Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1851-05-27
THE BASIS QUESTION.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

| From the Bedford Sentinel
been Gng agG over The Basis question has
leet OF the West. Ii we do not breathe "freer ano
deeper" we, at least, feel the manacIes with which We
are pound 1t was, according to Western gentlemen, a
OF In Convention, has surrendered almost at dscre
| non. She has been hectored into submission. From
oens the scer OF favors she has, most strangely been
;, lnio me humble recipient of stmled char.
liy, most grudgngly bestowed. How has this been
zone Who has woven this garment of sack cloth or
| the East Her oDn sons! BowDEN, CBJIToN C1AI.
SVfN1, MtE1IS OF Henry RANDOLPH, ARTHUR and
d;a IT. lhLD-men elected as friends of the iued
| East. ~ INV "a" paying
Some time since, after repeated failures to bring about
an ARRANGEMENT ON the Basis question, the Convention
aSeeo 10 appoint Committee tConierence COMPOSED
o. membsrs-4 from the East and from the West
EEnong other suggestions. it was proposed, that the
aselu ueiegates should choose one half of the Com
.h auu ,ie western delegates the other half But
we WestIthe minority West-would not agree to this
iney mad gotten the Eastern members under the water.
ana lney intended to hold them there They demanded
NE elechon should be by general ballot and the
.osGlence Strfcken East surrendered The result was
Inat -FOUR decided White basis Western men, and four
Eastern men, known TO have arrived at the half ,pov
1guse' were electedall by the unbroken vote of The
Comm,ian nc I9fner result was the repsr by the said
SbbnnIee, OF plan which surrenders every thing for
""en inc East has eontendsdand the still farther re
suit is, that the White Flag plan has been adopted in
Convention, by majority of Eight.
4uctSo
to the Compromise by the Times, and adds:
1t is also less favorable to the East than one or two
other propositions which had been offered by Western
members. One OF these mixed basis House. and
a suffrage basis Senate, until 1879
WIN majority OF on joint ballot, the West will
sway the scepIre OF the Commonwealth She will con.
troll the treasury, two-thrds OF which is supplied by
East. We are told that the Senate where the
=, st will have majority will check-mate the House.
How! The West with It's majority on Joint ballot.
will of course, have all the State officers and control
all the appropriations With this irresistible influence
she will say to the pOWerless Senate-"oive us all wa
askgive us our canals our railroads, schools our
Stae-endowed Colleges, or you shall have nothing
You pay almost all ofthe money into the Treasury but
we hold the strings and control the elections
give us what We ask or you shall not have an officer
or dollar OF your own money, We do without
you in most things, but you cannot do without us in
any thing, and we will force you into submission, or
starve you"
But suppose the Senate could checkmate the West.
ern majority in the lower House. Suppose the mmor-
tai committee have succeeded In securing peotection
TO Eastern property in their adjustment. how long is it
to last Fourteen gears Our farmers and mechanics
then, need not tot9 anass property or improve their
dependence ooureen years, they, and all they possess
will iemanaced at the loot OF power. This the Com
mtee substantially admit. The West has treated as
question OF power and they have riumphed Thele is
posponement OF the time but it is paper pcstponement
If1he West could brow-beat pledged Convention in.
to their purposes, how long would it take them to bring
an unpledged Senate to its knees But the time is not
postponed. We are doomed, and doomed n0ap The
die is cast unless an outraged people shall their
rights and reject the gded bait that their own repre-
sentatives have prepared for them.
That the yielding delegates from district have
acted according the honest dictates of their mdg-
mens, we shall not question. They arp all honorable
men, But that they haze misrepresented the opinions
and wishes OF large majority OF their constituents we
think they will learn in due season. They will say
they have obtained the best arrangement their power
This may be true But we think their constituents
will say that "raher than have accepted such an ar
rangement you should have let the West take the re-
sponsbity of adjoining the Convention re infecta,
and make their threatened appeal 10 the people,
We are gratfiqd that DR.. Saunders, whose previous
course regretted and condemned, voted against This
|
We have moro to say IN this matter, but want of
space compels US TO defer ii to another time.
From the Petersburg lnteigencer.
THE EAST AND THE WEST IN THE CONVENTION
The great contrast between the Eastern and Western
Delegations in The Convention has been the subject of
requent remark. With, we believe, the single excep
ion of Mr.. Wise* the Eastern Delegation were elected
o the Convention as The. avowed and pledged advo-
ates OF the mixed basis OF represen aon and il is fact
veil known that but few voles cop Id have baen obtain
d in Eastern Virginia for the cali Of the Convention,
Mt for the fact thai the bill gave to the Fast majority
If seventeen in that body Such being the facts are we
warranted in feeling and expressing our indippa-
ion the conduct of those Ease members who one
y one, have deserted their constituents abandoned
heir pledges and gone over to the West2 But this is
ot all. Those members OF the East who have stood
y their taib, have done so in dlsjonted and inetf
lent manner; they have lacked thai unity of purpose
md concert OF action which alone could have given |
lem the victory. But with the West, The case has
entirely different. Elected by suffrage basis peo-
le the delegates have faithfully and unanimousy re-
their constituency. Coming TO Richmond
nth eye single 10 this basis, man OF them has
yer iaered moment in his efforts to achieve it