Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-11-06
RICHMOND, NOVEMBER 6, lslc.
ELECTiON'OF PRESIDENT.


more t;lan IN Nh, OF the States, respecting
the cleo ton ola President oftle u States
The Z" Old School Republicans, as they
style themselves, denounce in the strong
est terms & Caucus at Washington, no
by them of a candidate for the
a Caucus of the Members of
the State Legislature, and the nomination
by them of Il General Jicketof Electors, who
are TO be asked, and who are to pledge
10 vote for a particular can9i-
date-'To get rid of this machinery, elev
Ell private citizens from certain parts OF
Pennsy lvania, met together at Carlisle,
den0un ed the Can uses at Washington
and Harrisburg, and recommended an
Independent Ticket; that is, of such aswere
not supposed To be committed, us to any
particular candidate. Thus, two tickets
will be voted orinPennsylvania this IN
dependentTichet, and the ticket framed by
the members of the last Legislature. The
latter is listof gentlemen, who will vote
for Monroe and 1on,pkiny-tlie first,
of such as are supposed TO he under
no such pledge; though four or five of
them have since come out with the war
NEST declarations for Monroe and Temp
kins. The independent T;cket will he sup
ported by "the Old School and all, or
most of the Federaiists-the other, by the
great body of the Republicans OF Penn
sylvanla-The election was held on FRI
day last, and no doubt but the last ticket
will succeed by majority OF at least 20
600.
dependent Ticket has sprung from oppo-
sltion to Monroe or 10 the Caucus-whe-
ther its advocates are most DESTROYS of
electing some other candidate, or OF sup
porting the Constitution. Certainly, what
ever be the political sin OLA Caucus, ID
smallsharc of it ought to attach TO Monroe;
asst is well known, that majority of his
friends were averse TO one, and that none
would have been held OH their part, If one
had not been previously called ON the part
of their opponents.
But whatever be the motives of "The
Old School" the scene is over, and we
may now lock 1T the question through lis
own lights only.
There is great force in most of what
they have said against d Caucus; butt has
been said before.-For one, we are prepar-
ed TO abjure the idea of a Congressional
Caucus, as well as of a General Itcket-but,
why do they not go further?-why do they
not adopt means for superscding the ne
cessity or the pretext for them For al
stance
GENERAL TICKET.-Do away this,
and YOU Go away the Caucus ofthe mem
bers of the State Legislature-Presst the a
mendment of the Constitution, which was
lastwinter adopted by the Virginia Legis-
lature, with three or four dissenting vol
css only, and the work is done Let there
he an uniform mode of appointing Elec-
tors and let this mode DC, by division
ofeach State into districts, each district can
easily procure IFS own Elcctor, without
the intcrposition ofthe members of IFS Lee
gislature.-in this case, each state would
stand aiike-andno one could have the ex-
cusc OF saving, "Wemust unite The vote
ofour State, because another does the
same-we must have General Ticket,
because you set us the example. 5-Bnt
the proposed mode would be as fair forone
as the other. Every State would have an
equal chance to win or to lose.
But suppose THIS difficulty removed,
there is another.--As the constitution now
stands, ifno candidate has majority of
the electors votes, the election is TO go
before the House of Representatives, who
choose President out of the three high
est on the list-And they choose, lin what
way! By majority of votes? No, but
by majority Of Statesi The people are
thus lost sight of and the States alone
rule. No matter how small the State; no
matter whetheri it has one representative
or two, has the samevoicein the electi-
on of the chief magistrate, as the largest
State in the Union Is this correct p
Is this conformabe TO the ideas of right
or the principles of republic =?
1t is TO prevent this inequality; this pos
siblc combination of the small states to
give a President to the Union; that
1t would seem expedient TO con-
centrate the votes of a majority upon IA
vorite candidate; of course, to come to
some understanding who is TO be voted
for, and TO understand of the Electorw he
thcr he will vote for that particular can
dldate. As the Constitution stands, YOU
must have this cooperation, oryou run
almost the certain risk of an election IN
Observation-Disclosures, i'll most cases, thevotes
OF the Electors would be so much scatter
ed as TO deteatany election by themselves.
Should notthis cooperation, therefore
be brought about Mot by Con.ressi-
onal Caucus, but by some other less OBJ
jectionable mode {!
But, why evenmakc this expedicnt ne
ccssary !Change the Constitution
make the election, in the last resort, By
both houses Of Congress, instead of single
brancll-by a majority Of members, not
OF the States.
Go back to the Debates Of the Virginia
Convention, and you will see that this OBJ
lection is not a new one.-Nlr. Monroe sta
ted 1t with great force. Mr. Grayson lays