The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-05-02
The Norfolk Yaginiaa does US gree. MUS

Ce. =
when, in speaking Of paragraph in this
paper on Tuesday last relative to Mr.. WADE,
il saws that the Dispatch misquotes" the
Vsy;nian. The words we quoted were
copied from the Federal Constitution, We
did not think it necessary to state that fact.
We assumed that our readers were men Of
some intelligence. We shall take care not
to do injustice to the Vuyaaan this time.
Here isits own language:
"0ur whole article was devoted to the
enquiry as to whether or not the Presi-
dent pro tempore of the Senate could, er
"o1acio, succeed to the Presidential office,
sand be President without that further con-
"lgressional action for which the Constitu-
"tion provides.
"f, by our reasoning, We have reduced
"t the pretensions of Mr.. WADE to point
no higher than to be on level with those
"of the officers from whom ON acting
" President might be selected by Congress,
Eve have accomplished all that, by the ar
ticle in question, we desired"
Surely it cannot be that the gentleman
whose name is announced as editor Of the
Virginidh wrote the foregoing. No one ever
asserted or imagined that "the President
PRO tempore of the Senate could er-oticio
succeed to the Presidential office and be
President without that further congress
sional action for which the Constitution
s'provides." That further congressional
action was taken more than seventy years
ago. In 1892 Congress passed law de-
claring that in case there should at any time
be no President or Vice-President the Presi
dent pro tempore of the Senate should act as
President of the United States. The discus
sions which have taken place recently have
all been upon the question whether the Presi-
dent pro tempore of the Senate is such on
officer as the constitution says may act as
President. The Vrginian declares that it
said nothing whatever about whether or
"not Mr.. WADE was such an officer as
s'Congress might declare should act as
President.'" Then it has said nothing
pertinent to the discussion for there
is no other point in the case than the one
mentioned. We naturally supposed that
the Virgi,,ian was discussing the question
which the National Intelligencer, the New
York Times, the World, the Tribune, and
many other papers, had been. considering.
That: journal itself informs US that it said
nothing whatever upon that subject, but in
quired whether the President pro tempore
of the Senate could succeed to the presidency
of the United States in virtue of his office,
without being authorized to do SO by law.
The inquiry whether the town constable of
Norfolk could succeed in virtue of his Office
would have been just as creditable to the
Frgniun'S good sense.
Again, the Virginian says:
eve think the Dispatch will. find chat
there are other officers besides the i've |
named from whom an acting President |
might be selected. Yet its language GER
tainly indicates that Congress, if called |
upon to select an acting President, would |
have to confne itself to a choice from one
of those five named. Who is it that at
tempts to prove too much How about the
logici"
Really! Chow absolute" the Vuyinian
is! If our language indicated any ssch
thing we were very unfortunate in the
choice Of it. We named one of every class |
of officers from whom an officer to act as |
President would be likely to be chosen if |
new law were to be passed regulating the
succession to the Presidential Office; and |
argued that if these could not act, none |
could act as President. We did not have |
either time to write down the titles of all |
the officers who might succeed to the Presi-
dency or room for them in our columns.
We named enough, however, to justify our
proposition that if those could not act none
could act.
No one can read the two extracts above
quoted from that paper without coming to
the conclusion that the Vrginian really be-
lieves that Congress has yet to select an act
ing President. 1t does not seem to know
that the law already declares that the Pre-
sident pro tempore of the Senate shall act.
1t puts Mr.. WADE among those officers from
whom an acting President might be selected
whereas the fact is he is the officer already
named in the law, and the only question
involved in all the discussions recently had
upon the subject is as to whether the law
itself is constitutional or unconstitutional.
A PATRIOT INDHED.-If am not to have |
an Office, quoth the patriotic HUNNIcUTT,