Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1844-12-27
lions of dollars per annum, and, of course, reaps
for his reward the hearty curses OF the bands who
infesi this cily-crying, Give give!
Yours &c

| lions OF dollars per annum, and, OF course, reaps
for his reward the hearty curses OF the bands who
infest this city-crying, Give !! give
Yours, &c
FoR THE ENQUIRER
TO the Democratic Hotcrsof ttc Bsdford Congress
aonal District.
Il may be safely assumed, that nothing has oc-
Cured TO destroy or lessen your confidence in the
| gentleman who, last Spring, at your call, under
took and faithfully performed the duties of a la
borious and harasSing canvass. That he was
then your first choice as candidate for Con-
gress there can be but little doubt This is proved
less by his nomination than BY the fact, that he
received the united and Jealous support of The
whole party The defeat he encountered, arose in
no degree from want Of availability on his part,
but was occasoned solely by your weakness. 1t
seems unnecessary, therefore, You TO hold ano-
Their Convention, or adopt other means, for the
purpose OF again expressing your pretercnce-but
the friends OF your late candidate will inlerpose
no obstacle in the way OF those who desire that
this shall be done;-all they reqpre is, that your
will shall be fully ascertainea; and fairly ex-
pressed. Let this be done, and if, contrary TO
their hope and expectation, you think fit TO dis
charge ong-tried and faithful public servant
| TOR any new man, far from murmuring at your
norable efforts TO secure the election Of him, who
ever he may be, upon whom your choice falls.
| A writer who addresses you under the sigma
ture of .Abemarle," takes il for granted, th:t a
Convention will be held; and proposes for your
consideration the plan Of voting which, he thinks,
ought 10 be pursued in that body The Jefierso-
nian Republican approves and recommends his
views; aud the Enquirer seconds his proposition
for Convention but expresses The opinion, that,
when assembled, il must determine It's own rule
Of voting.
II is unnecessary TO comment upon the mode Of
voting in convention by which each county is
allowed one yote or upon that, more usually
adopted in such bodies, Of voting according 10 re-
presentation in the State Legislature. "Albemarle"
has shown conclusiyely, that both these are not
only absurd, but eminently unjust. II remains,
then, 10 consider the plan Of voting he proposes
to substitute in their place, and which, ne seems
10 think is panacea for all the evils of the eau
| Gus system. Il can be demonstrated, that this
plan OF his far exceeds in absurity and injustice
any that ever has teen or, is 10 be hoped, ever
will be adopted. II is, that each county shall
send TO the Convention as many delegates as il
peases bnl that its vote in that body shall be as
certaincd b. some ratio Of representation applied
alike all the counties and be in proportion TO It's
aggregate Democratic vote; thus, allowing one
vote in Convention for every fifty Of the popn-
lar party vote of county. This being the ratio
which "Albemarlc' has taken, and like him,
discarding fractions Bedford, with G39 votes,
would give thirteen in Convention; Amherst, with
DOL nine; Nelson, with o9l six; Albemarle, with
7O2. fourteen Greene, with 300 six Orange,
with 2SS. six; and Madison, with SIP, ten; The
whole number Of Democratic votes in the dis
tricl being 1898; and the whole number of votes
in Convention sixty -four. As each county is al
lowed 10 send as many delegates as il pcases il
follows, OF course that maj ority OF lis delegates
must cast its whole vote in the Convention
Now, this plan puts il in the power OF bare ma
iori,y of The delegates from each OF the three
counties of Bedford Nelson, and Albemarle 10
nominate candidate, in opposition, not only 10
the wish OF the minores from these three coun-
ties, respectively, hut also 10 the wish OF all The
delegates from all The other counties Of the dis
trict Suppose, for the sake OF convenience in
calculation, that each county sends TO the
! Convention 4 number OF delegates precisely
eunal 10 the vote 10 which il is entiiled-And
suppose, further that two candidates, "a" and
"B.h arc pronosed for the nomination, and, upon
taking the vote, il should he found that "a" re-
ceives the unanimous votes Of the members COM
posing the respective delegations from Orange,
| Greene, Madison and Amherst, and, in addition
10 these the votes of six delegates from Bedford,
! Two from Nelson and six from A!bemare. OF
L J.
delegates from Bedford, tour from Nelson, and
eight from Alhemarlc. So that of the sixty-iour
votes cast in Convention By delegates each OF
| whom represents fifty voters Of the district, "a"
would receive tO,.y:frc, and "B" nineieen-leav-
ing an actual majority OF lrren'p.Nr in favor OF
| "A" Yet, according 10 the plan proposed by
| Albemarle," majority of The delegates from
each county, casing the whole VOC Of the coun-
Is, "B" would receive, in the case supposed, the
whole vote of Bedford, Nelson, and Albcmarle,
amounting TO Mirfv-;6rcc votes, and would thereby
obtain the nomination, that being majority Of
the whole number OF votes cast in Convention.
Let us see how the popular vote would stand
between "An and "B'l Ii each delegate repre-
SCENTS precisely the wishes Of his Fifty supposed
constituents, the number OF Democratic voters in
the district in favor Of "a" would be tmo thou
sand tpo hRRdicd and niasiy-niac-while there
would be in favor Of "B, only eisht Injured and
ninefy-"A" having majority of one Moasaad
fow hundred and niae; and "B, in spite Of it re-
ceiving The nomination. The ingenuity Of man
would be tasked in vain to devise scheme more
prcposerous than this. Its inevitable effect must
be, 10 lhwart the will Of The people. To expose
its dcfornily, an extreme case has been supposed
"a case, il is admitted, never likely 10 occur in
practice But il serves to illustrate The nature
and tendency of the proposed plan, and shows
what injustice may be effected by it. This injus-
tee is always the same in character, differing in
degree with the varying circumstances Of each
particular case.
1t may be possible 10 obtain an expression
Of the will Of the party, by dividing the Demo-
cratic voters OF the district into companies of
any certain number (say one hundred or fiity)
each, and allowing each OF these companies TO
choose for itself single delegate 10 the Conven-
tion-hc delegates thus chosen TO vote per
capita. But even then, The votes might be 50
cast in the different companies that minority of
The voters could nominate their candidate in OPP
position 10 the wishes of the majority. This
chance would be increased in proportion TO the
augmentation Of the number Of each company
entitled 10 a delegate. But il is believed that il
would be impraciicahe TO organize Convention
in this way, even il il were desirable 10 do SO.
| In another number, the writer will propose
plan for obtaining the sense OF the Democratic
voters of the district which he thinks "simplc
and just" and calculated to 'discarl manage
menl and scrambies for nomination"
| A VoTEa or THE DisTalcr
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