Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1851-04-15


propose to scale voos according to the wealth. OF the
voter, Ia there any one here who VIII caro- to make
that propositan' You argue that 1t Is competent Tor
the people to adopt any restriction upon their own
restrict themselves Why do you not ask them to adopt
this restrictions You say that property must be pro-
tcctedwhy do YOU not attach this protection to su
ace instead of attaching to representation If prop
erty is to be protected by placing power to protect II
in the hands of ts owners why not bestow upon lnd
viduals power of voting IN proportion to their prop
erty? Can you in any mode 80 efectually protect
property as by enabling those who most Interested
in it-the owners themselyes-to exercise this protec
ton. If government Is of the nature OF mercantile
and if the parties should havo control in
it's affairs proportoned to the amount Of their inpu
why deny to each shareholder of political power in his
own proper person. voice and control in the ratio OF
his wealth and his contribution: Why you know that
to bring this principle to the surface where 1t can bt
seen and understood, would be to have it spurned
loathed, and rejected. No. you will make no disparity
in suffrage you will not undertake to say that ono man
at the polls shall have weight than another you
proclaim all equal in the right To vote; you boast
OF this as true republican equality aud the sturdy yeo
man and the dayaborer are invoked to rejoice IN just
and benign system which thus places them without re-
gard to fortune, upon the same platform with the
wcalthiest man Of tho commonwealth system which
announces itself to DO founded in the perfect political
equality of all it's citizens But how do you hold the
cup Of promise to the lip only be dashed and broken
You do give equal suffrage to the individual suftrasah
you do refuse to discriminate between men Mt the polls
but what avsils that equality? What ls suffrage ou'
the fountain of representation What representation
but the product Of suffrage and OF what value ID equal
suffrage unless equal representation flows from IT
Wat boots it. that nilsen hundred voters IN hana~a
are without regard to their respective fortunes equa
each to the other and rejoice in this equality n'e
hundred ohor voters In eastern county because
of their greater amount Of property can SEND TO tne
legislature the representation to SILENCE ano heu
rxe tho voice of the fifteen hundred as eiectuay n
if it had never been uttered Why tell us OF equaits Al
tho polls when there is no equality In the legsare
hall? WHY seek to elevate my constituent with the
nroud belief that he is freeman-that he belongs to
great republic which confers alike upon all her czen'
the same powers and the privileges and that the
is carried out in him. and effected III MS person. tt
great principle of the Bill of Rights that equa! Poca
rights and equal political power are the orthrShte o.
virginan? What mockcry. to talk about III" 'qna'ts
of men and the equality OF slr.ge aud at the same Time
take away ali oaua!ity Of result! What is 1T to vote
but an empty FORM unless that vote IL to be followed by
corresponding effect: Why aatter the people with a
mere appearance Of equality? Sir, it may look tar |"
the eve but it is deceptive It is the light Of the meteor
which shines TO delude. 1t is the mirage OF the plains
which looms in tho distance but vanshes as you aP-
prosch it. 1t is q cheat-a delusion! And who sh"li
attempt to cheat and delude the people Their own
Representatives! No, will not believe IT, away w..
your sembance of equality. Do not tell us OF equailt!
at the polls and inequality in the halls OF Legislation
Do not tell Inc that one hundred and twenty thousand
voters west of the Blue Ridge, having precisely the
right of suffrage, shall send sixty MEMBER
to the house Of delegates only while one tnou
sand voters east of the mountains shall send eighty
members No, SIR if you design to make inequality
between my people and your people-between eastern
voters and western voters-do it in an open, nanij
way say my people, at once that they are not equa
to your people, tell them they are not equal because
they have not as much property If you desire to put
power in the hands of the rich in proportion to their
riches do it in open day. that it may be understood
of all men. Do not give the people equality rs lndlvid
uals and take it away in masses-equaty IS units ouf
inequality in the aggregate compounded OF these unit'
Carry out doctrine Of control III government nc
cordng to interest," carry it out in the individual voter
BY giving him number of votes corresponding with the
amount of bis property, thu amount OF his taxes :
carry it ont il the counties and lee the portions and
hborhoods Of the county have power In proportion to
wealth and to taxes carry out in the election OF all
your ofcer5 whether for the State for the county
Ii it be principle, having truth and justice for it.
foundation let US have tho benefit of it, in all its ra
fed applicability. If it is intended to restrain and de-
grade the people, and to put shack .es upon
them desire they shall understand it, when it is done
and that they shall know how it is DONE If our STATE
government is to be an aristoeracy let it in IL
true shape and not in the guise of representative re-
public proclaimns the freedom and equality OF all It's
citizens Do not mask it's features; do not shelter the
principles upon which it formed BY withdrawing them
from the view OF the people, Lei uot aolne w "u"o
to the long catalogue of devices and schemes which have
in all ages been resorted to- with view to fntter to de-
ceive, and to enslaye.
The principle contained in the third section of the
report is admitted to be correct all hands. AL ad
init that individual suffrage should be equal.
The fourth section afrms that as individual suffrage
should be equal without regard to individual wealth
the aggregate suffrage and the representation flowing
from the aggregate suffrage Of districts and divisions OF
the State, shall in like be equal Now is no;
the necessary sequence Of the oher Is not section
fourth the coroilary Of sccon third Can the first BE-
be admitted and the other reectedi Ia not the whole
made up OF the partsi II the suffrage of one should
avail much the suffrage Of another, it not mathe
atically true that the suffrage Of thousand men,
hundred thousand should avail much as that OF an
other thousand hundred thousand Yet how com
petey is all this reversed and Get at naught by propo
sition A. and by the substitute Of the gentleman from
Pauouier (Mr Soorr.) You will no: say that shall
vote in proportion to property. lou will not say III
so many Words that the great districts Of the State
shall vote according to property; but you say tho same
thing in principle you declare that 40l 900 people east
of the mountains shall send to the house Of delegates
fourteen more members and to the senate five
MEMBERS than 100000 people west of the mountain:
shall send aud that because the minority possess the
larger amount of property. You will scale the pc.
tical rights of your people in proportion to wealth. in
the detail; but you do it in the aggregate You will
not disfranchise by retail but by Wholesale Let gen
temen show If they ~ authority to do the
one tnsn the other.
But it is said by several gentlemen, that this suffrage
basis as it is called is proposition altogether i'll
thi. commonwealth TINT the west has abandoned its
former ground-he white population of the Statc-and
that in proposing the basis Of suffrage proposing
thing which has been hitherto unheard of in the
history OF this State deny that it is new. refer
you, FIRST to the old constitution of l776 and we find
even there. recognition to certain extent, OF the
basis which is Low proposed do not maintain at all
sir that the suffrage basis is the basis adopted by the
constitution of l77S but say that instrument contains
recognition pro ato Of this very principle of repre-
senta,iou What Is it Why, that instrument provides
that each Of the counties shall send delegates to tho
general assembly Certain provision ia made for Veg,
Augusta and counties theme forward TO DO created
Provision then mado for certain cities and borouehs
within this commonwealth, to which are assigned one
delegate Then provision to this effect. that
when any city borough shall decrease that the
number Of persons having right Of suffrage therein shall
have been for the space of years successivev
less than half the Number Of voters some one county
Of Virginia such city borough thencefcrward shall
cease to send delegate representative the assem-
bly," Each city borough was to have delegate
half the number assigned to county. When the nun,
Der of eecor, in the city borough mot tho number
the who. popnlaton ceased to be equal to half the
number of voters in soo county, shall cease to av
L. Jol,.,ta Ia not that a Yeeopnition If tho sur, IRA