Although, in many cases, the truth has under the influence of his wife-and, after the capbeen ascertained, and the proper remedies and pu-ture of Ragoon by the British, the heir apparent said. nishments applied, in others it has been found impos- to him that he was not surprised at what had happensible to establish the facts or apply the remedy, for ed, as the dawn of day never comes by the crowing want of sufficient proof. It is generally clear that of the hen but by that of the cock. After consult ing his astrologers, the king abdicated--but the queen neral Olaneta, still held out-the congress opened its raised up a strong party. Various commotions fol- session at Lima, on the 10th Feb. They had decid lowed, and the result was, that the old king was mur-ed that Bolivar should hold the dictatorship until the dered, and the queen, with all her principal adherents, put to death. The British defeated the Burmese army, of 50 or 60,000 men, taking a vast quantity of arms and baggage, including 240 pieces of artillery. This happened about the 1st of Dec. and, on the 15th of that month, another Burmese army, of 20,000 men, was attacked aad defeated, with great loss to the vanquished. next session, (in 1826), and the gift of a million of dollars was voted to him, which he "twice refused"—it was then requested that he would appropriate that sum to objects of beneficence. From a letter addressed by him to congress, on the 12th of February, in which he accepts of the dictatorship again, he says that the interests of the state will call him to Upper Peru, and, therefore, he shall delegate a part of the supreme power to a council of government, under Lamar, as president. General Sucre has had an affair with a party of royalists at Cochabamba, and defeated them. A royal party, from the fortresses of Callao, was routed with the loss of 200 men. end, and it would seem that the royalists are still The war is not yet at an pretty strong in Upper Peru. Burmese war. A curious Chinese document has reached England in reference to the Burmese war. It is a proclamation of the emperor of China, grounded on a despatch from one of his governors-the governor of the province of Yunnan-bringing under his attention the state of the frontiers. The governor states, that the Burmese are engaged in a war with the English, and have been defeated in rost of the engagements which they have hitherto had; and he Chili appears to be much disturbed by political facrecommends that, on the frontier, towards the Bur- tions or parties-so much so that the congress had mese territory, there be erected "fortifications and proposed to invest the governor with dictatorial towers," to prevent the violation of the Chinese ter-power, that energy and celebrity might be given to ritory by either of the parties. The emperor directs that a line of fortifications be erected all along the frontiers, according to the recommendations of the governor. This proclamation is translated from the Pekin Gazette. An East India paper states that information had been received from China, of an embassy from the Burman king having reached Pekin, the object of which was to announce the war with the English. The emperor, in his reply to the ambassador, is represented as saying that "he could not believe it possible, that the English would be so rash as to engage in hostilities against a tributary of the Celestial embire." Celebes. The war undertaken by the Dutch appears to have been very unsuccessful. The queen of Boni had, in her turn, declared war against the Dutch, and this was the signal for a general rising of nations bearing the Bugis name, which comprehend nine-tenths of The civilized portion of Celebes. The Dutch had been compelled to abandon their recent acquisitions, and fortify themselves in Macassay. The Philippine islands suffered dreadfully by an earthquake and hurricane in October last-many churches and houses were demolished; but particulars have not yet reached us. the measures of the executive. A number of distinguished individuals had been arrested as leaders in a projected revolution. Brazil. All those imprisoned at Pernambuco, as from Ireland; and it is supposed that 15,000, will be "Right of Instruction." ESSAY NO. III. ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR OF THE REGISTER. April 25, 1825. SIR-In my essay No. II, of the 22d instant, I promised you to examine the opinion of Mr. Clay, as to the right of a particular congressional district to instruct its particular representative in congress. I da not think I am mistaken in supposing that he admitted the principle of this right in his address, of the 26th ultimo, to his late constituents. In speaking to them of the celebrated instructions of the legislature of Kentucky to the Kentucky delegation in congress, in regard to the late presidential election, he says, “I did not recognise the right, therefore, of the legislature to instract me. I recognised that right only when exerted by you." These are his words-and, The National Gazette says, that a law has passed I think, I can scarcely be mistaken, from the general the senate of Colombia, by which no Colombian man, tenor of his address, in supposing that the admission, who has not completed his 21st year, and no Colom-thus made, was of the right in its "arbitrary" sense. bian woman, who has not completed her 18th year, can contract marriage, without the express consent of the father and mother. Colombia. Carthagena papers, to the 16th April, mention that a law had passed the Colombian congress, making it death for any citizen of the republic to be engaged in the slave trade. All ships concerned in introducing slaves on the coast of Colombia, to be confiscated, and the crew, if foreigners, imprisoned for ten years; the slaves to be sent out of the country, or, if they choose to remain, declared free. nions of this eminent statesman, must enter the field Whoever attempts to controvert the deliberate opiA bible society has been established at Bogota. look around him at every step he takes. Such are of controversy with diffidence, and be disposed to Mr. Gual, secretary of state for foreign affairs, is pre-my impressions at this moment; and, I fear, they may sident of it-and a most worthy gentleman he is. Martial law has been repealed at Puerto Cavello, be general Paez. Peru. A late Madrid Gazette contains a semi-official account, (headed long live the king), of the comblete destruction of the Colombian army in Peru, with the killing and capturing of six thousand men, general Sucre being among the prisoners-and of the Bight of Bolivar, who rode three horses to death on his way to Guayaquil, so hot was the pursuit of the royal cavalry! What royal sport! We have late accounts from Peru. The royal ge have the effect of giving to this essay the appearance inquire into the nature of the representative charac- constitutional sense, as I understand it, is that a The meaning of the word representative, in the member of congress represents the persons, the rights, and the interests of the people of his particular distriet, in all cases that come under the consideration of congress, according to the provisions of the constitution: that is, that he shall act for them, according to the best of his understanding and judgment, just as they might act for themselves, if they were all personally present in congress. Now, if every individual in a congressional district could appear in congress to act for themselves, all that they could properly do, would be to inform the congress of the particular state or condition of their district, in its relations to the union, and to propose such measures for consideration as might tend to promote their own interests, in connection with those of the union. No one of them, however, could "arbitrarily" control the vote or opinion of any other, in any particular case-nor could even a majority of them arbitrarily control the vote or opinion of any individual amongst them: because, every one of them would have an equally sovereign and independent right to exercise his own judgment and discretion, in all cases whatever. It follows, then, that a representative, invested with the sovereign rights of the people, cannot be arbitrarily controled in the exercise thereof simply, because their rights are sovereign: for, it is the consituent quality of sovereignty, that it has not, and cannot have, a superior or controling power. To control it, is to destroy it-whether it be in the people, by nature, or in their representatives, by delegation. The capacity ceases with the right-and no sovereign act can be done, whether by the people or their representatives, when deprived of their sovereign power. If, then, the sovereign right of independent action, delegated by the people to their representatives, (the exercise of which is constitutionally necessary in his representative character), be taken from him, even by the people themselves it matters not whether it be done by the constitutional mode of election, or the unconstitutional mode of arbitrary instruction-the effect is the same: the act deprives him of his delegated sovereignty, and, thereby, takes from him the most essential quality of his representative character. Again-Each section of country in the union, containing 45,000 souls, is a congressional district, according to the constitution, and is entitled to one representative in congress, to attend to its general interests and concerns, in connection with those of every congressional district in the union. If the interests of a particular district are not in opposition to the more important interests of other districts, it is supported by as many as are necessary to carry into effect the measures intended to promote such interests or, if the more important interests of other districts are opposed to the interests of a particular district, the lesser interest cannot be promoted at the expense of the greater; because the majority of those immediately concerned would be on the side of the greater interest; and, because, the majority of those not immediately concerned would think it unreasonable and unjust that the greater interest should be sacrificed to the less, and would oppose it upon that principle. But, say the advocates for the right of instruction, the people of the district having the smaller interest at stake, would "instruct" their representative to support it. True!--but it should be recollected, 1st, that, if the right exists at all, it must be common to all; 2d, that the majority, opposed to the interest, would be "instructed" as well as the minority, in favor of it. So that the right of instruction is, in its nature, inefficient for any fair and useful purpose whatever-seeing that, in the hands of a minority, it would always be counteracted by the exercise of the same right on the part of the majority. And this is just as it should be. The majority should always govern. They can govern without the right, and it is seen that they would govern with it. Hence, it is plain, that the right is useless as well as unconstitutional-and that the only effects of its existence would be to fill the congress and the nation with the brawls and clamors of parties and factions; and, whether those are necessary to the "common defence and general welfare," is a question easily answered. Again-At the close of the revolutionary war, the sovereign power was indisputably in the people of these states. To preserve their liberty and independence it was thought necessary to form a more perfect union of the states, and a more efficient general government, for the regulation and management of the concerns of the union. To this end, it was necessary to form a new constitution, whereby the people should delegate the sovereign power of the union to those whom they should solicit to act for, or represent them, in the new government of the union. The present constitution was formed accordingly; and the powers therein specified, are seen to be delegated to the different branches and individuals of the government, to be exercised by them, in as free, full and ample sovereignty, as the same powers might be, or could have been, exercised by the people themselves. Of the powers thus delegated, those to the legislative branch of the government, are amongst the most important: 1st, to the union-"to provide for the common defence and general welfare;" 2nd, to sections of the union larger than a state; Srd, to the state; and, 4th, to congressional districts. Hence it is plain that, in our federal system, a member of congress is the representative of those for whom he legislates. That is to say, he is the representative of the union; of a section of the union larger than a state; of a state; or of a congressional district; just as the interests of one or the other may happen to preponderate, in any particular case; and that, if he is bound to advocate the interests of a section, a state, or a district, in proportion to its importance to the "common defence and general welfare" of the country-and not according to the degree of his direct responsibility to those whom he represents-otherwise the purposes of the union would be defeated, and the union itself destroyed. For instance there is no direct responsibility upon a member of congress, but that which he is under to those who elect him. For he cannot be made directly accountable for his official conduct, in any other way, than by the ballot boxes of the district in which he commonly resides. Let us then suppose a case, in which the particular interest of a district might be opposed to the interest of a state, or in which the interests of a state might be opposed to those of a larger section of the union, or in which the interests of a particular section might be opposed to the general interests of the union:-is there a wise and independent member on the floor of congress, who would, in such a case, advocate the smaller interest to the prejudice of the larger? I think not. But, if there is, I am certain Mr. Clay was not such a member. It is certain that such a member would be in opposition to the principles of the constitution, and to the purposes of the government-and yet, the exercise of the right of instruction might compel him to be so! However, it seems to me, that, if the right of instruction was not unconstitutional, and could be used with effect in any case whatever, the right to exercise it should be measured, not by the degree of direct responsibility a member is under to his constituents, but by the quantity of general interest involved in the subject of legislation; and, therefore, that, if the right could exclusively be exercised with effect, by any description of constituents it would be more in the spirit of the constitution, and more consistent with the principles of the government, if it should be done |