Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1826-01-03

that ,aese gentlsmen could NOT be heard. The
defect, therefore, seemed to him to be in the
room, but in those who occupied it. The truth
WAS, that, much OF the business done every day
was, In great degree. matter OF form, and not OF
general interest," the bulk Of the members not
| attending to il, but each occupied in his way,
and most oil them converslng In a tone little below
| hat OF those who at the same time addressing
the Chair. The consequence might easily be con
Jectured Two hundred persons, all talking at
once, even though ina suppressed voice, would
| naturally produce a confused sound, in which the
voice OF the person addressing the ASSEMBLY,
less strained 10 very hi IN pitch indeed, would, of
! course, be lost. Fort would scarce lie expected
| that the voice OF one man should go farther than
to overpower one hundred other voices-but, here
were two hundred. When this Hall was occupied
on Sabbath, for the purpose OF worship. however
crowded IL might be, and however feeble the voice
of the person speaking. his voice distinctly
heard in every part oil the House. The same thing
took place when, in debate OF much interest, the
members were DESTROYS of hearing all that dropped
| from the gentlemen addressing them. Now, if
| this was the fact, 1t worth while TO alter the
loom Would it not be better to alter our own
habits of attention Danish all private conversa-
ton, and abstain from moving about upon the floor,
and he believed there would be little difficulty in
hearing all that eaid If any fault existed in
the structure of the Hail. it were rather 10 be found
In the TACT that it conveyed sound too easily in
consequence of which, the eounds of private con-.
versation were too much heard, and mingled with
and interrupted the person speaking. The more
the Hall should be improved in the iranmisson OF
sound the more this evil would be increased. AT
any rate, he hoped that the Chairman Of the Select
Committee, who had reported the resolution, would
consent that should lie on the table till tomor-
row, In order 10 afford an opportunity for frheI
treflec,ion. As TO the expense, il was not the
ground of his objectionable he felt illing tina,
an mputa;ion should be upon the Hall which i,
did no observe, and equally unwilling to deflce H.
unless he was well assured that grea, advan-
tsge would result. He would no, make the motion
thst the resolution lie on the table, but he hoped
! that the Chairman Of the Commute would
Mr.. Mercer of Virginia, regretted that it should
proposed to lay the resolution the table before
, a. opportunity had been afforded receive the
views Of the Committee in reply TO the objection:
which had been urged, and in farther explanation
the proposed measure. And first, to the ell.
ty OF the proposition. The committee had not re-
lied exclusively the deductions OF their owl
judgment and experience this subject, but had
walled themselves, as lar as they had opportunity
of those OF other gentlemen, very many OF WHOM
conceded with them in the eXpediency Of the ex-
perments II was proper TO make, particularly &c
! change in theyo'itien OF the Speakers chair. II
was true certainly, that ought, il possible IL
II this not in the form OF The Hall, such re-
medy as had reference to that form, ought TO b,
attempted But this was point on which every
, one was able to form judgment for hmself-ther;
was no need of relying on that OF any other. Fo
himself, he had had the honor OF attending in th
place now for eight years; and he could with grea
E truth say, that, when I've came, il with deet-
mination 10 do his duty to the extent OF his poo
ability: he had been brought up in school wher,
this had ever been pressed upon him; he did his en-
deavoT to listen to the sentiments advanced by tht
Members on the various subjects which came before
the House, but lie soon foundit was impossible II,
= had been sincerely desirous, he knew many 9th
ers to have been, of improving his own judgmen
and information by strict attention to the business
and the debates-but he had length given il up
despair, as his neshbors also had done. He haC
known many who had began session of this Hous
with the most fixed resolutions of severe attention
but Ire had never yet known one who, before thu
= session was ended, had not experienced great re
Taxation. The evil was m impor,an, one. Ii wa
e a subject Of complaint, only by the Mem
bers of the House, but by those who had righ
to witness and to inspect its proceedings. The,
e had all found that the greater part Of what wa
said on this floor utterly uninelgible at thel
seats in the gallery; and he would ask gentleme
: whether the effect upon debate, of an audienc
and OF the public eye, was not great, and no
: desirable, There another consideration whic
n showed the necessity Of some alterations
$ At present, gentlemen who had long been accus
Toned to public speaking, and who had been train
ed the possession and exercise Of their facultie
> in all conditions OF an audience, might make shi
to get along pretty well, and might in some sor
' perform their duty to their constuents--but ther
were Others who had not had this training, and WI
: possessed what might by some be deemed morbi
c sensbly, but which rendered them ut, erly unabl
to deliver themselves they would and otherwis
could do, while they had to encounter the rusilin
OF leaves, the buzz OF private versation, and ti
general inattention OF those whom they endea
r voring TO address, and who were thus nattentiy
5 only because they could not hear what was sale
and this would always be the case, unless mems "a
= culties were to be measured by their physc;
Il strength. He would ask those who had read wit
e delight the speeches OF the immortal Patrick Henry
: how those speeches would have sounded if they Ina
, been delivered in such circumstances as usual
h environed the speakers in this House,? Or, to q
from the Hall to the Pulpit, what would have bee
the effect OF the of Whitfield. the charac
II ter OF whose eoquence could never be praised to
e highly, if they had appeared on delivery az the
J now do in the printed form? For they now ap
: pear the most wretched Of compositions. And h
u put 1t 10 gentlemen TO say whether every thin
{ ought not TO be secured which wet TO augnen
d the power of debate, when welded in this Hall a
an instrument in resisting Executive encroachments
e The time might arrive when such encroachmen,
e would become formidable; but the time was, also
fast approaching, when, instead Of this House bein
4 the popular branch of the Government, that branc
would have to be looked for at the opposite ex
tremity of the Capitol. Here il labor to listen
, yet there was so much Of that labor to be done
that, in consequence Of the difficulty, the very at
tempt would b. abandoned.
The Hall was, in its construction, fundamental,
, wrong. 1t was designed on wrong principle
: Its plan was in imitation Of the dumb Legislature