Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1804-02-29

4 the person. HdSlu6 siS I'D -
mot exceeding three on the list OF those yc-
tied for as President, the House OF 'Kepre-
lsentatives shall choose immediately BY BALI
lot. the President. = The committee will
observe that in the previous part OF the pa-
lragraph, the term1s,nss5cr OF votes IS used,
land that reference must be had to it in the
constituting the meaning Of those words,
through every subsequent partof it. He
believed that bv a srnplereading OF the pa
ragraph, it ldaPpear that tsrss refers TO
numbers. To give AUST constructions to a
ny sentence, we lnustuse every part oi it,
and not excludea single word if we can
give it meaning. Taking this-as asoall
rule, and giving effect as to the tern high
est, the argnnentof gentlemen IS answered.
They pretend to say when they find the
expression highest numbers not e1ceeatnSg
three, that the highest on the list are to be
excluded, and the choice to be confined to
persons having only three votes. The
house is to take the highest numbers, the
three highest, whether more or less. As
the constitution now stands, it says, if no
iperson have majority, the house shall
l;choose by states from the FIVE highest. A
case might occur, where six of the candl-
datesnay have equal votes. What would
be the consequence. The constitutions
fines the choice to the FIVE highest,
there would n that case be returned
to the house candidates equal and highest
TO remedy this defect the amendment is
so framed that instead of tying down the
house to choice from persons, it autho-
rises'it from the highest numbers. Cen
tlemen object to this by saying, that it al
/ lows wide scope and permits the house to
1 choose person having perhaps out one
. vote; and is not this the case at present?
! Suppose the q highest have all the votes
but 5, and that three other persons have
but one vote each, the case will be precise
/ " the same. Mr.. r. confessed that it was
/ so long since he had left school, that he was
/ not able to repeat the rule of grammar to
which he had referred, but it did appear to
! him when reference was had to substan-
tive qualihedb by an adjective, it was proper
4 to take both together No instrument was
! SO perfect, but thatif the parts were taken
separately, it might not be rendered non
sense. He had learnt somewhere, that a
clergyman reciting in place of worship,
the old version ofthe Psalms by Shernhold
and Hopkins, had said,
I The Lord will come, and he will not
/ Keep filence, but fpeak out
A sailor who happened to be listening,
| thinking the man crazy and all who heard
him, Immediately left the house. So in
/ this case the gentleman, bya similar spe-
eies of ingenuity, may make this or any o.
] ther resolution perfect nonsense.
/ Mr. Dana said it wasnot his purpose to
enter into grammatical disquisition; to
understand correctly the meaning of paiti-
cular words, it was not necessary to refer
to the authority of grammarians. When
/ they understood the principles of grammar
they did not want. those authorities. He
I Ix7ssss..,~ely to observe thaton the first read
/ ing OF the~IcsvIutIun, many gentlemen en-
tertained different ideas from those express
sed by the gentlemen from Delaware and
/ Virginia, some gentlemen considering the
| term highest as referring to persons, and
others to members; as had been observed,
| the punctuation would decide in one way
| or other, the construction might depend
Oh commas. On a question in which the
/ passions are.so apt to be engaged as in the
election of a chief magistrate, the language
oughtto be plain. He did hope therefore,
that where all agreed in principle, all would
1 agree to clothe it in language that would
free it from obscurity.
Mr.. Elliot moved that the committee
should rise.
Motionlost--Aycs 3s--Noes Sc.
The question was then taken on striking
out and lost-Ayes %.
Mr.. Thatcher said that in the first para.