Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1829-12-22


imaginary, bat they on that account the less
entitled TO respect and consderation--snd 20 soon as
the icea OF guaranty was repudiated as IL seemed 20
be, on one side, IL not on both, Mr.. II said lie bad
made up his mind to 20 for the compromise Of the
white population basis ia the House OF Delegates and
federal numbers Ia the Senate. This, he believed
most conscentiousy to be the and the only mid
die ground between the parties-it placed the poou
lar branch In s Legitimate ,nds the n,,,;,v nj t.
whites, THIS was made the guardian Of and per.
sonar righ's gave to the slave hoi.rs the Sen.. for
'neT II protection and security tie
ally the object OF the East, here Was pro,ec ion
and safe guard ample and complete
Here was The shield for WI ch they Ind a.keI To
concede the House OF Delegates Also would b. To mn,
into their hands sword not for defence Snt which
might be employed extensively. Mr. r. said. enter.
tanning these opinions, he bad earnestly hoped th,.
compromise would prevail IL had been his "6r.t love-
SINCE he ha been impressed with the necessity Of com
PROMISE and he had uniformly voted Tor il 10 Com nit
tee OF the Whole, and in Convention. BY the vot-
ustaken however, il had been lost BY an equal division
e "o"y' anu the only remaining proposition now, Is
. .n OF my worthy colleague. (Mr Gordon.) upon
vi the merits Of this proposition, Mr. r Would saw
nolohg' as they had already been fully developed by
ue mover and other gentlemen pro and cop--,hou gI
e sche,ue was no iavourite with him. he had assured
me- worthy colleague, had always intended TO vote for
a. Compromise alter falling in his first choice pro.
videdin the mean time proposition less obiec,ions-
o'e was presented He preferred il TO the pro.
Ies OF the gentleman from Northamp,ou mir JJpsbur
and the gentleman from Chesterfield Mr. Leigh
indeed after rejecting all others were
10 hs single ositon;and objectona BILE 10 him as he
"o"iu candidy confess was, he could hesitate
10 prefer II to the alternative Of making no
A'a present and temporary appor,ionmeDt he had ma
serious objections to it, The great defect was that II
contained no satisfactory provision for future appor,ion
.n.s , o. power ne object OF the mover he had
vowed 10 be to sink that vexed questionable Mr. T.
believed to he vain eort-t could not he 4, must he
met and must be decided and later and
me better tor the repose Of the
x hal Iav fhaa
ry adjustment that could take place. since the
honal guaranty was repudiated was to adopt the white
oas' IN the House Of Delegates, and the federal or
mixed basis in the Senate. This would satisfy mao-
rny oil the community and nothing else would The
west were now willing TO yield il and was to him m
ter OF asonishmen that the East would not close with
the Offer Mr. +. said, whit he held these opinion,
and whilst he feared tho the adopiion of the
OF his colleague would defeat the passage of the Con
sttu'ion in this Convention and If not its ratification b,
the people, he could not far AZ his vote was
Ell, De. instrumental in lis rejection now-io perad
venture the scheme mig' contrary 10 his an,ici,s
tons, unite respectable majority here and majority
OF the people He felt IT,. therefore, to be his duty
n"er fresen' circumstances, to give the experiment
ar ri ana shonld II receive the sanction and supper
oil majority here and elsewhere as republican bc
should frel is bounien duty TO acouesce cheerful,
" IN their decision. For these reasons he should re.
cord his vote in favour of the proposition of his cal.
league. now under consideration
Mr. MERCER went into an explanation Of his course
He considered it due TO himself to say that like the
teman from Augusta, he had not viewed himself a,
compromised by any thing that passed at the meeting Ell
iuded TO. II was the first Of the kind, which he had
attended in the course of his short noI;,;cai Ic
The meeting was not held in private other gentlemen
were present besides the members of Convention Son,
gentlemen whom he did not personally know: the door
mad been always open to the intrusion of any one He
supposed that the object had been to ascertain whether
any compromise could be sustained He was himself
IN favour OF the plan Of the gentleman from Goocb
land, Mr. Pleasantly and had made calculation occor
n INA pr,t,,o r
your When he discovered that they had a naioritv q,
oooo, 'he cizens oil the Commonwealth in favour OF
the white basis exclusive OF Abemarle, he had fell,
much encouraged. Delicate as was his situation he
shoad persevcre in voting against any other scheme thar
that of the white basis in the House of DELEGATES III
thought this was the very last moment i'm which an,
friend oil That cause ought to despair. The vote which
had been given rather filled him with hope He should
vote against the proposition of the gentleman from Al
bemarle He had understood the gentleman from Coach
land had consented TO vote for his own proposition.
sara nee. 49, va
Mr.. COOKE made an explanation corroborating IN
statement OF Mr.. Pleasants.
Mr.. PLAsANrs said, that he had declared tina, If h
could not get graduated system of county
ton 10 suit him, he might possibly accent of the ohe,
but that he was situated with respec ct TO his District
that ne did not know fit would have been in his pow
| er. He had expressly said, at the meeting that n
would bind himself to nothing
Mr. MERCER said, that he had so understood all IN,
other gentlemen: he had been any where tina, III
would consent to he bound He had the pnblfc as
snrance OF the gentleman from Nor,hanu,on (,fr IT,
shur) TINT he was not satisfied with senate of .,s
and that II 40 was moved he should sustain IT, H.ha
therefore counted upon that gen,lema,'s suppor,: h
had also reckoned upon the venerable gentleman from
Grange (Mr Madisonl and confidently on The sun
part OF the gentleman from Richmond (Mr Marshall
tie had now, however, witbes sed one e0naI division
The House on Senate based upon the Federal nun
Der, and Honse Of Representatives npor the ,vb
basis And This was the moment gentlemen had chose,
to despair-on him, IL had a very different effect
IT, indeed he could believe with his friend from Fred
erick (Nir COOKE and his colleague (Mr HFNprR
SOM who had conjured up such frighfu phantoms be
tore their own imagination and that of the Convention
then, indeed he would give gentlemen carte blanche
and they might write any Constitution that thev s,n
posed would remedy the evil but he could believe II
no such thing. In his country, certainly he had ne.
yer heard OF such an idea There had heen. he he
ieved, some meetings of the non eholders but moth
ing was TO be apprehended of violent character This
question was To be settled not by alarm but by SCUM,
Judgment The gentlemen seemed TO suppose that be,
were not fixing on any basis OF sentaon
this spportionment called an arbitrary one. II co.,
not arbitrary: principle OF appointment was at the
bottom OF IT, And il IL was intended 10 sink the oue.
lion in dispute it certainly failed Of ts object Where
must the resort be made 10 dcover the PRINCIPLES on
which II was founded! To the census OF the State
And did gentlemen suppose that their constituent,
would not or could not resort 10 the too. The,
had gained nothing that score He granted that
the contribution should before the people |
would he hard to say what basis il was founded
TWAS not on the white basis; on the black bs.
'iS; nor on money basis. But did they suppose tbi.
would satisfy the people, Were ihey likely To renal,
contented' He said no and he believed that gentle.
men deceived themselves they thought that the grea
question would be settled by the present convention
Mr. UPsHUR then spoke as follows
M PTesident-l should not treaspass on the patience
Of the Convention at this late hour if were not fo
the direct alluson which has heen made TO me Inv I'M
gentleman from Loudoun (Mr. Mercer0 That al