Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-07-01
10 the Editors Of the Gazette /:

per of last week, upon the adjustment Of the Rep
resentation, l should not deem it worth while to
address you again
did not say, as you will find If you refer to it,
that the advocates of the Mixed Basis shave got
ten all they claimcdp-that they had 'lost nothing
by the adjustment" Gin fifteen years the in
terests Of the West will be with those of the East
that athe West viii, then, prefer the Mixed
Basisr--nor did i intimate that neither one party
or the other had materially changed its position"
What did say, will only remark, was the re-
verse of all this.
Ny sole purpose, then, was-and add word
or two, now, only to prevent any misapprehensons
which your Editorial might occasion--to show,
that The po,esr TO tar and appropriate is stheid from
the Vest by the Compromise-that protection was
all that any one here desired--that, by some, it
was supposed, the White Basis with guarantees
would provide such protection, while others tmy
self among the number) insisted. at the time, that
such guarantees, without provision against the
speedy call Of another Convention, would be nef-
fectua, but that II the House Of Delegates wsrs con-
sttaed upon one Basis and The Senate upon another,
as has been done, that would be a just and wise
organization of the Legisature-that, therefore,
the adjustment had secured to us all that was
claimed in the New bpaper discussions here year
ago-that a majority of ten in the Senate would
be better for than the existing majority of siz
that, in fifteen years, the Valley, having secured
its Improvements, If IT did not cooperate with the
East in retaining the present arrangement, would,
at least be interested, then, to check excuses in
the appropriations-and that the West itself,
having then, also, so much at stake in the matter
appropriations, because of its increase wealth,
would be less inclined to involve the State.
Ifthese views be correct, feel some interest in
removing the impressions, which your Article is
calculated to create. Many of our people will yet
feel much anxiety, if you have rightly conceived
the effect of the adjustment as ian absolute and
complete triumph of the White Basis and the
utter awreekn OF the Mixed Basis How is the
triumph complete, with an Eastern majority of ten
in the Senate? How is the Mixed Basis s.urecked,D
when an Eastern minority of ninety four thousand
whites holds three-ffths of the power in an indie
pendent Branch of the Legislature Would the
~~"~.NeH@
have dared to sustain it. if it did not in their esi-
nation, effectualiy protect the East. The inter-
ests of property have manifestly, been cared for,
aud for period of time, repeat sufficient for
all purposes The unfinchng advocate and lea
der ofthe Mixed Basis party itself in the Conven-
tion-RoBERr E, scoor, Of Fauqnier--proposed
scheme of adjustment, not substantially different
in his judgment and in fact, from that adopted. -
He said
= propose to give them [the Vest present ma
Jority in one House, and take majority in the o.
therliousc for double that period until 1872, in
stead of 1865, as now xedl and, at the expiration
of that time ifthe General Assembly cannot agree
upon plan ofapportionment that it shall be its
duty to submit the competing plans 10 the dstermina-
of the potersn ut gives to our Eastern
friends protection against that porer from rhich
they apprshend danger. 1T gives it to them for
period IF time, uhich c aloe The system Of Internal
Improvements to be adjusted 1t gives it to them for
periol of time, when, according to my hopes and
anticpations, will say circumstances will have
removed from among us the causes, that now give
rise to this distraction" ave are con-
tent to 60 further and adjust the number Of which
the two Houses shall consist, so as 10 givs The nu
mericai majority the control on joint ballot"
This proposition Is to all intents and purposes
i'm principle and practical operation, and SO re-
garded by the mover-that of the Compromise,
You refer your readers to the proceedings of
various meetings in the East, designating the ad.
justment as asmreqaer'' of Eastern Interests. If
it be So why does not the West claim ii as a COM
plete triumph 1t holds where, / believe
save in the columns ofyour paper-the language
of victory. 1t is deemed by the temperate papers
of the West as a Compromise that is, settlement,
in which neither has surrendered all, but each has
gotten something deemed by it substantial. You
surely did not reflect upon the character Of this
kind of augmentation. Have YOU not already ap-
prised your readers of the fact---and you might
have multiplied the evidence--presented in the
editorials of three leading papers in the West, that
ultras there, as in the East, looked upon the Com
promise, as an abandonment and surrender of West
ern rights, and have urged that the Western mem
bers should have ,cithdrawn from the Convention 2
You must, of necessity, npon your plan of discus
sion, ascrbe to facts like these the extraordinary
virtue of proying both sides of the case
will continue the matter no further, than to
submit to your special reconsideration that por-
tion ofyour article, in which you allege as follows
"They wanted power not mere protection. and
they wanted to perpetuate it. We understood
this to be their position 1t was commended for by
their Delegates, until tn csc were overpowered,
&cn This although undesignedly is an unfounded
imputation, and such as comes witha bad grace
from the Vest The evidence presented by the
speeches and propositions of Eastern members in
the Convention, perhaps without one exception,
as to the motives of the East, is directly the re-
verse,o wit: that they wanted protection not power
and sought not to perpeuats it, but to hold it, only
until the increased wealth al the West should JUS
tfy its withdrawal p.
June 81, 1851.
--.s~S<<<<~>se-------
THE COMPROMISE.
Whilst on recent visit to Mobile, Sena-
tor W. r. King, of Alabama. repeated his
FIR, erx, a. At.-kA l. L.