Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-10-20

no longer interfere. Ifthis opinion be
correct. similar authority to the sena-
torial districts to send single represen-
tatives to the Senate, must have Great
ed in relation to them, a similar right.
And yet the legislature has never hest
tated, when the public interest required
it, to remodel those districts; and their
constituents have never failed to sustain
them, by an approving voice, in The e1-
ercise of the power. On what prlnci-
pie, then, can an authority, conceded In
relation to one branch Of the legisla-
ture. be denied in relation to the other!
Why should not the public interest be
promoted by the same means, and es-
tablished on the same basis, in the House
ofDelegates, as in The Senate?
Again: if the counties, as they er'sied
at the adoption Of the constitution, acquir-
ed any absolute right in relation to re-
presentation, it was, not only that each
of them might send two representa-
tives to the House Of Delegates, but,
also, that their representation when
sent, should be equal 10 that Of any 9TH
er county in the state. To this latter
feature in the right, indeed, is the first
indebted for its only value. To any
given section Of the state, it is a matter
of very little consequence that 1t is per-
mitted to retain precisely the same
number Representatives originally al
lowed it, if its rsIatiUe weight in the le
gislature be diminished, by giving to
other sections, with which it has to
compete, double, treble or quadrupie,
their original representation. And yet
such has been the course Of the lcgisla-
ture, while some of the counties remain
as they were at the adoption of the con-
stitutiou, others have, by repeated di-
visions and subdivision, obtained on the
floor of the House of Delegates, four or
five times the number Of representa-
tives originally allotted to them BY
this practice, the resied rights Of the I'M
changed counties iii such rights have
had any other existence than in the i'm
agina,ions of speculative politicians
have been as much violated, as they
would have been by uniting two or more
Of them together in the formation OF a
new countv. Yet tee practice has been
uniformly INDUCED in by the legisla-
ture, and as uniformly sanctioned by
the people, from the adoption of the
constitution down to the present day;
and your memorlalis,s cannot but infer
from the fact, the existence of con-
viction not more general than correct,
that the constitution, in giving to each
county, right to two representatives
in the House Of Delegates, intended 10
impose no restriction on The authority
Of the Legislature, to designate from
time to time, as the interests Of the pub
lie might require it, what those coun-
4 ,al.
therefore, believing that your honorable
body have full power to extend to the
representation in the House Of Dele
gates the same equalizing principle,
that has already been applied to the Sc
nate; and believing, moreover, that the
power may be exercised by you, as ef-
fectually, much more safely, and much
, more economically, than by conven-
ton, pray that no step may be taken,
calculated to facilitate the call of 4
convention. They are the more carr
est in this PRAYER, from the alarming
length to which the spirit OF innovation
has already announced its disposition
to go. A large and respectable meet
ing Of delegates from different coun-
ties, made up, for the most part, Of in
dividuals, to whom Virginia might,
few years since, have looked with con-
fidence, for the maintenance Of all that
was valuable in her constitution-for
all that was salutary in her laws, have
publicly proclaimed their opinion, that
in the event Of the call of a convention
"the right Of suffrage should be ex-
tended to all free white male citizens
above 81 years Of age, whether free
holders or not, who are capable of fur
nishing sufficient eridence Of permanent
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