Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1829-11-26

sisration! The object of the mendmet to abdash
the present modification Of the right Of suffrage ana to
subs i,utc In its place, entirely When
people undertake To make change in their political
Institutions. affecting the foundation Of government, II
behoves them 10 proceed with the utmost caution aud
sircumspection. We should recollect that we are a.
bout TO Introduce experiment which is % operate up
on the affections, prejujiees, aud LOAF established HABITS
OF the community, and the cons. uusnces cannot be
discily foreseeD or oretohi. numerous population
falling much short Of a million. cannot at once
throw OIL their old usaecs and customs, and accom-
inodite themselves to entirely new order of things.
radically iiisvcn from that ua,ler which they had lv
ed IN peace and raopniy, without mourning the rick
OF many and great evils. This government bad existed
Tor noe Than hiiy years, and under IT, tho people had
ehj'yed happiness and cont. Dtment. There were tits
true, occasional clinors arising from local AMI
areudices aud any real lie feets in the form
government, AMI he hoped this amendment would
he adopted 10 aay such complaints. In that part OF
the State in which he resided he hal not heard Of any
people there, a this respect at least, were sasheJ
why ibeu adopt this new qualification Of tho right
suffrage, which in his poor opinion would put to hazard
the best interests Of the country and even
liberties OF the people! We called upon substitute
for The freehold suffrage that which if 10 no, univ~r
sal su age falls but little short Of it, 1t is propose tina,
those who are Fl years Of Ae, who be arms. and have
resided IL months IN the county in which they propose 10
vote should have ths right and the adoption of
cple amounted in effect to what he called
trags. He told by an Ito the
OF whose statistics he did not, however, feel himself
bound to subscrbe) that the adoption O; this measure
would add to tho number Of voters in the State more
hat
than 10000. Thus the power of the goverumcn,
Is to be transferred from the hands Of the 600 who
have the deepest interest at stake to the 81 000 VIII.
havs comparatively but little interest. Ii is no idle
chimefa Of tho brain, that tho possession of land fur
nishes the strongest evidence Of permanent common
interest with, anu attachment 10 the community
| Much had h-en already said by gentlemen on both
sides; demonstrating the powerful Influence Of local
a'tAchmsnt upon the conduct of man, and he could
not be made TO comprehend how that passion could
be more eHsctuAliy brought into action than by con.
seriousness OF the TACT, that he the owner Of the
spot which he could emphatically call hi. home 1t wa.
upon this foundation he wished place the right Of suf
irage This uas the best gene raj standard which could
be resor'ed to for the purpose OF determining whether
The persons TO be invested w it'll the lat Of suffrage
were such persons as could be. consistently with the
safety and wel-being Of the community entrusted with
he exercise Of that right Much had been said in the
discussion yesterday oil the oppression and inpocy re
uitng from an adherence 10 the present restricted suf
rag' watch he presumed was int nJed produce some
| eHrct upon public opinion, for he could not sup
no,e was intended as serious argument adrssse 10
| this Committee.
Among other things, we had been seriously told h.,
one gentleman that many of the citizen. of this Com
inonwcah, non-freehoiders la5orng under sense of
the great injustice done them i'll withholding t. r,ht
oil suffrage, were known TO abandon their native State
and TO emigratc To other States in the Union where suf
age was universal that thereby they might enjoy that
most Invaluable right This mere Pigment OF tho
fancy 1t is admitted all sidcs, that to obtain the oual
hcauon OF voter the expenditure of trife ia amount
would be all that was necessary Yet, we are told
That The prosecuted citizens of this Commonwealth are
migrating to other parts of the Union to avoid this obi
Gus principle, and doing this xpence too much be-
You'd wat would be required to make them rcehollcrs
Uchtieinen deal in fancul suggestions. He would ven
ture to hazard the opinion that no man that ever
lived in that portion of the State from which he came
was ever know to fly to other avoid that or
any other kind OF political oppression The idea was
new one aud he hoped had sprung from the fruitful
imagination OF the gentleman. Let those who indulge
IN these ances, inquire of sach Vrgnans may have
enigrated t. other States what their opinions are
upon this subject Will they be found to revile Vr-
gina with curses, because while citizens here, they
enjoyed not the right OF suffrage? No. They would
hold very different language and instead of
oil tyranny anu oppressson they would speak in terms
oil the profoundes veneration of her political ias,itu
lions Virginia had not completely fallen from her
nigh estate, gentlemen had been pleased to re-
present, and II she had suffered any deterioration il did
not result much from her counais as from those
oil another government, which in many respects excr.
cses controul oyerher desnies Is tbccausc she in
common with the other southern States is aborin
der depiorabio commercial depression, that we are
called upon TO abandon the old and established order
things, and look for an Improvement of condition
from the future councils of State goyernment,-Wa
may pull down this government uner this vain expec-
talon, bit he entertained serious apprehen that
could not build up another which could long endure
No, sir the condition in which find ourselves, ha,
not arisen FROM il be improved by, the policy
OF the State in the regulation of her inter
nal and domestic concerns. Ii could not be effected by
the introduction OF universal suffrage intended by the
proposition OF the gentleman from Monongala for since
so lew would be excluded he felt himself justified in
Calling 1T universal. He indulged sangne hope that
the Committee was not prepared to adopt this bold in
| hpNd'loh-ic WOud say uliS dangerous experiment,
traught in his opinion, with mischief inconcrivabe-
lie said that ne had listened with much attention to the
gentleman from Louloun, (Ir. Henlerson) who adj
dressed the Committee yesterday lie had expected
that that gentleman would have furnished strong
and conclusive arguments in support of that side of this
| question which he had espoused-he had been much
disappointed, the gentleman did possess
the requisite talents and ingenuity sustain himself
with ability in the maintenance Of any opinions he might
advance, but he disposed to ascrbe his disappoint
ment to the fact that the subject did not admit of more
conclusive arguments. This Committee doubt would
look at the facts according to that genteman's own
statement, unnluenced by his eloquent illusions And
what are those facts? To substitute for the eeholdor
class OF sixty thousand people, who cenroul the
operations OF government in the and udciou
administration of which the forty thousand feehoders
hands, and OF of all other species of
perry I'm an amount greatly exceeding that held by the
non-ireeholdcrs In other words the great landed in
terest to be placed in the keeping of majority of wen
y thousand who have direct and immediate come cop
with 1t, and who il regards all other property
have an interest infinitely short of that which The free
holders possess. II this principle were introduced in
government administered without the Intervention of
public agents. it would be neither nor less than
pure democracy, and We have yet TO learn whether IL
Introduced IN our government, il will not end in ruin
Gus consequences. Gentlemen who advocate this ex-
traordinary extension of the right of suffrage are com
PEELED 10 admit the necessity of fixing upon some mita
uon' Upon their own principles they exclude three
ioirfs Of the white population from the possession of
any political power According TO their own favoritC
theory we do not violate any existing rights by deposit
ing this power where it he safely loIrsd i'm the
hands oil the ireehodershs said he as willing 10 ac-
cede TO proposition extending the right of suffrage but
II should rest upon, be closely and Intimately
ed with the ownership of and--that interest must be