The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-11-20

q healthy reminder to the banks that thelr
circulation is q liability payable on demand !:
The Comptroller is opposed to the payment Oh
interest on bank balances by New YORK
city banks, and favors return to specie
payments.
The First Military District-A Fuller
Synopsis of General sfonemans
Report.
Brevet Major-General Stoneman, COM
handing the First Military District, has
made his report to the General-in- Chief.
The system inaugurated and the policy pur-
sued by General Schofeld having, by long
experience, been found complete and salts
factory, the one was adopted and the other
followed with such modification in the de-
tails as circumstances arising from time to
time seemed to demand. The fourteenth
article of the Constitution was thought by
some to vacate every office in the State filed
by persons who clme within its provisions.
He says his predecessor had made five hum
dred and thirty-tvo appointnents-Very
many Of them mirror positions-to nil va
ca1cies caused by death, resignation, or re-
| moval, and in doing 80 had very nearly ex-
hausted the available material at his dlspo-
sal. But one vacancy on the bench had
occurred, and to fill this it had been deemed
necessary to resort to the officers Of the army
to find person fit for this important and
responsible position.
This incident is cited to show the evident
impossibility of carrying on the government
of the State upon the assumption that the
thousands of officers in the district, en-
bracing State officers, judges, sheritfs,
commissioners, Commemorative attorneys,
magistrates, etc., not to speak Of the large
number of town and municipal officers,
such as mayors, councilmen, aldermen, con-
stables, overseers Of the poor, and others,
should suddenly cease in the performance
of their functions, with no possibility of
filing their places under the provisions of
the reconstruction laws.
In some instances it has been found alb
solutely impossible to find any person upon
whom an appointment could be conferred,
and the difficulty has been overcome by
devolving the performance of the duties
upon persons who were not opposed to re-
construction nor disloyal to the Government
of the United States. General Stoneman
recommends the repeal Of the ninth section
of the act of Congress of July 10. 1867.
While seeking for some remedy for the
evils which it was feared, with reason,
might ensue, the question substantially set
tied itself, and very possible this result was
promoted by their opportune absence from
the State. Immediately subsequent to the
adjournment Of Congress things moved
on as before under the provisions and
requirements of the reconstruction laws,
-, ell
August the forces in that district have been
reduced by sending squadron of cavalry
to the plains, the battery of artillery to
Washington, the Twenty ninth infantry to
Tennessee, and the companies which remain
have been greatly depleted by reason of
number Of men discharged on account OF
tae expiration Of their term of service.
4 large number will be discharged during
the next three months, and, consequently,
by the 1st Of January next the whole num-
Der in the district will be much below one
thousand in the aggregate. Among the
more important questions that have pre-
sented themselves for consideration is the
Methodist Church contest. After careful
investigation and an able opinion thereon
by Judge Advocate Colonel H. 3. Burnham,
it has been deemed advisable not as yet to
make an order thereon.
The investigation shows that it embraces
many delicate questions Of law, both sta
tute and ecclesiastical, and it is one, Gene
raj Stoneman says, that can only be settled
bya decision of the highest civil tribunal
or by legislative enactment. Special cases,
as they have arisen, have been settled upon
the principle of recognizing the claims Of
both contestants, and giving each the right
of occupying on alternate weeks.
Arrangements have been made with most
of the railroad companies, advantageous to
them as well as to the State, by which it is
hoped they will be able to pay up, in a
reasonable time, their dues to the treasury.
These arrangements contemplate that one
third will be paid in currency, the other
two thirds in State bonds. The appoint
ment of proxies and directors for the State,
the apportionment of taxes, and extension
of the stay law, are not yet determined, and
are questions for further consideration.
The report contains the correspondence
between Robert Guild, Marmaduke Johnson,
Thomas j. Evans, the committee of the
State Central Constitutional Committee ap-
pointed to confer with General Stoneman
in reference to holding an election for Pre-
SlUeUtldl tleCtOISs NCAOidi otoucuuhu III
reply asks whether they can cite him any
law authorizing him, az military COM
mander, to order or authorize such an cleo
ton, and says: elf district commanders
cannot prohibit according to law they can
not permit it in the sense of the order, or
authorize or give official sanction"
Without in any manner expressing any
opinion upon the propriety, the right, or
the duty of the people of Virginia, or any
portion of them, at this time to peaceably
meet and ballot for any persons selected
for President and Vice-President, he sug-
gested the inquiry whether or not the init
nation of such course of procedure, cal
culated to excite and disturb the public
mind, would be wise or prudent.
My duties, he said, are plain, and marked
out by law, and confined to protecting all
persons in their rights Of person and pro-
perty, to suppress insurrection, disorder
and violence, and punish, or cause to be
punished, all disturbers of the public
peace, and obey the orders of my properly
constituted superiors.
writ of habeas corpus has been applied
for, and is understood to have been granted,
the object being to test the legality of the
action of tho district commander in regard
to the fourteenth article, constitutional
amendment What the result will be re-
mains to be determined.
The affairs connected with the Bureau of
Refugees and Freedmen and Abandoned
Lands in Virginia have been managed