Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1861-01-18
Public Meeting In Prince George.

To the Editors 1f lie Enquirer:
Believing it 10 be the duty o.: some one 10
write accounts Of things as they occGr, that
the history OF this great State, in general, arI.
Of Prince George county IN pa:t'cL!ar, NAY
not BE- lost to postcrity; | hasten 10 give yon
the particulars Of Meeting held on Court
day, January 10. 1861.
Il y:s generally whispered about among the
suhmsSionists, that there wou!d be = meeting,
and, Of course, they wc;c there in force.
The wheel horse Of ancient Democracy
Timothy Rivcs, Esq, was brought out and
duly Uncovered Tor the contest; and, after an.
nonncng, by pi.yca1d, that there wouI' be a
meeting at hall:paSt :, P. NJ, proclaimed from
the extensive porlco that the meeting was
noo called upon to assemble and nominated
Col. " Ilia!nsou Simmons for the Chair, and
sir. Thos G. lor as Secretary.
| Mr. Rivcs explained the object Of the meet
ing viz to declare, that in their opinion, the
Legislature was proceeding in AZ unlawful man
ncr to call Conven,ior-that it was acting
with too much haste, &C. and said that he had
preamble and resolutions to that effect, which
nc should oIler Mr. Baylor here arose, and
said ilc did not concur in the sentiments avowcd
hv Mr. Riycs-that wc had had an expression
If opinion bnt n short time before. and lie saw
40 good which could arise frcm any further
| resolu,ons-that he was in favor Of sustaining
the South in demanding her just rights, and
| could only lend his aid to that purpose, and he
therefore respectfully declined acting as Secre
tary. Great applause followed this announce.
nent from those opposed to the meeting. Mr..
Rires then nominated Mr. John W. EppcS, who
took his scat without vote. Mr.. Rlves then
arose, and read his preamble and resolutions.
and followed with speech Of 40 minutes, III
which, he said great dcal-much thought, III
view Of his being sent as 4 delegate to said Con-
vcntion. lie cxhorted all to be governed by
the dear people, but swore he would not tight
unless he thought it right. lie cwcnt on to show
that those not taxed On slaves were in n large
majority in the State, and unless he was ad-
dressing them for Bunconlbe, | was totally st
loss to discover the force Of his remarks. as
every one Of those tax payers would have
voice in choosing q delegate to the Convention.
Mr.. Rires said much-rery exceedingly
much, but the necessity of the object he advoca-
ted was not forcibly impressed Oh my mind. AS
soon as Mr. Riyes concluded, Mr.. Edmund Rut.
in, Jr, was called for from every quarter Mr.
| Rufiin came forward md said he was neither 4
| politician nor public speaker, but plain farmer;
| that if he saw any necessity for such resolu-
lonS, or good arising from them, ne would give
them his hearty support lie alluded to reso-
lutions passed in meeting held in that :3or,
thirty days before, in favor Of Convention,
and said tia. this matter had been sprung upon
us, and that only q few moments before he had
been appriScd Of this meeting.
Mr.. tutiin argued against passing any fur
ther resolutions and concluded by motion to
indefinitely postpone both preamble and reso-
lutions.
When this motion was put, it was impossl-
| bic 10 say whether the ayes or noes had It. y
division was called, when they adjourned to
the yard, and began marshaliag their forces on
either side Of n line. One gentleman cried out,
Those opposed to such conduct as was recently
shown in Petersburg. viz: insulting minis;eiS
OF the Gospel in the pulpit, and in the hour c'
night destroying private property come over
on this side" (,hc side that opposed the resou-
tons oi Mr. Rivcs.j On the other side they
| shouted to all that were for the Union to jolr
them. The Chairman appointed tellcrs, and
while they were engaged in putting tilcul in
| order, Nj John ". Eppes insisted that the re-
solutions were not understood, and commenced
what he, no doubt intended for speech; but
nothing less than question, question, would
do, and he was forthwith gagged. NeTt great
shout proclaimed that the resolutions had been
passcd. called upon the Chairman for the
count; bu; he replied no count had been made
tina, tho secessionists had broken rauk, ond
thus virtually given i; up. Several other shouts
proclaimed another dcrsion, but could not
make ont in the confusion what it all meant.
The long and short o: the matter was the
meeting broke up in row.
Yours, respectfully,
PRISCc GEORGE