Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-03-09
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WHAT DOES IT MEAN

The following euigmsticn! sentences appear in
THE South Of yesterday:
Blu. while in a legal view the Governor is &C.
out,edi responsibility for the extra session, it does
not follow that it will be approved by the people
Especially will this extra session provoke public in.
disnation, and attach odun to those who are respon.
eble for ts existence il its labors result in any mate
rial addition to the burdens of the Commonwealth.
Now we will be obliged to our contemporary for In
formation as to the exact reference intended oy the
eseond lit" in the first sentence. Taken in Its evil
dent grammatical sense ait" refers to the extra seS
ssn Itself but the session cannot be an ooleo'
either of approval or dsapproval 1fhis meant tna'
the legislative action taken during the session may
possibly or probably fail to meet with pubic approval
we are at loss to determine what connection tnis
can necessarily have with the responsibility legal or
moral Of the Governor. II il is Intended 10 assert
tina. the calling of the session may be properly dis
approved. then the Governor is immediately ana un'
avoidably responsible.
Whether the action Of the Governor is right or
wrong cannot possibly depend upon whether the Le'
cslature shall, by the, future action, command the
applause or the regrets Of the people, The necessary
business of the Commonwealth is left unfinished and
in this state of things the Governor calls an extra
eide, on his own responsibility that the present LIE
gislsturs vas incompetent for proper legislation
And if they are thus Incompetent then the people
who elected them mainly responsible
And when "The South" asserts that it "caEnot ven
Cure any ths the interests Of the Commons
wealth viii be promoted by the future deliberations Of
this Legislature" that Journal not only suggests
doubt as to the wisdom of the ection of the EIecu
tive and u.ters & very bitter satire on the Genera
Assembly, but it scouses the people Of Virginia of
serious error in the exercise of their constitutions
power of self government.
Wecannot agree in these structures. tits true thai
the business Of the Legislature has hitherto beer
much embarrassed by the maneuvres Of very small
faction in the Legislature who were placed there by
small faction outside the Legislature mainly for the
purpose of giving a new turn to the action Of Viz
gnia in the game of federal politics. These 'obstruc
iionsts" We would willingly yield eyer, to be dealt
with by "The South" If We could be assured that
they would receive jnst condemnation at the hands
Of our cotenperary And there s another class more
numerous and lees blameabls-thst Of the old
fashioned 'impracticabe" opponents to all measures
of internal improvements But experience of the
last few weeks demonstrates that neither "cbstruc'
sufficient to defeat the action of the large majority OF
the Legislature, who are resoute'y bent on accom-
pshng all the work of legislation which cannot be
postponed without dstriment to the public Interest,"
Including proper extension of assistance to OH
great State works Of internal improvements.
We have already had occasion to c,ass The South
among the obsructonists or destructionsts, and il
would now seem to be question whether the same
iourusl may not also be classed among the "imprac
,icabes.' What does 1.-THE South consider F" mate
al addition to the burdens Of the Commonwealth -
If the appropriation of % 5oOO QUO to works Of inter
aal improvement is to be 80 considered We earnestly
trust that the Legislature will increase the burdens
at least to this extent. Aud if the General Assembly
shall dissppont our expectations, then they will
sssume responsibility which will be shared by the
Governor-not because he has called extra session
but because be has recommended certain appro
pra,ions in his message OF December LAST.