Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-01-11

conviction was complete, before thc Pelil'o'
for pardon was signed By the Constitution
and by legislative statute, the Governor Wa
authorized to prevent sentence, aS well as I'M
prisonment, by the issue of 4 pardon iminedi
atelv after conviction. There was, then, NJ
necessity to wait for the sentence, and tn
pardon was granted in strict accordance Will
the requirements of the law and the Constitu
ton.
Thus it was that the first serious error OF
young boy, after he had suffered all the sever
modification and warning Of public trial ant
conviction, legally and properly furnished tn
subject Of Executive clcncncy. Since then, a
We are informed Richter has continuously
given evidence of future life OF usefulness
and honesty, by his industry and cor
rect habits; and yet unnecessarily, anc
for the sole purpose of an unjust assault on the
Executive, "culvcrt' politician re-publishes
the circumstance Of his error and subjects hin
and his family and friends to new and uncallcd
for public exposure and modification by means
of publication in the columns ofthe Lynch
burg Republican"
The statement made by the knowNothing
correspondent of the "Republicar," as to the
Governors reasons for the pardon )f Saunders,
is absolutely untrue; and We challenge that
correspondent to bring forward an! evidence Of
his statement
"a or :. -r,ti r,Ifl
and "Democratic rtracity," to sustain him in
his imputations connected with tie cases of
Ritchtcr and Saunders We know that no true
and loyal Democrat has ever conniyed at sup
preston and mis- sstatement for the sake Of an
insidious assault on Gov Wise. If any Of the
fishy Democrats who have already more than
once attempted secretly to stab Interpolation
and popularity OF the Governor. with Know
Nothing instruments. are the accempliccs OF
the Republicans" correspondent let their
names be published, and We will be glad to try
conclusions with them openly.
1t is well that even the captiousness Of a
political opponent can find no flaw in he Execu-
tive administration OF the Government, except
the grave offence of the exercise of mercy
The Know Nothing correspondent Of the RE
publican concludes with al ironical petition
for his own pardon at the hands of the Go
vernon:
II now dismiss the whole subject, with the
hope that the Governor will pardon me for set
ting myself right, without claiming the inter-
position Of executive aid
Itmay he that this joke touches too heavily
on future probabilities. 4 newspaper CORES
pondcnt like this, who so strinsently excerpts TO
pardons, may himself hereafter need more par
don than he now requires for statements offend
ing against official records.
~S-<p-p~
THE 'MUNICIPALIST' AND ITS AUTHOR.
Some weeks since We received from the pub
fishing house of George Savage. New York, a
book entitled "7He MuSIcIrALIsr IL TWO PARTS. v
In our book notices, we said that his (thc au.
thor'Sl doctrine Of construction slnacks most
strongly of Federalism and if accepted. would
ultimately prove suhversivc Of the very instru
ment il is designed to elucidate.' This criti.
cism seems to have astonishcd the AUTHOR,
who, in n communication sent to us eithout
name, through the publisher, says he sis at q
loss how you (wel came to this conclusion. ~
We find no difficulty in informing the un
known author. The only effort he makes
at doctrine of construction" is to be
found in paragraph on page thirty: THE pre-
sent Constitution although framed by con
vcntion composed Of delegates chosen by the
Legislatures of the States, was ratified ana
adopted by the people, hence the words, we
the people, that is the aggregate of families
forming society and nations" And again.
THAT the people, by their votes and not by
the States, have adopted the Constitution, is ar
important fact in regard to the validity of the
covenant, because on the fact, not the State
governments, not Congress, but only the peo
pile, have to decide Mind that no single State
can leave the Union without the permission o
the whole people or nation
Now we say that any book containing such
avowals Of false historical statements, is I'm
worthy Of countcnancc among Southern ol
Northern statc-Rights people. Were sucl
statements facts, our Federal Government
would indeed be ''sorereiynty'-a word and ar
idea foreign to its constitutional entity The au
thor ofthe Kunicipalist has learned his constitu
tional lesson in the dangerous school of Judge
Story's Federalism. lie has not looked int
the contemporaneous history of the Constitu
ton to find the true facts upon which to bas'
his theory of construction, but adopting tht
principles of the Northern Kcnt-Slory annota
tors, he has published q familiar and popular
treatise on the Federal Constitution, filled
with the erroneous doctrines of the Fedora
consolidation school Of Harvard University.
Now, had the author, before publishin:
his book, examined the debates on the pre-
amble. he would have convinced himself Of th'
error he has made in saying that the Constitu
ton was ratified and adopted by the people
hence the words we the people, that is tn
aggregate Of families" We hope the author
before issuing second edition of the "Muni
cipalist," will examine "Elliotts Debates TO
himself And he could very profitably read
pamphlet entitled "A Brief Enquiry into tn
Nature and Character Of our Federal Govern
mcnt; being Review of Judge Story's Com
mcntaries on the Constitution of the unite'
States" BY a Virgnian-Judgc Upshur
1t is upon the same very erroneous prin
ciples of construction that the author finds
bank constitutional "when the public finance
are dcranged in consequence Of war" Th
State Rights school of construction teache
that no cxigencies Of the times can mako con
stitutional that which is unconstitutional.
That portion of the "Municipalist' whicl
treats of other matter than the Constitution
NAV be found useful by some, and in convc