Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1851-08-25

rich or poor. has an honest heart IN his b.
com, and i = freeman, 'who knows his
rights. and knowing dares maintain them"
Take q or two examples Of the rank and
enormous injustice. which has been recent
" attempted to be palmed uPon the PEG
pie Of Virginia by the advocates of the mo-
MED power, in the Convention. They
proposed to give the county Of Halifax,
with a white population of only about ten
thousand souls, one senator, while Patrick,
Henry and Franklin. with a white popula-
ton Of nearly thirty thousand. were to elect
only one. Now. what reason was urged
for this crying injustice. this odious Unequal
ityl Simply that the people of Halifax
being richer than the people of Patrick.
Henry and Franklin, and consequently
paying more taxes, should therefore have
more political power. But again it was
proposed, that the county of Notfoway,
with a white population Of only 2.2I7,
should elect one delegate; while the coun-
ty of Patrick, with a white population of
seven thousand. should elect only onc.-
Are we less honest, less patriotic than the
people of Nottoway, that we were to be
thus degraded If not. why not make us
politically equali Can any man, even
though with his metaphysical scissors he
could
"Sever and divide
"a hair 'twixt north and northwest side,"
see the difference between an apportion-
mcnt which gives to Nottoway with two
thousand white inhabitants, one delegate;
and Patrick with seven thousand white
inhabitants. one delegate; and an appor-
tionmcnt which gives to each voter in
Nottoway three votes and each voter in
Patrick but one ? Ifthere be a difference
| confess l am unable to see it.
But again: in the report made to the
Convention by the advocates of the mixed
basis, it was provided that in a House Of
Delegates composed of $50 members, the
people should be entitled to rs delegates
and taxation, or. what is the same thing.
the property of the country, should be
entitled to rs. AS odious and as anti-repub-
lican and as aristocratic as this was, it was
at least giving a poor manas much political
weight-power-on the floor of the Gene
raj Assembly as nedollar. But as bitter as
that pill would have been, it was sweet
compared to what we were expected to
swallow when they worked Out the ap-
portionment of representation. Why, in
that app 'rtionment one representative was
to be allowed fo- every 1900 persons and
one representative for every $1,000, thus
requiring 5000 more white persons to en-
title a county to a representative than dol
lars. Now Fellow-citizens, ask, is all this
sober truth, or is it enormo fiction p
Here in a government pofessing to be free
land | must be permitted to say a pro-
~fession only, for Virginia is not a free Gov
ernment)-to be a government of the peo-
Bile and not of property-iti is gravely pro-
posed by gentlemen who seem willing to
move heaven and earth to effect their pur-
poses, to give to the wealth of the country
far more power than to the people, and to
so far degrade the poor white men of the
country as to bring them down-down-
to alevelw with about sixty-fve. cents. Why.
the very stones cry out against this. 1t
it was too much evenfor manyof themixed
basis men-men who had at least somelin-
gering spark of justice in their bosoms to
bear; and although the mixed basis had a
majority of nine in the Convention, the pill
was too bitter for them to swallow.
fro BE CONCLUDED IN OUR NExr.1