Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1830-01-09

belly IL was not surprising that that gentleman should
he opposed to his proposition if he held such opinions
The gentleman had openly avowed his desire that the
Constitution which had been agreed upon by this
dy aa desirable compromise betweenihe great oppos.
ing Interests might be rendered odous as possible.
1t was very natural, that with hi. motive confessed
the gentleman should be hostile TO plan whose whole
end and purpose was to remedy injustice and to allay
dscont-n'.
Mr.. LEIGH said he had been ms,akrn ia supposi ~
the amendment of the gentleman from Kanawi la TO be
the zane with that offered frinetv by the gentleman
rom psusk Mt s'uart) twas IN. came, or nearly
So with that OF the gentleman from Richmond county
(Air. Neale The details Of that plan had been ex
amined by the geD-mat from Fauaui.r (Mr Scott, }
and its great Inequality and the strange and caprcio
results 70 which led in practice, had been forciby
exposed by that gentleman. IL produced great in
Justice az between the great Districts of the State and
yet greater between county and county. Any one
would be satisfied Of this who should apply the plan TO
Albemarle and then to Orange.
Nj. NEALE espresso his astonishment at hearing
me gentleman from Chesterfield as.miiate the present
scheme to that he had had the honor offer No two
things could be more unlike. This was merely the
shadow Of his They had three essential points of Diff
ference The plan Of Mr.. Summers proposed re. APP
pcrtnnmcnt everv 10 years; his every 20 ysars The
one reckoned all the Freehods; the other an the Free.
ho'd,voters resident In the County the had Sem
ate mat was to be re-apportoned every years. the
oher permanent Senate of 10 East and 10 West Of the
bIae k,dge. Were not there essential differences.
MT MAssIE referred to pledge he had given his
constituents not to give any vote which should expose
tue country East OF the Ridge to excessive taxaon but
ne considered himself at perfect liberty, consistency
win such pledge 10 vote against the plan of the gem
,eman from Kanawha and for that of the gentleman
from Albemarle.
Mr. MERCER said, ,hst the direct alIuslon which
had been made to his county, occa.ioned him now to
'e AMI to say that he had net had tho refe-
renee to the allotment of representation to LouIon
within his yiewnor could he-for that allotment was
not yet agreed upon. What he objected TO- in the plan
oil the gentleman from Frederick, the p.rpeuating
OF the division OF the State into four great ds,rcts-is
shutting out thehope Of change, till 1884, and its al.
lowing farther decennial apportionment. The People
would not consider the Constitution, as King on only
temporary appor,onment IL the Constitution should
succeed at all il would only be from viewing the whole
together and considering, that though the allotment
oil power at present was unjust. yet there hope
ir the future: but thi' womli not be their view,
ii provision wa. thus to be made for applying tn pre-
ssnt allotment for centuries to come. II this allotment
was to be regarded asperpetua he called gentlemen
TO look at it, what great changes must have occurred
in the state of the population since 1920 when the
census wa. taken in which this allotment proce eded-
Inc plan OF the gentleman from Frederick, would des-
troy that hope, which alone, would in luce great rar
OF the People to accept the Constitution AZ to the
obligations OF the Commonwealth TO I.oudoun, he
should not pretend to compare them with thcs owed
u the county OF Charlotte. Louioun needed not hii
defence: II woull be judged by its own merits He
had not had Loudoun in his thoughts when he stated
ms objections to tn, plan of the gentleman from Ere.
derick As to her three Delegates Il was perfec ly in
the power Of the III TO take one of them awav and
give to some other county, tn. should Judge the
aPporuonment oil the committee unjust. He had en-
deavored to shew the difference bew. the technir al
TACT that the Constitution did fix this inequality
within the Districts, aud its establishing an unequ Al
ratio between the Districts themselves.
MIR. SrANARD protested against the assump ion of
Mr. Mercer that Mr.. Gordon compromise was based
on the white population OF lS20-he renounced any
such basis and utterly disciamed having supported
such principle. He commented with severity upon
the argument of Mr.. Campbell, who objected to the
pap of Mr. Cooke, because it took away the alme A,
from discomfort, and healed the evils which time might
disclose That gentleman wished SOW the seeds of
dscon ent so hcky that they might soon vegetate and
produce ne" Convention.
To prevent these discontents would seemed rob the
gentleman and his friends of formidable ay wastbs
TIT principle for the Convention 10 act upon was this
TIT argumentor the Convention hear! An open avow-
ed war was to be waged against the institutions of the
State Mr. then referred TO the fist difficulties of the
Convention, the compromise which had terminated
them, and the salntary effects likely flow for the
| adoption OF Mr.. Cookies proposition
Mr.. RANDOLPH said, that the Convention, II il had
done him the honor to pay attention to what he had
said when last up, would do him the justice to recoect
mat ne had entered on no compromise OF Loudoun
VITA Charlotte The gentlemen from Louloun had
said that he should not do in which determnar Il IN
he admired the gentlem ms discretion full as much as
he did bis valor. For if he had chosen, instead of
looking at the counties OF Caroline-(he remembered
the time when Caroline paid larger contribu ion TO
the Treasury and owned slaves thai any county
in the Commonwealth -Spottsylvan and Sou'hamp-
ton he might with propety have said that the
injustice had been done to Charlotte who, with nre
than half the population of Loudoun, and much more
than halt the amount of produc-
i've Iabour III still grca proportion aad with exports
he would venture TO say, Of equivalent
ed an allotment of one represen'ave, while Loudou
received three. But he hal said nothing about Char
Iotte He was not in the habit OF always taking of
himself and his own concerns he had said nothing
about his wish to get enanry for his great estates in
Chacioe. and his anxiety to induce them come out
OF Maryland and p for that purpose by
ting the right OF suffrage extended. He might have
compared Piitsylvania and Hsax and she bat thew
were az well entitled 20 three delegates az Loudoun-
Wih the eentIemi from Spottsylvania (Afr Sanard)
he dsclaimed and denied the apportisnment of the
committee to have been founded the white popula
Before he sat down he nd say farther, that the
county OF Fauqiier was much entitled to have 3
| representatives. as the county Of Loudoun He had
risen before 10 state the reason why he should vote for
the aneniment OF the gentleman from Frederick (Mr
Cooke) was because would enable the sgisIaur,
at short periods to remedy this gross and rRonsrou.
and crying ninstice:yes-Crying iniustice:-bat the
county Of Caroline should have but one Representative
let gentlemen look at the wealth anil character oil
OF mat county, them measure her dime sionsone
OF the great and opulent counties of Virginia-tba,
caroline, aud southampton and Chesterfield and PITT
syvana, and all that range Of counties through which
the great southern and western road passed-should
have but delegate each, while three counties in the
western part of the State should have three eacb-it
was most unjust. He saw too that in all the charge,
made by the Committee in their second apportion
the whole weight Of increase be thrown into the
scale oil the North western of the State. Tb,
was aggravating the inju stice.
MERCER said, he rose, rather to she the i'm,
tice OF his former srgumsni than TO notice the
alrs of the gentleman from Charlotte. The argu.
ment OF the gentleman from Spot,syvana was that the
a'nce Of the enemies TO the present apportion meD
would be prevented by the anne ndment OF the gentle
man from Frederick, by re-spporonng the
ton within OF the great Divisions Of the State s a.
70 remedy inequality MIR. M. denied this nee