Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1851-08-11
Remarks on
THE NEW CONSTITUTION.

the State Senate from tnlrty 10 Twenty-Five years,
and, to the House of Delegates, from twenty-five
to twenty-one years; and, to remove doubt
which has heretofore occasioned some difficulty,
it is distinctly provided that the respective ages
must have been attained 'at the time of election"
The qualification required is the same in each
case, being simply that which is made necessa-
nv to the exercise of the right of suffrage, At
present,a senator or delegate must be qualified
by virtue of freehold to vote for members of AS.
senblv. A farther modification, made by this
section, consists in excluding from the Legislature,
In addition to persons holding lucrative Offices,
ministers and priests, who are now excluded,
saiaried officers of banks and Attorneys for the
Communicable. This last prohibition will proba-
bly, have quite extensive operation; for the
Legislature has commonly contained a large pro-
portion of lawyers, and many of these were Com
monweal,h's Attorneys. In the Convention it.
self, there were more than ninety members of the
bar. The change seems to us wholesome one
for the business of the courts has often suffered
great embarras sment from the absence of the At
torneys. The exclusion of bank-oficers is a
more questionable Infringement upon the republi-
can theory of equal rights. The reason of it was
doubtless an apprehension that the influence of
monied institutions might be more readily exerted
for corrupt purposes if they were allowed to have
special representation in the Assembly; but. it
should have been remembered that it is the peo-
pie, not the banks, who are to make the election
and, besides, if bribery of members is to be guar
ded against, it is no, to be checked by merely de-
nying the privilege of election to men who are
su posed to be able and willing to attempt it,
This, however, is one of those minor features of
the new constitution which will not separately be
regarded as deciding its general character.
The provision Oft the section under notice, that
the removal of delegate or senator from the
county, city, town or district for which he was
elected, shall vacate his office, is new.
Biennial Sessions and Linited Tcrms.-A very
decided msjorty of the Convention were of opinion
that it would be acceptable to the people to have
biennial, instead of annual, sessions of the lie.
gisature and the length of the sessions limited.
1t certainly affords an apt occasion fora sarcasm
that a body which took eight months to frame
amendments to the Constitution, should be so
wonderfully sensible of the virtue Of brevity in
public service. Our strong conviction is that
the provision for biennial sessions is i-advised
and inexpedent. The limitation upon the
length of the session is WE'LL but the plan of
electing delegates for a term of two years, and
having only one session in that period, except for
extraordinary purposes, is open to many grave
objections. In the first place, it is contrary to
that cherished principle of our republican creed
specially set forth in the first Bill of Rights, and
retained in the modified form, that the makers of
the law should at fixed periods return into the
popular body, and "the vacancies be supplied by
frequent, certain and regular elections" In the
view of the men who ACHE we'd our national indie
pendence and built the framework of our noble in
stitutions, nothing was more essential to liberty
than the full representation ofthe popular will in
the more numerous branch of the Legislature
and, when they declared frequency of election to
be one CT the rights that make up "the basis and
foundation of government" they but proclaimed
the general principle which led them to provide
that "the General ssem5ly shall meet o'1ce,o or Of
tener, every yea,." It's not little remarkable that
at a time whenthe rights and dignity Of the States
are the topic of so much discussion, and espe-
cially in the South, the Convention of Virginia
should strike so formidable blow at the import
ance of the State Government, as will be given
in this adoption of the the biennial session.
Congress, with its No rthern majority may be Ell
gagged in deliberation upon questions deeply con-
corning the interests and the honour OF our State,
and it will depend upon the will or caprice of
one man whether the peculiar custodiaus of those
interests and that honour shall be convened to
take cognsance of the matter in question for, the
case of a ma ority OF the members of the Legisla-
fure from their remote residences in the country
recurring the Governor to assemble them, is not
likely to be witnessed. But practical reason
for annual sessions the force of which all must
acknowledge who are familiar with the character
of the legislation of the State is, that it will be
most impossible to transact the necessary bust
ness in the time contemplated by the Convention
We think it is great mistake to suppose thatthe
amount of business will be materially lessened
by the change. Coming with accumulated vol
ume upon a single session, it will probably force
a long protraction of every regular session, and
it may become the practice for majority of men,
bers OF the close of the session to make applica-
ton to the Governor to order an extra session to
be held during the ensuing winter. Then we
should have in reality annual sessions, with dele
gates elected for two years, which no people,
Justly sensible of representative responsibility,
would tolerate.
TIE practical evil ofbiennial Legislative cleo.
tons is, at this time, forcby illustrated in South
Carolina, where the Legislature meets annually,
but the members of the popular branch are elected
for two years. The present Legislature, at its
session Of last winter, undertook TO adopt GER
tain extraordinary and violent measures looking
to the disruption of the Union. A bill was
passed providing for the election of delegates
to State Convention, which should be empow-
ared 10 determine what cnnrsa Sonfh Carolina