No free government, or the blessing of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adhe RICHMOND: PRINTED BY SAMUEL SHepherd & co. FOR RITCHIE & COOK. 7583 .55.. ,9392 1829-30 Eastern District of Virginia, to wit: L. S. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the thirteenth day of August, in the fifty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, RITCHIE & Cook, of the said District, have deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "Proceedings and Debates of the Virginia State Convention, of 1829-30. To which are subjoined the New Constitution of Virginia, and the Votes of the People. No free Government, or the blessing of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. Virginia Bill of Rights." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned. PREFACE. I is unnecessary to go into the history of the various attempts, h have been made in Virginia to revise her Constitution. It is igh to say, that after repeated failures in the Legislature, a bill passed during the session. of 1827-28, for taking the sense of voters on the call of a Convention. In the course of the year 8, the polls were opened, and the question was carried by 21,896 6,646 votes. Immediately a deep interest was spread through Commonwealth. The people began to cast about for such men vere best qualified to serve them. There was no restriction in r right of selection, either as to the office which was held, or as he place where the Delegate resided. Each of the twenty-four atorial Districts, into which the State had been previously divided, entitled to four Delegates; and in some cases, the people of one strict were induced to look into others for such men, as they thought st fitted to represent them. The consequence of this great exement was, that an assembly of men was drawn together, which has ircely ever been surpassed in the United States. Some have even Id it to be equal to the celebrated Convention, which met in Viria in the year 1788, to pass upon the Federal Constitution. Much what was venerable for years and long service; many of those to were most respected for their wisdom and their eloquence; > of the Ex-Presidents* of the United States; the Chief Justice the United States; several of those who had been most distinished in Congress, or the State Legislature, on the Bench or at Bar, were brought together for the momentous purpose of laying ew the fundamental law of the land. The scene was truly an interesting one, not only to the State itself, : to the Union: Almost all eyes were fixed upon it. Several distinshed strangers, as well as many of the citizens of the State, were ctators. The great importance of the subject, as well as the high racter of the members, diffused an interest over it, which has n very seldom equalled; and it may be truly said, that the reality not disappoint the public expectation. The Debates were of the t animated sort. The fundamental principles of Government, elements which should enter into the composition of all its vas departments, were discussed at great length, and with much nuity. The struggles between the local interests of different s of the State, were likewise maintained with great spirit and is remarkable, that Mr. Madison was the only survivor of the Convention, formed the first Constitution of the State, and one of the two surviving memf the Convention, which formed the Constitution of the United States |