Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1823-04-26
FOR THE SPECTATOR.
Mn. WANnEv.

FOR THE SPECTATOR.
Mn. WAaREg,
| have just read in yonr last paper, a
piece copied from the Vaotlala paper,
and signed " A Plain Citizen" Seldom
have read greater mass Of absurdily.
In the first place, to show his knowledge
of grammar, he says "the modest HmiS
OF remonstrance is over-stepped. " In
the second place, to show III, knowledge
of arithmetic, he says Z" in both branches
" o the legislature therear 54nembers,
" Sc oil the 81 voted in favor of the
" resolution, and 6 against il, and FlV +
s out of thai 10 had been expressly IN
" structed by ileir constituents to vote
" for it, leaving Just eleven members who
g represented the will OF their constitu-
" ehls that voted against IT," Now, ac-
cordlng 10 my arithmetic, Sc and 10
make only 50; and il is we'll Known hat
the whole nu,nbei Of 54 members ac-
tuaIly voted on that question. The fact
is that after all their log-rohng and
turning out, there were eighteea nl.m-
bers who voted againsl the resolution.
l is therefore, Plain that the plan CT
ti-en" either does not understand the
common rules of arithmetic, or has a,
tempted to deceive the public. He very
generously admits that there were
g eleven members who represented the
will of their constituents, that voted
against" the convention. These "eiepeu
members" must Of coupse Include IN
senator from Greene and Pike, the sena.
tor and one representative from Craw
lord, two Representatives from 81. Clair
an1 the representative from Bond. Nov
If these gentlemen, in voting against the
convention, " represented the will OF
their constituents" it follows of course,
hat John Shay Of Pike, the represen-
,atye from Greene, one oftbe represen-
yapves from Crawford, the senator and
one Of the representatives from 81. Clair,
and The senator from Bond, aust have
acted contrary to the will of their con-
stituents when they voted in favor Of q
convention. Thus ii appears that ac-
cording 10 the 6 Plain Citizens ogyn
story, SIX members voted for the COW
yention contrary to the will Of their con
stituents. May we not safely add 10
these the senator and one representative
from Madison? Have not the people
Of this county uniformly given large
maioriiies agains, slavery, and aeains
every thing which would tend to extend
it? Did they not last year, give Mr.
Coles a majority OF more than 500 over
Mr.. Phillips the slavery candidate !? A
great cry has been raised about the in
struclions from Madison, in favor OF the
convention; yet with all the forgerics,
inpositions AID deception practised for
that purpose, the slave party did not OBJ
tain the signatures of more than one
fourth of the voters of M adison county.
Information from Monroe, Randolph,
aud Washington counties, warrants the
belief that the majority in each Of these
counties is opposed to convention
The representative from Johnson, actn-
ally voted against the convention on the
first trial, and it is generally believed
tudt TIC dCtCti dCCoIulUS ~ tHC VIII Oh
his constituents. To effect local mea-
sure, he was afterwards induced to vote
for the convention.
z am willing to admit that one member
"a representative from Whte) voted
against the convention contrary to the
wishes of the majority of that county.
Ii is said, however, that his sentiments
were made known before the election,
and that he owed his election to divi-
sion in the opposite party. Ii thus APP
pears that fifteen members voted for the
convention contrary to the will of the
majority Of their constituents and that
one member voted against it contrary to
The wish of majority of his constituents.
Had each member vated according TO
the wishes of majority of his conslitu-
ents, the vote would probably have stood
thus:
For the Convention, %
Agains, it, 50
Majority against it, 10
The T" Plain Citizen" has labored
hard to Justify the turning out of Mr..
II T.. 1, -.