Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1851-08-14
Remarks upon
THE NEW CONSTITUTION.


present Constitution. The subject matter of the
first clause is the compensation of members Of
Assembly. and here, instead Of providing that no
law increasing the compensation shall take effect
"until the end OF the next annual session" after
its passage, it is provided that such law shall not
take effect 'uQtil after the end of the term fer
which the members Of the House Of Delegates
voting thereon we're elected''--a change which
was evidently one Of the incidents of the expert
rnent of biennial sessions.
The second clause of the section, prohibiting
the appointment of members to Offices created,
or the salaries of which increased, during their
terms, is, iG effect, identical with the language of
the present Constitution.
Ne,c Functions Of The Senate.-The next sec
ton, the l0th introduces change in the func-
tons of the Senate, which cannot fail to revolu-
tionze the character of that body, and of course,
greatly to influence the action of the Legislature
itself. The language of the amended Constitu-
ton is:
"Bs and resolutions may originate in either of the
two houses of the General Assembly, to be approved
rejected by the other and may be amended by either
house. with the consent Of the other"
1t is curious to obser We the progressive modi-
fication which public sentiment has undergone in
regard to the proper duties of the Senate, since
the first organization of our State government
The Constitution of l776, framed by men whose
ideas of liberty were all naturally associated with
the long contests for superiority between the
House of Lords and the House of Commons in
Great Britain, provided that
Cali laws shall originate in the House Of Delegates
to be approved or rejected by the Senate or to be
amended with the cons ent of the House of Delegates
except money bills, which in instance shall be al
tered by the Senate, but wholly approved or rejected"
In this cautious language we clearly recog-
Mise the revolutionary jealousy of yielding more
than merely negative power to any but the i'm
mediate representatives of the people. In the
process of time, it however, came to be eventhe
popular impression that no faint of arstocracy
could pertain to body of men elected directly by
the voters, and that the proper object ofthe Senate
was, by the longer terms of its members, and
their being deputed from a larger number of
electors to guard against hasy or impulsive le-
gislation, into which the House of Delegates
mi ght occasionally fall. The Constitution of
1890 departed from that of l776, in abolishing the
exception of money bills from those which the
Senate might amend; and the amended constu.
ton, now before the people, places the Senate
on perfect equality with the House of Delegates
in respect to both originating and amending bills
of every description.
An unforeseen effect of the restriction upon the
power of the Senate to originate bill, has been to
cause the public to take little interest in the pro-
ceedngs OF that body. Compelled to wait upon
the House of Delegates until its members, many
OF them, always aw, become familiar with the
machinery of legislation, and have shaped, ma
tured and passed upon their business, the Senate
Is reduced to mere cypher. 1t meets at the be-
ginning OF the session, only to take long recess,
and when, il reasseulbles to revise the acts sent
up from the House, its debates attract little atten-
ton. 1t is, in truth, a political zero; conioined
wltha positive figure, which the House alone can
supply, it may produce something of positive val
ne, but, Of itself, it is counted as nothing. The
body, however did not fall into this depreciation
for many years. Formerly, it contained some of
the abIest men OF the State, and even now some OF
It's members are gentlemen Of unquestionable tai
eht, who would be ornaments to any assembly,
BUTT will not be denied, we apprehend, that, at
Lies tue curiosity of The public in regard to legis-
latiVe transactions and discussions
All this will be changed by the new Constitu-
ton. The Senate, endowed with authority to
originate measures, will have no period of idle
ness Its debates will be equally important with
those OF the House; its seats will be more difficult
to obtain, ard will be sought and gained by men
ofactve and ambitious minds, ather taan by those
whose INDECENT temperaments, combined with a
fondness FOR public life, make them love comfor-
table political shelf upon which they may lie un-
observed and fattening at four dollars day. 1t
may be presumed that every Virginian will be
well pleased at the prospect now afforded of hav-
ing State Senate with character, in relation to
State affairs, approaching that which the Senate
fthe United States bears,in our national Confed-
eracy. We should be glad to see the importance
and responsibility of both Houses enhanced by an
increase of the compensation, which would tend
more than any other measure, to prevent the Legis-
lature from being considered mere stepping stone
to Congress. is part of our State-rights creed
that the surest mode OF preventing the General
Government from overshadowng the State gov
ernments, would be to make seats in the Legsla-
lures as desirable as seats in Congress-
The peculiar constitution of the Senate, under
the arrangement adopted in the "Bass Compro-
mise" might we'll be considered in Specializing
upon the future character of the body. But little,
however. can be predicated with certainty upon
the bare fact that the East will elect thirty Sena-
tors and the West only twenty. Much will de-
pend upon the accidents that give direction to
public opinion. We entertain grave fears, we
confess, that what some Eastern men have ad-
vocsted as guaranty of protection, will be found
In experience a source of sectional distrust and
d. IL =.