Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1831-01-06

Of the lave They were bound in those shu. the
House was free from them. They were the judge OF
the elections Of their members and the Consitu-
ton had given tb. the right to take ample time to a.cer
tain the Justice 81 every brought before and II
had not would il not be incidental All he asked, was
Justice and fairness in the decision. Aud when the
House reflects, that they ~er" about to ave the seat
70 an individual whc had bu, $40 votes while there
was h. ho had received $50; and while the
'eIug candidate all The advantage Of an untouched
poll over tho Jimiu' shr poll Of he sittog me nbsr
couli n ey refuse further IL vesisa ion
Mr. HIoo .eid that hs would not trouble the House
at any I Dsta. There was no doubt that the motion
COW before the House ought to he rejected Th,rs
seemed to be two grounds Tor sending his question
back. The one wac The egality OF the proceedings in
The prsou,t'; aud the her TO time collect tes
| tmcDy. But why this done' Why inquire into
| he.legally OF the votes In Cupeper County, more
than IN any Other! Why not ssnd the members home
to inquire into the legality Of he elections in Augusta
or Stafford, or any other county! There was as good
res'on Tor doing it in rsad these cGuniies az to
Cu'Peper. The ground for this motion was anof,ee.
| Was 1t given by John s. Pendetou! No. H' stated
that he gave 20 sueh notice How do tn. gentlemen
then get rid OF this neglect! BY laying that the She
rh would not make until Mr.. T. was prevented
from giving itby the expiration OF The term within when
he required TO give it, But nhsn this subject wa
examined before the committee, was found that the
Sheriff did not refuse To make reurr; hut did make
ore. And this fact clear b.fre the committee
that the mrmcrialist adn.itteI it, There end
Of that reason. But il alo said that notice was
given the sitting member by The contes,ng candidate,
that he would contest tho election the ground OF
It's rreguIarity. lhe committee examined that paper
and they found il notification, not that be would con-
test the election, but endeavorng to avoid the contest
was invitation to bring the matter be fore the High
Sheriff. and, IL pnssbl-, arrive at accommodation
Mr.. thought the gentleman from Mscklenbu'g, did
the cente ting candidate great injustice, by assuming
| that he did no, sbew a disposnD to waive any point
until he was safe on another ground.
Mr.. Goode explained, that he did not aliude 10 any
specific time. He merely stated that. in the incpi
stases Of this eoutes the eonts-ng candidate did press
an inquiry Into the Legality OF the eleeion-That he
al n Aalon .L
now wished to give up.
Mr.. Moore resumed. The contesing member did
waive all tecbnicaliies, in the sitting member
would do the same; and declared that he would not
taxa hi' seat unless he could show that be had the
joIiy OF legal votes The gentleman had said that the
con:estGg mber depended The ground ri ineuual
" in hi. mortal But that not the As to
ngiurther tim" OF the session had already PASS
ed away. and l. one month more tahen mp in 90.
tanning testimony, the cortca,ing candidate would he
kept out Of his iwo.thirds Of the spssion,for he
presume! the Legislature would not sit longer than
three moaths. lie hoped therefore. that the resolu
ton would not he adopted, as il was not called for, ci
ther on the grounds OF justice expedency.
Mr.. Morri. wi.h-d to make some remarks on the
new and earing facts discovered by the gentleman from
Mrcklensurg. His object to do Justice, and set
the member right. As some OF the fscts called
siarng, IN order that the attention OF the House should
be directed to the whole subject, II wss necessary TO
follow out the chain, and render all the other facts
which the gentleman had passed over equally elsrins
He cou'd OF but regret that 'h- OH ions the gen.
ueman had not been made before the committee whe e
they would have been considered with the respect due
to the quarter from whence they came. The gentle
man from Mecklenburg seemod TO consider the notice
which had been read, Of the 30h OF October, az
lice tina, the subject would he contested in this House
on the ground Of rrcguarty, and wonder that the
committee did not consider it But in ths committee
the unanimous opinion was, that il legal
tice. And he would state how this notice came into
existence After the votes in from the precinct
the people Of Culp per heard Of the in auE-
County, and they then heard what they never heard
before. that the Sheriff Of the county had right TO
atftk rH NJ, ~ l.N.o
ed them thatin Orange, the parties TO the election had
assembled at the Court House and, with the High She
rif on the bench had very el.quenty argued their
spsctve cases. ard that upon The argunen the Sheriff
hal 'eriied on his return. And then the notice
whirh the gentleman from Merklehburg thought so
important. Iwas drawn according T. the new-fangIsd
docrre, and proposed hat the parties should he
fer the High Sheriff, and decide their relative claims
to the return. Yet, from this notification, the gentle
man from Meekerbuig inferred hat il a notice
that the ccntatng member would raise the question
before The House OF Delegates. No Sic I, was he.
fore the High Sheriff. for, at tina, time, 1t to be
pre- suneh that the conteeng member of opinion
that the High Sheriff had right 10 purge the pol 8.
T., on that casop, the had ben obtained by
MIR. Gibson, this would not have heen looked upon
notc' 10 contest in the House OF Delegates, when IL
expressly stated that the question 10 be settled by
the High Sheriff So far therefore, from considering
matter before them, he committee agreed tina. they
hal nothing to do with H. IL would seem, useless,
therefore, to send il b'ck. There sugge'-
lions made by the gentleman from M-ckienhurg, a 10
giving further time to the parties, which worthy
he supported This extension? one of them was, that
the poll of the contesting candidate had not been
scrutinzed, and that the committee had prevented
the scrutiny. IL was true that the first position
correcand il ought to be declared that il not the
fault Of the contesting candidate. He had made the
offer TO the sitting member, and over; and always
said that he would set aside all technicaes if the sit
ting member would put the issue the examination of
the polls. IL not for the committee 10 settle the
question OF the polls They proceeded according to law
and the law would not admit of their scrutnzing the
polls So that, on that subject, the committee and the
contesting candidate eXculpacd Nay, more; ii
but justice TO state that notice of the 9th Oc-
ober, which the sitting member had endorsed
" too late" had been left at home by the sitting
member and at his request the contesting candidate
furnished him with copy OF it. The committee
only acted upon the law and because they had not
scrunzed the poll OF the contestng petitioner that
any why the subject to be sent back 10 the
county? IL the report wrong, send il back 10 the
committee with directions to examine the testimony
the subject, which the committee declined doing
because ii was illegal evidence. But il the House
should decide that il legal, there no need of
sending to the county when the testimony now in
the Chamber Of the committee IL more testimony was
wanting, why had il not been obtained? Thirty days
had passed, which seemed to Lin time .ufTicient-
Would the House before they had examined the esi
moDy, decide that the course of the committee was
wrong? He did not think il necessary 10 adopt
the resolution until they should have progressed farther
in the reading of tire Report. When they arrived at
the resolution in the report relative to the poll OF the pc
titiOning candidate il would be ample time to take up
this resolution. But there another ground on
which gentlemen wished the resolution TO pass in
order that after they had scrunzed the sitting
bers poll the poll Of John s. Pendleon should also be
northumberland they declare that Mr. Pendeton has
the largest number OF votes his was, Of course sup
posing that Mr.. Pendleton had part in the contest