Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1829-12-25
VIRGINIA. CONV ENTIOs.
DEBATE OS BASIS OFRgPRESENTAIlpH
Il, C,npnities ct tie .UTaote on tie Convention.

endeay ored Yesterday to show frorp the reason OF
Che case and the concessions of my opponents, either
directly or uS fair implication, that their argument Of
,p,tbets was uufondcd, and that the epithets they
have attempted to fasteu to the doctrines maintained
by me and my coadjutors, haya oeen gratntousy
sImed, and wantonly applied by them
I thought that satisfactorily showed from both
that the Question, how far the general princi
pie, insisted the sole and exclusive rule in the
cons rnc'ipu of republican government, ought to be
carried question of degree aud not of principle
aud that whist have to determine is, at what point
that principle is be ntersected traversed, and mo-
difcJ by other aud controlling principles, which all
n,,lst admit ought To be consulted in adapting TO-
rernnirUt to the actual state Of society.
PRINT now to attempt farther illustration, by
showing what must be done, If they shall prevail in
establishing their proposition either in the form i'll
which 1t has been roportcdb by the Legislative Com.
uittCe according to- the gloss which has been put
upon by the gentleman irnm Augusta. Their elc-
menary proposition IS this that as all men are by ia
turc equal, all men have right TO enjoy equal DOR
tions of political powers. and they insist that this
must he -Iarrp-d OUT oE.th6 is no such thing as
Repab6c :: Now;f will 'Give4hem this-priuciple, and
let them apply II toa mature condition of society,
and then see how far Il will be compelled to re-
pounce por ION of IT. In the nature of things
90 the ob1entiou of the desired equality YOU must
have given, FIRST the mass which the principle Is
TO operate as dividend; then the given number of
represent Etves IA diviso and applying this divsor
to this dividend, the quntisnt will be the number OF
individuals TO b. represented By each DELEGATE
Then you come to the existing Society-aud YOU find
OlNlulnC HRS dte, WCiCh nave existed
some of them, for two hundred Sars, Gad the popu-
lstion scattersd unequal wirssn these lines
Tho number which your Quotieni indcatrs for one
representative rs, of course, unvarying QuantnS-
while the numbers 10 which il be applied are a.,
variable One county contains 5000 free whites
enothaE couRy E0oo-and your qro:ient IS 5000.
what are you % do? must you break up the county
lnest Mus you add one county 10 smother and sub
divide for the average Is tins 20 be your pre- cs
Is such process practicable The gentleman f ON
Augusta, am sure, does moi look 70 SUCH process;
none OF the gentlemen avow themselves IN favor
OF II. IL would be cutting up not one nor two |
nor three OF your counties; but every existing part
ton of thu State-every one-wlthout exception
All the present lines, all Of them must be obIiterated
And even when you shall have been reconciled TO tins
cy any practical process TO cut off and TO define tho
several portions to be taken from one and added IN
another, so as to produce perfect equality between
tue counties districts beyond the power of man
II the principle cannot be thus applied, what is to
DC uonef w hat must be its effect in practice,
Here you have one county coutairing 5000 iuhabi-
tants and another containing 5000; while YOUR nya
raole divlsor Is 5000. Will you give the former Of
III. .nJSe counties Representative Suppose you do
and what will you allow to the second? Not any
more: but say, you give it tvo-yet apprehend YOU
would not give two TO county containing six mr. So
ven Thousand. And what then? Why then O. county
containing 5000 will have two REPRESENTATIVES, while
county containing or 1000. will have one Renre-i
sentative: and this is their exact mathematical nro
Portion II turns out in practice so variant and me
qua that gives :, and one, and as many as T.
there can be no necessity Of pushing il to other oh
Vlous consequences before this Assembly.
MY next voucher for clearing away the uciin,
ORANGES to our title TO Repubcanisna is the Consti
tuition OF this State-which shows the principle en-
bodied and 10 Co rrete form and in that form, con
secrated by an authority which gentlemen invoke IN
ther ald and then dlsparage. They all eulopize in
the most exalted strains the wisdom the vr,,3o En-
patriotism Of our ancestors and vet thew endnsvo,
70 make their principles condemn their own WORK
hmel' Palrotsin their virtue, their wisdom their in
tehgehce are all set forth order the more TO con-
eecrate the principles they laid down; bur all those
cannot mitigate the sentence of condemnation ,,,b6
is pronounced upon their labors and on the
winch they themselves reared on these very princi
PIES '' P''''''-
But the gentlemen have salvo for discredtng n,
one time an authority which they cry I'D as irrefra
gable and infalhble every respect in which tho,
want TO make use of it: and that isthat while the
PrIncipeS they laid down are the result of mature
reflection, the happy inductons of sagacious minds
rom an extended view of past times all these oual
TICS were dissolved and dlsspated BY the hurry md
alarm IN which they constructed theft work That
historical facts "'u
They go in pursuit Of some pretcxt, on which 70
ulscIedt their own authority 1t is Catholic, as far
Us tney chose TO use IT. and heretca Just as far as
an elaborate examination of analogous urovisiors IN
me constitutions Of our Sister States.
Inc gentleman from Loudoun, in particular nre
sehted US with most elaborate and extensive ansly
n
authority Of the Bill of Rights, and to rcpudate that
of the Constitution. ''
10 give the more emphasis to these precedents. il
pleased that gentleman not only TO bring beGn,e no
m oeall various Bills Of Rights, adopted in different
parts OF the Union; but to apprizo the Committee
WIN more than usual soemnIty, that these were NOT
the WORK oi men; imimIdated by the presence of nm
enemy at their doors, and by the roar of hostile cnn
onp on' the mature rests OF profound and tranGul
investigation, when peace was in all our borders d
tneir a9thors enjoyed the advantage Of the exneri
ehce OF tine Revolution, and the councils of many orl
Sue master spirits OF that epoch. All these things
were brought in solemn array and for OH, s
40 GAS aisoredIt on the work of our progentors pn
surely tle cyil geniusot tine gentleman from Io,,oun
adopt this course "' "''u'eu 20
M9st unfortunately, the very circumstances. no en-
conHosnty rshes on, when colated together and not
presentea 10 detached Fragments torn from their
teXti out compared with the work of the anne ror
IN Ifqmng the Constitutions Of the Statcs furnish n
'fgGHagaDle argument against his pretensions.
lnsVeTy one of the States, noticed bv the gon,,o
man from Loudoun, aye, in every one Of them a,L