Mr. BROWN, [interrupting] expressed that
what he said was, that we were a self-governed
people.
Mr. BLAKISTONE resuming, said that he was
coming to that. The gentleman from Carroll
had said that if the gentleman from Kent, was in
England he would say that the people of this
Country governed themselves, and then, when he
came home to Kent county, he would find out it
was a fallacy Was this the idea ?
Mr. BROWN. Yes, sir; I believe that the peo-
ple are capable of self-government.
Mr. BLAKISTONE said, that he meant to de-
monstrate that the gentleman from Carroll believed
no such thing, and his argument would
show it.
He, [Mr. B.,] thought that man to be capable
of self-government, must first have the power
and capacity to govern himself, and he contended
that the people had the power to govern them-
selves and that they had also a right to say what
kind of government they should have. Now, the
gentleman from Carroll had said that a majority
could determine everything irrespective of law
and Constitution and that the people had no
right to govern themselves. If this principle was
a correct one, it cut up by the root the principle
which he contended for, that the people had a
right to self-government, because, by taking away
the power to regulate their action, they took
away the higher power of sovereignty, and the
power to control and govern themselves. The
honorable gentleman could not escape this necessary
consequence resulting from his argument
—an argument founded in error, and tending to
the destruction of all government.
Can it be contended that any ten men assem-
bled together, could say to the eleventh man, we
will have every thing our way and you must do as
we tell you, and that he is bound to obey ? He
subscribed to no such doctrine; for he held, that
all men stood upon one common platform of
equality. He had as much right to direct the ac-
tion of the world, as the world had to direct his
action This was quite strong, but he would re-
peat that he had as much right, apart from all
law and government in his natural state, (all
men in a state of nature being unrestrained by
law or Constitution,) be would say that he had
just as much right possessing all the inherent ele-
ments of sovereignty in himself, to direct the ac-
tion of each and every member of that Conven-
tion, as they had to control or direct his action.
The principle that a majority can govern, only
applied to the formation of any society or government,
and then it must be according to the terms
upon which the society or government is formed.
He was inclined to believe that the gentleman
from Carroll would now think that he was get-
ting in advance of him on the subject of the peo-
ple's rights but he would not go in for brute
force without reference to Constitutional law gov-
erning. That was a slavish doctrine, and one
which no man could maintain. The tyranny of
brute force was the worst in the world. The
principle of popular numbers governing, unrestrained
by law and constitution, would give to
the masses the right to do as they pleased, and |
permit them to violate natural and revealed law
at their pleasure. How was this to be over-
come, if the principle is correct that numbers
have a right to govern? They could not over-
come it, because it required force to repel force,
and they having the most power, would be be-
yond control. He hoped never to see the day
when such tyranny shall be established in any
portion of this country.
Let them carry this principle further as regar-
ded this State. If the principle was correct, for
which the gentleman contended—that numbers
have the right to govern irrespective of law and
Constitution—he would ask him to apply it, and
carry it out, and then see what would be the
consequences Look at the general government,
for there was no political principle, as regarded
popular rights and power, which would apply to
the Mate of Maryland, that would not apply with
equal force to the general government. Apply
the principle there, and where would they stand?
Why, the non-slaveholding States, if they chose,
could wipe off the old Constitution, and substitute
another at their pleasure, they being in the major-
ity; for if the democratic principle obtained, they
could do it, as also the other democratic principle,
that having the right to do this and order
submission, the minority, the slaveholding
States, would be bound to submit.
Every privilege, every the security of himself
and family which they had under the Constitu-
tion of the United States, which extended its
broad aegis over every citizen, in every clime,
would, by this fell swoop, be destroyed by those
who professed that they alone were the friends
of the people. In ninety-nine cases out of a hun-
dred, where a man spoke a great deal of his re-
ligion, he was very apt to be a hypocrite, and he
believed that those who declared themselves to
he the peculiar friends of the people, were not
more so than those who made less professions.
A great many persons talked of equality and
democracy, who never had a poor man to sit at
their tables This was not his democracy. His
democracy was that all men (he was speaking of
white men,) were equal, and that but this one
distinction should he made—the distinction
which intellectual and moral worth gave one
man over another. As to making all men equal
by laws, they might legislate to eternity, and
never succeed "Blood could never be obtained
from a turnip " and some men's heads were very
much like a turnip. [Laughter.]
He had several times tried to close his re-
marks, and he would try to close them directly.
[Cries of "go on," "go on."]
Government, he believed, was usually formed
upon the principle of compromise. He did not
think there ever was a, government that was not
formed upon the following principles:—allegi-
ance and protection. First, that the citizens
should sustain the government; and, second, that
if the citizens should take care of (he govern-
ment, the government would take care of them.
if this was the correct principle, then it was ab-
solutely necessary that the government should
be so regulated as to give to web interest, pro- |
