Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1829-03-05
nor THE yIRGIslAE.
To the non feehOlders Of \

10 ihc non jTetiOldETS Of Nelson County.
feti0W cdiseus-Ibe all-mpmlant question
thai has SC long HgItated our community is 1T
lcnsth decided. The voicn If the people, call
lag Tor a Convention to alter and amend their
stnte constitution, has been heard and, ~ o.
Incidence 10 that voice, an act authorising such
convention has pm sed the Legislature of VIZ
gin'a. The roice Of The people, did say No,
II was The foice oi only n part of them; al
that portion of them only who are called free
holders: you, the non .ireehoders, still the
sutJrct, 81 thhi oIpfe ,sun under which yon
had been labonling Tor more than hall n cen.
uiy, were denied the privilege Of going 10
the polls aud recording your votes on that vi
tail" important snbjrct-Yru, Who | believe
constitute the larger part of thai boz called
The pee pie, were uhGeremonioesly pu-hed
rom the sitai Of liberty, told that you
should have nopalt nor concern II the matter
II Has truly hardship, and hardship, TOO,
totally repngnani 10 every principle ol Justice
and liberty; yet hoi murnur escaped your
lips, mol a bI cath OF complaint was raised n
gan ST The gross InJnstice &; a circumstance
which speaks volumes in favor of your mnder-
anon and torbeArance. Blu, when an act of
fresh and inlolerani usnrpatinn Is about Ia be
about 20 he imposed upon you; when yeur
oppression IS about to lie incren, and your
letters In br ilghtenrd say it Is time 10 look
n oand, uad ~ lei yourselves be known ana
felt.
II was thought hy some and hoped by ma
N.Y. that, IN the investigation of prime pies upon
which the aforesaid convention WINS 10 be for.
med this Inherent aud Ineslimabie right of the
nun-freeholdrrs would he attended to- hat the
ieitcrs WITH Nh 'ah they had So long teen
bound would be thrown of 10y a patriotic and
republican assembl, end voice allowed them
IN The selection of those men who were about
10 revise and remodel the government under
which they lived. For, in every o,her in.
stance, ii mistake not the Legislature of Vir
gInia Is prohibited by the existing constitution
from extending the right of suffrage farther
than II now operates aud even ia this case
II does not, III specii, terms, grant them the
power, nei'her does II withhold il from them
But those, fellow clii2eOs, who boprd for this
mitigation ut your oppression, have been dis.
appointed. sndly disappointed You were not
only, say, denied the right of going 20 the
polls and there declaring whether YOU would
nave Convention or not but the Legislature,
in a tyrsnnical assumption of authority. has
said that you shall not even have a mart IN IN.
selection OF ceiegCtts 10 that convention. who
when met, Will constitute one OF the most i'm.
Lortani bodies ever assembled in Virginia or
IN the world, ana whnss business will be the
ie"oaep'"S WI 'Hnl eoSernme under which
you've ana oil which you, in conjunction with
your fellow citizen freeholders. are the sove.
reiens. Again, say, it is an injustice alike fla.
grant and intoIerant, and totally inconsistent
with the pure and unadulteraied principles of
republican liberty. Should it be here endured
why consider the prohibition from voting for
delegates to the convention, a greater grievance
man was the same prohibition on the question
OF " Convention or no Convention, II answer
because, in all republican governments. the
sovereignty rests with the people. They.
through their political architects. erect thai
form OF government under which they are 10
live and whenever that government become.
oppressive or inadequate 10 the purposes for
" Inch IT was created. they and they atone have
'he power OF altering. amending or abolshing
H. IL seems, now, thatthe present form Of go.
Vernment. or, you will have it, constitution
Of Virginia, haEIns been founded up on rspub