Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1842-06-17

A dom
indeed attended with much susP'c,nn me FL, :,
roll knew that the result would oe Pract'caiiy "
,h-ow all power into the hands al inc ,9'.- -:
Erecutive: and this lc would ELECT und'f lhe suse "
snecious theory He had heard gentlemen
co the Senate as arstocrat'c; but ne never Hpe -
~ 49, Gentleman from Massachusetts TO rise anu 'eac
A. ,,b of this country, and to preach 10 the young
i 80 ,f this House and of the nation-no" i i'l'ie '
much tainted with ullraism-the spec,""s u"'"'n.
The ,rsocracy of the Senate. lie lar'r "e'", .'a
be- vbo goes for true ame-he who goes Tor lne lepu
-, of heinz a solid ard sincere Statesman, o''"leo
~ the honor and best interests oil Inc county, s"e'
cr IN. Constitution il U.s. and against every ueP
tn,e from the Constitutions more especially "nete '
senate is concerned, which was Inc result " WIN
n,omise which made this Coniecrfacy'
The tendency of such appeals to Democracy as 'hey
L.J hoard there was to destroy the power ~h'ch thf
Constitution created, and TO break DOWN ,'e
which separated State from State the result OF WHICH
| I'D j.. RIM and anarchy and finally desPousin.
I'h Gentleman from Massachusetts, had suggested
,L.r idea fle would bring the ratio to oU,ooo, ana
r.,,n the principle OF representation oi
Now he (Alr Pckcns) submitted whether tn'S "uu'"
mi 1--WE eprese NATION to traction OF ~',Uoo' WIZ"
was IN direct opposition to The provision VI the oo"
stulion which limited the minimum oil representation
n IN one. But as the other great prncpe ihVoiVea
in the BILL az amended by the Senate-the enlarged
lin NJ believed It would increase te
mower and the respect OF the House Dul ne
bev could not 90 securely TO work 10 destroy tue
character and influence, and power OF the House IMAM
- ;pcrease its number 10 make II practically
useless, mbecile body, under the Constitution.
mir COOPER of Georgia. did not rise to enter into
discussion of this question, because ne was uhoei Tue
oo;nful necessity oil differing widely from his frieho
mir Pickensl who had just taken his seat lie con,
tssed he agreed in the main, with the principles lad
down Ivy the OF the resolution Mt AGAINST anu
he esnecially agreed with HIM that The time mad ar
rived when this House ought TO make issue win Inc
Senate II had been asked, why was 1t that the Sc:
nate had all the dignity belonging to the Two Houses
And the answer was, because the House had all
the numbers This he did not admit IL was because
the House was wanting IN sell.resPect, ana did MOI,
m rron.r occasions resist the encroachpens ol The
senate Let The House but do that, and it would go
farther TO sustain lis dignity than 1t 1t cut down
one. half of its numbers. The reason why the House
was not more dignied was, because its members sat
here tumely, acting as the passive instruments ano
TOOLS Of The aspirants for the Presidency in the other
body. This was the truth. Slr. Cooper was here
called To order.l II he was cut OF order 1t was only
one of the thousands of instances that occurred mere
on almost every question: and further, IL was IN reply
inn To the gentleman from South Carolina That ne
"a me 10 he So lie would, however, pass into order
He would not adopt the suggestions OF the gentle
man from South Carolina, for various reasons, winch
he would not detain the House To recitc. lie would
not adopt the amendments OF The Senate because,
the one proposing 10 give representation 10 irac-
tons was, in his opinion unconstitutional. WIN
out going into argument on this head he would SIM
nlv refer gentlemen TO the Constitution itself. lie
would not 90 for the amendment IN chef under discus
sion because he believed that lis tendency would be
such as the gentleman from Massachusetts objected TO-
He believed there was majority in The House against
some of the prominent features of the BILL and If that
minority was disposed to lay by they could, IN TWEEN
four hours bring forward another fixing the ratio The
Chair said that the gentleman was not IN order wen,
Sir (sad Mr. CO have said enough for the House TO
understand me; and move to lay tins bill on the table
/ On this question call for the yeas and nays
| The yeas and nays were accordingly ordered
Mr. BOVINE moved call Of the House. and the
question on the motion decided in the affirmative
yeas I0l, nays ~.
The roll having been called, 1t was ascertained that
lS3 members answered 10 their names
The aLsentees were then called, when it appeared
that lgG members were present
On motion of MIR. BlDLACK, all further proceed
ings under the call dispensed wlt-ayes g, noes
"a; and ~
The question was taken on the motion Of Mr.. COOP
FIR of Geo 10 lay the bill the table, and decided in
the ncgatve-yeas 60, nays 49,
Mr. HOLMES addressed the House in favor Of a
small ratio of representation lie con'ended mat mem
hers in the House would be the best guardians 10 the
rights and liberties of the people, and the Democratic
principle lie thought the numbers of the House
should not be reduced in inverse ratio to the nun.
bers Of the people BY putting three or four hundred
members in the House, each would feel himself re-
suonsjble az representing the interests Of the whole
country He was unwilling, for the sake of adding
responsibility, to destroy the efficiency Of the Demo-
cratic principle
upon one point He thought the gentleman from Mas
sachuse,ts, mir. Adams had taken an extraordinary
position in relation tie Senate. That body was
constituent branch Of the Legislative Department OF
the Government. II had equal rights on all subjects
brought before the two Houses.
He referred 10 the fact, that in the first Congress,
three bills apportionng the States, were passed The
first was vetoed by General Washngton-The second
failed, owing to disagreement between the two
Houses and it was not until third bill was miro
duced that the subject was finally disposed of. In
/ ISII-12 the third apportonment of the States was
passed If the argument adduced here, that high
ratio was dsadvantageous to the House, was true,
then the position of the bodies reversed now
from what il was then In 1872, the House passed
bin fixing the ruto at 81 900. What did the Senate
this aristocratic body-do then Did it raise the
standard Then it the question Of the rights OF
the people, according to the argument OF the gentle
man-for it brought down the ratio to 30O0, and ac-
tually increased the number Of the House. The House
fixed the ratio 81 GOO, which the Senate reduced 10
So 600 When the amendment of the Senate came TO the
House for concurrence it was rejected-ayes %, noes
Gi-the Speaker voted in the negative, and making %
nays. A conference committee was appointed, with
MI Randolph at its head but ii failed to agree. Short
" after wards however, the House determined to recede
from its disagreement with the Senate amendmen. by
a vote OF ~ TO o. Here was an occasion when the
Senate was the guardian of Democracy. He did con
chr with those who thought the Senate should not in
equal 10 that by the House and The President
to participate in The Legislation upon it.
The House of Representatives was, in his opinion,
too large and should be reduced. At present, there
were about 800 Legislators annually in service in this
country There legislator for every $50 men able
TO bear arms. He thought that enough, and therefore
he should vote for large ratio of representation in the
House.
Mr.. UNDERWOOD replied to some Of the remarks
of me gentleman from Massachusetts, MIR. Adams.
He (Mr had reason TO be Democratic in his feelings
for ae had attained distinction among his fellow
men, and had arisen from very humble origin. If,
however advocacy of high ratio GROUND for the
cha.re Of arsocracy, he liable. Our Government
he maintained founded upon the principle of trusts
ard tie delegation ofpowar 10 agents All that was re-
ourei was sufficient number of Representatives to
understand the wishes of the people He thought that
one nan might easily ascertain the feelings of very
large number fpeope. lie referred to the practice in
his State of catechislng the candidates. and draw
ing ont their opinions when addressing the people
IT..