Constitutional Whig

The Constitution of South Carolina, requires a residence of two years to entitle a person coming from other States, to citizenship and the right of voting. In devising schemes for securing a majority in Charleston, where parties are so equally divided, the nullies fell on the notable scheme of deciding that any man who could not establish a residence of two years without in the mean time ever quitting the State for a moment, was not constitutionally a resident of two years standing. The consequence as may well be imagined, would be the exclusion of some who had been actual residents even as long as ten years: for instance, merchants who would visit the north to purchase goods; and it happens, that this class of men are chiefly opposed to the violence of the demagogues of nullification. The construction was adopted and acted upon in the recent elections, and fully accounts for the apparent change in sentiment of the people and real change in the power of the parties. Such is the effect of the madness of party spirit. No subterfuge is too disgraceful, no violence too outrageous, and the Constitution is trampled under foot without compunction. In consequence, a proposition has been made in the Courier for all wholesale merchants to remove out of the city bounds and establish a new city on the Neck. This proposal strange as it may appear, is evidently seriously made, and proves how strong an excitement has been produced by this insane construction.