t we will not do
that, because the moment we adopt the amendment of the Senator from
Virginia, that moment we say in effect, "We will not propose your
recommendations to the people; while proposing our own, which we will
substitute for yours." That is passing by this Convention altogether;
it is negativing the States represented in it.

If gentlemen take this view it will be a sufficient reason, I trust,
in itself, for voting against the proposed amendment. These
propositions which the Convention has recommended may be such as we
may refuse; it is in our power to refuse; but the question is, whether
a recommendation, coming so sanctioned to us, is not, in itself, a
sufficient reason why Congress, if disposed to satisfy the people,
shall do the small act of presenting this to the people themselves,
for their adoption. We may reject it, if we please. The people, when
it is sent to them, will, of course, have the power to reject or adopt
it. The only question now is, whether we will give the States an
opportunity of saying whether this proposition is satisfactory or not.

Sir, I do not wish to occupy time; but I cannot perceive the justice
of the criticisms made upon these resolutions of the Convention. They
seem to me to be perspicuous and intelligible in every part and in
every sentence. I do not see where the difficulty is to arise.
Gentlemen need not tell us here, in respect to these resolutions,
that a member of the Convention told them thus and so. No matter what
a member of the Convention told this one or that one about the votes
that were given, it is certified to us, in a formal manner, by the
President of the Convention--himself a Virginian, and once a President
of the United States--that this is the result of the proceedings of
the Convention.

Mr. HUNTER:--If the Senator will allow me, I will state to him how
that occurred. It was decided, as it will be seen when we get the
Journal, that, according to some rules of the old Convention, they
should not vote upon a proposition as a whole, but upon each
particular provision. That was the rule of the Convention; and
therefore he certified it as the Convention had instructed. The vote
was taken only section by section, and the vote was never taken on it
as a whole. There is no inconsistency between what I have said, and
the certificate of the President of the Convention, because, according
to the rules adopted by them, he had to certify it if it was adopted
by se