LETTERS OF “A MINER OF GRANT”—No. 1

[ August 14, 1846 ]

MR. EDITOR: We have had several communications through your paper upon the subject of the formation of a constitution for Wisconsin; and as the subject is one of vast importance, one in which all are vastly interested, I thought I would submit a few remarks by way of giving my own views upon some points.

I do not fear but that the constitution in contemplation of being formed will be as strictly republican as the most republican constitution in our Union: I am not afraid of its falling behind the advancement of the age nor of its granting very many exclusive privileges. Indeed it is probable that the convention, when assembled, will procure copies of the constitutions of all the different states and draw from the most liberal of them; hence there are only a few subjects likely to agitate and to detain the convention.

1. The naturalization of foreigners is a question of vast importance. It is not likely that the doctrines of the party styling itself "the Native American party" will be urged before the convention-they are certainly too absurd. The population of our country has increased more than 17,000,000 within the last sixty years, and is still increasing in geometrical progression. A great portion of this increase is owing to the influx of foreigners; and if a liberal policy is kept up towards them, they will, no doubt, continue to come, and the time is not far distant when our nation will be bounded by oceans and when the example of an extensive and powerful republic will cause thrones to quake and potentates to tremble. It is hoped that Wisconsin will be no less liberal towards foreigners than the general government has heretofore been. Shall the Irishman be restrained from voting merely because, according to the notions of some, he votes with the wrong party?

2. The expediency of incorporating companies is being discussed by the people. It is certain that corporate powers for whatever purpose or in whatever shape they may be granted, are exclusive privileges, extracted from the rights of the people. Still, benefits may have sometimes accrued to the people from them, in the erection of public works and in the government of towns and villages. But the tendency of all corporate bodies is to issue paper money and flood the country with a fictitious currency; this is a serious objection against their existence, and if it cannot be remedied it would be far better to dispense with them entirely.

3. The practicability of electing the judiciary by the people was distrusted by the founders of our government. However, since the plan of electing justices of the peace was adopted in our territory we have had just as competent justices as we had when they were appointed by the governors. Indeed, it has been proved by the experience of many of the states that the election of this branch of the judiciary is practicable; and if it is at all practicable to elect the judges of the circuit and supreme courts, it is right, for it is republican. It appears to me that all the arguments urged against the election of judges by the people would apply with equal force against the election of any other officer; but what Democrat would presume to say that the people are incompetent to elect their own governors! New York, in her new constitution, has provided for the election of her judges, and let Wisconsin not be behind.

I propose, next week, to take up two other subjects, namely: the providing by law for the observance of the Sabbath, and the prohibiting of skeptics from giving testimony before our courts. There are a great many sincere Christians who would shudder at the idea of establishing Christianity by law, but who, nevertheless, believe law to be necessary upon these subjects; I shall, therefore, endeavor to discuss them with candor and fairness.

A MINER OF Grant.

LETTERS OF "JACOB FAITHFUL"-No. 1

[August 21, 1846]

MR. MARSH-SIR: I have been gratified with a perusal of several worthy communications that appeared in your paper, touching the subject of forming a state constitution, and I think it will not be presumptuous in me to make a few brief remarks touching that subject. I would state as an excuse for this rude production that I have not an ability to angle for fame with the bait of periods, nor a motive for consulting a temporary taste by a dish of perfumes, but there are several small items to which I would call the attention of the people of Grant for their consideration.

1. "That all power is inherent in the people," and by their authority all free governments are established.

2. That no precedence should be shown to any class or denomination whatever.

3. That no person should be prohibited from giving testimony before a proper tribunal because he is candid and does not profess to believe that which he thinks he cannot consistently believe, or in other words, that he is a skeptic.

4. That no religious manifesto should ever be required as a qualification to any office of trust.

5. That the right of electing judges should be given and necessarily belongs to the people.

I would wish to say one word as regards the men that have to perform the arduous task of forming a constitution. They should be men of integrity, energy, and firmness-endowed with much good common sense, and men that understand the theory of law. I do not wish to be understood that I would have them all practical lawyers, for I am aware that lawyers are generally arrogant, selfish, and distrustful. However, I should like to see enough of them "to give tone."

The foregoing has been elicited, not that I expected to give so much light on the subject, but that it might have the effect of inducing others, better qualified, to extend their inquiries. This is its chief hope and utmost expectation. JACOB FAITHFUL.

Toadville, August 18, 1846.

LETTERS OF "A MINER OF GRANT"-No. 2

[August 28, 1846]

Let truth prevail in the affairs of government as well as of religion. It is the basis of good government, and without it religion is a chimera.

It is necessary and proper in the organization of governments that each individual should surrender certain natural rights and privileges for the benefit of the whole community of which he is a member; but it is by no means necessary for the good of the community nor for the existence of good government that any individual should be required to give up the right to labor for his own and his family's sustenance. Community undergoes much more inconvenience from an indisposition on the part of its members to labor than from an excess of labor.

If the "Christian Sabbath," as it is called, could be proved to be a divine ordinance, then its violation might be placed upon the same grounds as that of the great moral laws. But there are two reasons given in the Bible for the institution of the Jewish Sabbath. First, Exodus XX, 2: "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is, and rested on the seventh." And second, in Deuteronomy V, 15, it is spoken of as "a remembrance that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence; through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm." If the first of these reasons be the true one, it proves most positively that it is the seventh day of the week, and not the first that should be kept. How is

it possible to conceive anything more absurd than to keep a day of rest in imitation of the Great Creator of the universe, but that to be a different day of the week from the one He kept. If the second reason is the true one, it is evident that it cannot be binding upon any other people than the Jews. The institution is spoken of again and again as being peculiar to the Jews. "It is a sign between me and you throughout your generations"; "It is holy unto you"; "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever." Exodus XXXI.

Justin Martyr, who must have known all about this subject, remarks “that on the Sabbath, the prohibition of certain kinds of food, etc., the ceremonial law, with all its ordinances and sacrifices, were designed to counteract the inveterate tendency of the Jews to fall into idolatry." And [add] to this, that there is no mention made in Genesis of the observance of a Sabbath; neither is it mentioned in the book of Job. The patriarchs kept no Sabbath. Their marriage and other feasts are spoken of as continuing seven days(see Jud. XIX; Gen. XXIX; Gen. I). Nor have the best biblical critics been able to find any trace of the institution among any of the early Gentile nations. The ancient Egyptians divided time into periods of seven days (most likely to correspond with the seven quarters of the moon; they were skilled in the science of astronomy); but there is no evidence of their having set apart any one of the seven days as a day of rest, nor of the Jews having kept a Sabbath during the two hundred years and upwards that they remained in Egypt. The Bible expressly declares, in speaking of the covenant made with the children of Israel, and which includes the Decalogue, that "the Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." Deut. V, 3.

Thus it appears to me that the command to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy has no reference to Christians at all; but if it does it is Saturday that must be kept, and not Sunday. It is in vain that Sabbatarians will look in the