Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1817-02-05
Riehmond, February /.
Virginia Legislature.
USE OF DELEGATES.

U
On Thursday, tive propositions nerc
adoi,led by The Ii. OF ID. ol an interesting,
cearac,er enc OF them reiates directly Ia
the call Of the conventisn b the other Is
supposed by many to have an important
bearing upon the. same measure.
The last was brought forward at a very
early period Of Thursdays session, BY
Mr.. Blackburn viz. TO grant leave to
bring in bill $40 make a new arrange
ment Of the counties into districts TOR toe
election of Senator's, and for equaliziHs
the land tax" This motion wa, opposed
lby Messrs. Doddridge, Colston, tray,
SC. and supported BY Messrs, Blackburn,
Mercer, of l.. Harrison and iazewell.-
The discussion took a wide range. Whe-
ther the Legislature had the constitution.
jail power TO reorganize the seaate :
Whether the act OF '76. organizing the
Senate, was passed by the Legislature In
its ordinary capacity, or as convention;
and whether the act Of '92 made amy
other change in that OF &c, than TO
change the members Of the counties in
cash senatorial! district. still preserving
the same territorial basis |! and whether
lit might not be calculated TO defeat the
call .f a COnvestion ? Messrs. Black
ibusn and iazrwell pa ticulariy insisting
that there would be 10 occasion for a
Convention, il the Seua,e aud the Liant
tax were eqaal,zed, The inequalities CT
bath belug the principal esiIs comp a!ned
Of, aud these iwo gentlemen frankly ad
mittlBs that they WISHED IL that lay 1"
sapetcede the Cal! Ut convention
Finally, the question was put. and the
moIton prevailed, ayes rs. mes So. And
the following gentlemen appointed the
,eiec, comnltiee to BIlns liz he bill. VIZ.
Messio. Blackburn, Mercer, 81 l.. Col.
ston, harrIsJn, VI +. nro -, iaz-weil,
Crawford, CLanber!luit, Sm:th Of
~ the, Cock, q! b,;ctourt, Williams,
haiun, Mercer, Of y, pdstes, Darretre.
Stelnoergen, J ihumpson, of ,azrweIl.
Robertson, .! Petersburg, jones, II Gou.
|cester, Nh.on, OF No. hampton. Hay.
iaiiai'uo, Garnet and Ba"yer Of Rock
bridge.
Inc House then resolved it,elf into a
'cDmnittee o the whole on the C0nse
'ion Bill, when the other proposition was
adopted to which we reterred. Several
an,sud nents were adopted. most 81 them
at the INSTANCE Of Mr. razewe.I, the
most material Of which are the t~., iui ow-
ing, which, 1t S obvious, 10 10 change the
character OF the Convention from limit.
Ell 10 an unlimited one Dir. L saving.
that il would be impossible to prevent
thelr acting DIS al unlimited COnrentlon,
and therefore II was better to lay that
question at once fairly betnre the people.
BE therefore proposed to stnke Out frum
The following preamble to the But, the
" ords inc!o,ed In b,ackets:
" Nhcreas it is represented TO the
present General ssemby, that lar.e
portion Of Tie good people OF thi, COR.
iusnw eaIth, ale Gesisors Of amending the
constitution Of the state in sach maaner
as to secure al equal representation Of
IN. Tree White people thereof. in The sc.
nate and House Of Delegates to eq,ai-
ize taxation throughout the common
wealth; to extend the right Of suffrage to
ali such FREE male white citizeas OF TWEEN
~ one years OF age anti upwards as have
sufficient evidence OF permanent com
mon interest with, and attachment to the
community and TO provide for such
future amendments in the constitution Of
the STATE, as sxperiencel>haIl suggest to be
aecessary:l Aud this Legislature deem
ing it their duty TO ascertain whether
this be the sense Of a majority OF the free.
holders within the commonwealth :"
Much brilliant discussion ensued upon
this motion, which finally prevailed, ayes
rs, noes SO.
This motion was followed up by m"-i
ton of Mr.. Tazeweii's to strike out from
the 1st sectien, the words enclosed in
brackets, VIZ.
.Sec. /. BE it enacted BY the General
Assembly, That the several sheritfs and
other officers, authorised to conduct cleo
tons within this commonwealth, shall ur.
der the penalty Of dollars, at the
time and place Of holding their respective
general annual elections in the ensuing
spring, open upon their poll books the adj.
ditiohal coiunns, the one 10 be ovsrwrit.
ten with The words, u" A Convention t oil
the repre- sentatiun Of the free