Rhode Island

Accounts from this Stato represent the war o be once more finished. Gov. Dorr proceeded from Norwich to Chcpatchet, wherc he established a camp with 700 followers. The regular 'orces of the State, amounting to some 3000 men, veré assembledat Providence, and a detachment ent against them. The sufTrage party abandond their works. and fled vithout resistrince, Gov. Dorramong the rest. One person was killed nd two or three wounded in different parts of ie State, from incidental disturbarles. A large part of tho suifrage party disapprovcd of the lastrcsort to violence, and did notcountt nance it. Tt may not be arriiss to say a woñ on the merits of this controversy. It is a principie recognized hy the public acts of the American people, thnt all governments derive their just powers iroin the consent of the govcrncd; and wlienever a government ceases to fulfil the purposes for which il was estabüshed. it Is :he riglit of the people to alter or abolish it. By peoplo we supposc is meant a majority of the inhsibitants - a majority of the persons governcd; for entire unanimity in alteringa government couíd not be rcasonably expected. The intcresis and feelings of some would lead them to oppose a change. A majoriíy of the persons governed, then, have a right. not nierely to demand an alteration or abolition of ihe existing form of Government from the organizad on then in power, but to alter or abolish it themselves. Prudence indeed would dictate that the assent and concurrence of the existing government should, if possible, be obtained to the proposed altcration, as the approbation of the minority can then more readily be procurod. and the transition from th o!d to the new atate of things will be more easily effected. - But suppose the existing government refuses its concurrence to any changes the majority nay wish - what then? We answer, the majority of the people have the right of making the alteration themsblves, and ofdefonding when made, from all attacks that may be made on il. To say they have not this right would be to give to the existing government an absolute power over the majority forever. The Peoph have a right to goeernthemsdets: any principie short of this, ifcarrried out to its full extent, will malte the mnjoriiy slaves to the minority,But it may be said that the majority may become excited by the aris of designing demagogues, and demand of the existing government alterations Which may be of trivial importance, or may be pormanently injuriuus to the best interests of the State. But who can jude best of what is trivial or injurious - the majority or the w? The very objection assurnes that the powers that be are better judges of what is for the people's good, than tho people fhemselves; in other words that the people are incapable of self-goveriïment.The changes demanded by the Buffrnge party in Rhode Island, especially the right of voting for their rulers, are of importance, and are consonant tothe spirit üf the age. The disfranchised partoí the population have borne their disabiuties for nearly seventy yearssinco the peopleof the Sfate assumcd the right of seif governmenr. Various eflbrts have been made from time to time to obtain the proposod altcrations, but hither.o in vain. Whcther an undoubted majority of the people at any one time, have demanded these alterations, we have not now the data before us by which wè canjudge. But as the Legislature have called another Convention to form a Constitution, and placed the right of voting for the members ofit on a liberal footíng, it may be expected thaí its ultímate results will, in a great measure, be satislactory. The late movements of the sufirage party, in our opinión, have Len unwise and inconsistent. If they depended on moral suasion to secure the ultímate posaession of their rights, and if they liad faith in the eíHcacy of a system ofag'uation, like that by which O'Connel is endeavoring to enfmnchise Ireland, a resort to arms was highly injudicioue. On the othe hand, if moral suasion had been tried long enough and had been found inefficiënt, and a resort to forcé h.'id beconie indispensable, the military operations of the suffrage party have been of a character not calculated to defend the cnuse of that party, or to advance the reputation of those who rc9orted to arms, as soldiere, patriots or héroes. fjj'lt is now generally conceded that there is 8 prospect of nninterrupted peaco wilh all foreign nations. An army is not therefore wanted to defend us against foreign invasión. Tn the late debate in Congress on reducing the army to 6000 men, Mr. Granger, of New York, conceded this poinf, but urged a new reason. We raast be respectdblc!. Hcar him: "The institutions of the country must be kept up. The people demanded the maintenance of a respectable army, and a naval force sucli as would carrv our flag tnumphant over every sea. To do this they must come up to the work, and establish such a du ty on imports as would produce a revenue sufficient to keep up these establishments. They must raise rèvenue to sustain such institutions as the characler and necessities of the {rovernment demanded eitlier by duties on imporls or by direct taxaiion." Here isa proposition, first for a large stand - ing army, just to sustain our reepectabilitv ; secondly, for a naval force largo enough to make us victorious in every sea. To do this we must have a navy at lenst half as large as that of England, comprisn)"1 sevoral hundred vesíels, m.inned by 30 or 40 thousand setimen, conatantly in comtoission, at an immense annual expense. How is this expense to be mot? "To do this, they (the people) must come up to the work, and establish such a duty on imports as would produce a revenue svjficient to keep up these esldblishments."- And if enough cannot be produced by duties on every thing we import, Mr. Granger is prepared to resort to direct taxation to raise the deficiency. Now, if the people of the Uniied States are willing "to come up to the work" in this way, and tax themselves heavily on all they buy from foreign countries, and on all they raise at home - thus reducing themselves to the wretched condition of the laborera of Engknd, just to please Mr. Granger's notions of respectability, they will display a greater amount of folly than we anticípate fr om them .