The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-02-28

AnnnaoHal y lSpalrN.
THURSDAY......FEBRUARY %. 1867
The Lcgisla ture The Crisis. 80
The General Assembly Of Virginia i
awaiting with very great calmness the
march Of events at Washington, and We
doubt not viii act a. becomes II in the
crisis when the final action on that mea
sure Of the Federal Congrsss which is the
subject Of eAisf ooassds,stioa here isnsds
The proceedings o. the Legislature, ~
though somewhat sfsctsd by thst messro'
have by no means been suspsneec, ~
two House, Of tho General Assembly nave
.on,,nr.d n deliberate upon important
800. - ss..e concern; but the course OF
,.r;.,.,;on has been somewhat changed.
Ts. financial measures of the State, for
,n,,snce, have been affected, and the minds
of members very much altered with regard
to them. We doubt whether any law pro-
yiding for the interest on the State debt
will be passed by the present General As
sembly. The disposition is to let that inn
portant subject rest until that one which
is greater still, and which overrides all
others, shall be brought to some sort of
conclusion.
The veto message Of the President was
looked for yesterday but 1t was not sent
in. We suppose it will be sent in to-day.
When that is done, and the Sherman bill
is passed, the question Of the policy of this
State will be brought fully in front Of US.
There will be no disposition to retreat from
II or evade it. 1t viii require more time
to act upon 1t than is now left to the Legis-
ture, whose session expires on Saturday ;
but there will be an extra session, to take
the subject into consideration. F,.
The Senate has already had it under
consultation in secret session. The occa-
sion for the holding Of this secret delibe-
ration was the receipt Of several telegraph
messages from members Of Congress in
reply to one sent to them by Cover PER.
POINT propounding the question, whether
if Virginia now adopted the constitutional
amendment, she would be relieved of the
Sherman bill, They were Messrs. REvERDY
JOHNSON and FEssENDEN Of the Senate
and Messrs. SPAULDING and BINGHAM O
the House,. All save Mr.. BINGHAM replied
by telegraph, and he wrote letter. AL
save Mr.. JOHNSON responded in the mega
tive. Mr.. SPAuLDINa said it was "toe
late" Mr.. JOHNSON was in doubt, but
thought the adoption Of the amendment
"would do great deal of good" Mr.
BINGHAM wrote q very earnest letter.
urging the earliest action upon the Sher.
MAN bill, the adoption of all the constitu'
tional amendments required by it, and
giving the most earnest assurances thai
when that was done, Virginia would be
welcomed back to the Union by the Con-
gress and the northern people, who were
anxious to see her restored to her place
among the States.
The Senate did not 60 into secret ses-
sion for the purpose of immediate action
but merely to interchange views in re-
ference to the general welfare in the event
of certain contingencies. Their delibera
lions were therefore merely Of the nature
Of consultation, action being deferred un
til the proper time for it.
The Governor is understood to have SEM
the message at the request OF prominent
gentlemen but the Legislature was not
party to the correspondence in any sense
Indeed, few members knew anything of 1t
The Governor was acting as he had
perfect right to do, and in spirit of &C
commodation, as we'll as . desire to do al
he could to save Virginia from trouble
but it is proper that the Legislature shoul'
not now be understood as having mad
this inquiry, simply because they did not
Had Governor PEIRPoINT, however, got
ten different answer, and one that wa
concurred inIby the Radical party, W
need not say that the Legislature woul'
have promptly adopted the amendment
Yet the answers were not surprising
Had thew been in the affirmative instea
Of the negative, we might we'll have bee
surprised. "Too late" was indeed wha
every practical and rejecting gentlema'
might have anticipated. The South, whicl
has nut q sort of faith, though weak, i
the conservatism of the Government in it
executive and judicial departments, ma
seen the safeguards on which she relie'
broken down, and the entire power of tn
Governnsnt absorbed by the Legislative
.department., That department proposed
the constitutional amendment, which w
rejected. It has now proposed anothe
nlau of reconstruction, bristling in ever.
line with violations of the Constitution
We trusted to the Constitution and thu
expounders and defenders Of that instru
ment for protection, not only for ourselves
but for liberty and security to persons ant
the rights of the States; but we have
found that entirely hopeless dependence
and we may all begin to inquire, in TIN
language Of yesterdays Wing, whether the
southern States are called upon longer te
champion . lost cause which It is as much
the duty Of others 1.-THE North as theirs
to defend. They have sacrificed" say
the Wing, "their all in support of self
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