Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1825-03-29

gentleman himself, without petition or any
KIND OF notice from his cunsl ituents and offered
too upon The very spur of the moment, without
even giving notice to the people of the con; en-
plated measure. Now when the subject of Ia
king the opnon OF people upon the propriety of
ate. ing the constitution of tins sta;e-atter il
has been before The public ior years; and after
being reported, aud on file for months. the eren
ticman, wants 10 have instructions from his con
stituents before he can act. He thought this
was case of inconsistency flor he knew no
stronger term TO give it that exhibited the most
melancholy example of the mutablitv of mind
that he had ever seen. To be sure, the gentle
man had rather disclaimed the effort To be con
sistent, and took TO himself the character of en-
deavouring TO be ,ieht-in this case, he had
some prospect of success for he must uuLoubt
edly be right in one case or the othern
"Mr. Roberts said this question had been
brought very correctly and very fairly before
the house. He said we had arrived al si,ua-
ton that one of two things must be done; either
the constitution must be altei ed or a new orra-
nizaIon of tlI" Judiciary system must take place
They were told on former occasion, that il
was neces arv to change the constitution of the
United States-that congress had usurpcd the
authorities of the people in putting man into
the Presidential chair-apd that such an amend
President directly TO the people. Now in this
he wished 10 leave this matter To the people. and
Vt they decided that they were not ready to al.
Ter The constitution ufthe state WHY he would
be satisfied. The gentleman on his left. (Nr
Baker, had adverted 20 the vote of the 500 dol
lar law AS he was the only member that had
voted for that law, he supposed he must un-
derstand IT as intended for him. He had no de-
iicacv ON that subject. (Mr. Baker sail he did
not allude to the gentleman he only quoted il
as an example, to shew that other men might be
induced to change their opinions under different
circumstances.) Mr.. r. said he took the GEN
tleman's explanation. But with regard TO the
500 dollar law, what was done? That law was
repealed; but the wages were fixed at eight dol
lars day They were not brought back to the
old price offs six dollars; and if any body Womb
Calculate the amount of wages, every other wear.
when congress found il necessary to extend the
session, he would find that on an average il fell
very little short of 500 dollars session for each
member. But he had for his consolation. the
knowledge, that many ofthe best and greatest
mon in the nation voted with him for the 15On
dollar law The man who about year ago re
ceIved almost unanimous vote of the state con-
venuon, for the second Office in the United
States-the man who had baan since repeatedly
II nored with high trusts, and had lately been
nCl'C'eu us secretary OF state. voted for it-Oue
member who had since been governor of Viz
g'nla' had voted for il; and many men oftbe frst
talents and patriotism had voted for IT, The pen
ueman from Franklin had asked how we were
t. know whether the people wish convention
o. moi! He would ask how the gentleman knew
lhat MS constituents wished To send him mem
Der TO the legislature? By their votes, undoubt
| eltv.
| These debates possess deep interest. The
| aV"We" nhJect o the proposed call of "A conven-
ton in Pennsylvania is 10 chang. the tenure Inv
which the Judiciary hold their Offices. The oconI.
| Of that STATE have made the discovery that JUDGES
| are not inalihlr, (mo wonder, as four of their
President Judges at this moment under art j.
ot Impcachmcnt0 amt they begin 70 think il re.
sonabie that, like other servants of the neonle h,.
should account once in :heir lives nj least for the
manner IN which they have discharged their stew
ardshIp- "ihe idea of making the judiciary in
| dependent OF the people, (said Mr.. Roberts0 was
entirely efroneous-it was founded upon lsc
| philosophy The arguments of the opponents
bear strong resemblance to those used i'm th. I a.
gIslature of Vrgnia--''the people had not pe,i
toned"-it would be compelling them to decide the
question, whether they would or not'-..we were
sent to support and not to alter the constitutions ;,
NC The Mr.. Roberts who appears to such adj
vantage in this debate, is iona than Roberts lat,
Senator Of the T. States from Pennsylvania an
| intelligent and consistent republican.
| LiteTdrH.-The n. Y America n .,,,,. H.. c.: