Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1830-03-25

joining the last in supporting liordou's plan The
statement Of MIR. Leigh produced universal astonish-
menu; perceyng which, he renewed his assurance,
th1t lic relied implicitly on the information he had
received, and added, that he believed u given 10
h,n for me government Of has conduct. Mr.. Pow
ell and Mr. Mason OF Foderck, the colleagues of MIR.
Cooke, penetrated with astonisnient at Mr.. Leiph's
statement, declared to the Convention their disbc
lief that any man from the West could possibly vote
Tor Mr. Gordons scheme; and tho latter expressed
his opinion that whoever had made this communica-
non 10 Mr.. Leigh must have mistaken the true i'm
port Of some members conversation. Mr. Nealc then
stated to the House that he had given to Mr. Leigh
the information in question. Do you inquire who
authorised DIR Noalc to make this statement. Or,
IN other words, from whom he learned the truth of
what he thus communicated! lfit were not OF her
wise known, what followed immediately after would
furnish the answer The vote was taken on my a
mendment, and lost by an equal division of AZ on
each side. This vote can be seen ia pages Is6 of
the Journal BY examining the ayes and neos il
VIII appear that the uan that all the Pal
fey would desert MS, only operated to take fiom us
one ofour friends East of the ridge. This cons,or
CIV and honorable dealing OF our friends East of the
Allegheny ought to be remembered and should in
spire us with confidence in their support in that future
trial which cannot lody be averted. Let any one
take the tables of 1890 and calculate the ovcrwhem
ing minority of freemcn represented BY the 40 who
voted with u.s. aud reprcss. fhe can his wonder that
one OF our members should immediately surrender
himself 10 the 40 who represented the minority
Our misfortune is, that although 10 other Western
man followed the course of Messrs Henderson and
Cooke, their own vote was enough TO turn the scale
ind slast our hopes. The question then RECURRING
on Gordons plan, both these gentlemen came out
IN animated speeches in support of IT, and in vin6i
cation of their course. In the spcech of MIR.
Cooke he disclosed all that had passed at our meet,
ings. 1t would be difficult to say whether these
speeches produced most ofjoy among our opponents.
or OF grief and dismay among our friends. Tho bat
tie was lost. we were divided aud defeated Cor
dons plan adopted by vote of SIS to A. On
TINS vote Mr.. Cooke divided from the West. See
i27ih page Of the Journal
II " . our misfortune that in most of tho E,stcrp
districts in which we found friends, there were CON
siderable minoritics opposed to It's. There were in
the Convention opposed To us the heads of rho Rich
mond Bar, two EN Presidents, und the Chief Justice
OF the United States, the Governor of the State with
the District Attorney, two Judges of the court Of
Appeals, and one Judge of the General Court These
were all at home, The votes of the two late Prcs;
dents and OF the Chief Justice, on Important ques-
tions, were speciality noted IN those Journals which
contained the speeches of members. These Journals
aud the speeches opposed to us packed aud dis
tribucd IN districts where the people were divided
to produce effects injurious 10 our cause.
Perhaps it might be truly said that Mr. Cooke
wrote and exerted himscfmore than any other man
III favor OF Convention. He published pamphlet
which was circulated at Richmond during the session
OF 1875 signed An uncomprom'sing friend of re-
FORM" His principles corresponded with the assn
med name lie went so far 10 point out a fcasi-
bic mode by which majority of the people could in
troduce government of their own adoption without
ly agreed with him. He had then no horrible fore
bodings of q civil These never tormcn,ed hin,
until the 10Th OF December last, when he loudly mr.
ged them as reason for supporting Gordons prop
osition. Who has forgotten the pointed address of
this gentleman TO the West, when he hailed and in
vnkcd US as brothers allies to Join our friends in
the Valley and East for the redress of those prin
vances under which we alike suffered! His an
pcals were then made to every thing IN the trans Al
ieghany country ,uuinaio and inanimatc; thew were
heard resQunding ftom the valleys to the tons of oar
Mountains, until they sunk in the "mournfi melody
OF groves Our advcrseries considered his WRITINGS
inlamnIatory but they were charmed with bis yoico
on The 10Th of December
The remaining history of the Convention is short
With our divisions OIL tho fatal 10Th of Decembey
ended the possibility of an unanimous secession. and
conscntaneous action of the friends of refDrm and
knowing this our adverse rcs became more hold and
completed the work Of tho Convention in a manner
TO sultthcIr OWE views. They reconsidered the vote
Tor eiccting the Governor by the people. On this
occasion four of friends separated from us md
the election of Governor was given to the Genera.
Assembly. The 4tb clause of the Sd article of rho
Constitution was proposed by Mr. Cooke On this
occasion he again voted against the whole West |
ny thls provision Il Is made the duty of the General
Assembly, once in every ten years TO re-apporfion
represent ation But in doing this they are never IN
disturb the distribution of power established by Cor
daHs paa Tins reapportonmeDt is To be done with.
N each district and division in the same manner as i'll
eecitdfstrct division were, for this purpose SON.
sEntc proyince-IwIIl not say Commonwealth. Thus
titeneTy Constitution proposes to give us 81 mem
hegs " the House OF Delegates. BY Mr.. Cookies
tue % fe-npporiionment our number is never To be-
focteassd, not even if our population should out
number all the rest Of the Slate.
Mr.. Madison proposed the 5th clause Of The same
article which Immediately follows that Of Mr. Cooke.
and may be justly termed its twin brother Bythis
article the General Assembly have power, once in
every ten years after l84I to apportion rcprcsen
totion, SO that the House Of Deerates shall never
consist of more than $50, nor the Senate of more
than sc members. But this power can only be exer
clsed by fioo thirds IF the members of each House
DIR: chapman moved to strike ont "two thirds" sup
posing that when the East were dems ndinp noiori
ty OF twenty two members in the House of Dele |
gates, and of six III tho Senate they asked power
and Eecurity enough. Dir. Cooke voted against
Chapniszfs amendment, IN which vote nc wns Ioinnd
by two or three o;hers from the West and by about
the same number on tho adoption Of Mr. Maidstone
resolution Lastly, on the passage of the Constitu
ton all the Western members voted in the ncpativr
except Mr. Cooke. pho result Of our Iabors IL Gu I
rious indeed. We demanded the passage Of law