The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-07-19
PETERSBURG. July IS, 1869.

PETERSBURG, ouiN ~, io"''
To the EhtOrs of the Dispatch:
hold that any man appointed or elected
to any position in the public service all9
therein clothed with any authority, anu
charged with the duty to exercise that au-
thority. is an officer, whether any oath DE
cxactcd of him or not, as pledge ana sane
ton of his fidelity. That is my opinion,
any hvpcrbolic or hypercritical exposition,
anywhere TO be found, to the contrary not,
withstandin@. Hence, | do not understand
how n man, no matter what the color OF his
skin, appointed on the night-watch or .po-
lice force, by virtue OF and pursuant 10
city ordinance, is not an officer, General
Canby'> opinion dissenting, nevertheless.
The place need not have salary Tor the
service in it to render it an office. i speak
of positions of public trust-not OF private
ones. agree with Watkins Leigh, in the
opinion he maintained in 1910 before the
court of appeals, that an attorney-at-law
Is not an officer, because not appointed or
elected to place of public trust. Such at
torney charged with prosecuting the pleas
of the State is an officer of the court III
which he renders the public service. But l
hold that member OF Legislature, though
for private ends he sought and got the place,
is an officer. The laws of the several States,
or of several of them, speak in amounted
instances OIL IpE8iSlutlN0, tNSSutiNSt ah1t y"
dicial of7cprs,' the context showing that
members of the Legislature are included.
But I must make a long matter short.
Though authorities might be piled up sky
high, and broad as earth's surface, going
to show that members of the General As
sembly now elect in this State are not officers
within the meaning of that term, as used IN
anv prior act respecting reconstruction,
nevertheless there is, to my apprehension,
in the last of the j'tmbte, clause from
which there is no escape from the control OF
the district commander in advance oil the
organization of the Legislature. 1t is the
last clause Of the second section relating TO
the poting for and the clecting OF the men,
bers of the General Assembly. The mere
roting for is not all in the electtng of the
members. That clause is in these words !:
"Said elections shall be held and returns
made in the manner provided for by the
acts of Congress, commonly called the re
construction acts"
That section Especially this clause is
enough by and in itself alone to show that
the body of men, rs members elect thcr OF.
is not law unto itself. IT shows more, and
distinctly indicates what is the outside and
supervisory power-to Wit: The recon-
struction acts
Now, then, without any analysis of any
special clause in those acts, or any COLA
ton of all Of them touching the point in
dispute, ii shall suffice to be stated what |
suppose no one will deny, that the tenor OF
those acts is to bring back the State into all
the practical relations of n member OF the
Federal Union by an Interpolation OF It's
military power. | will only say that to lit
that power and let the State be left to itself
alone in the browning act of that accom-
plShment would indeed be anomalous--to
say no more.
Your obedirnt servant,
II. X. COLLIER.
The foregoing calls for no comment, since
it comedies that the authorities may be on
our side. We will add only few words.
The fourteenth constitutional amendment
clearly recognizes the difference between
members Of Legislature and officers. But
the case has been adiudicated by the high
est court in the land. We find it stated to
our hand ms follows in Il Georgia paper.
WILLIAM BLoUNT, United States senator
from the State of Tennessee, was impeachcd
and brought to trial ut the bar of the United
States Senate on the Eth Of December,
179S, under that provision Of the Federal
Constitution. which declares article 2, see
ton A.:
| s" The President Vice President, and all
ciUl officers Of the United States, shall be
removed from office on impeachment Tor,
and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other
high crimes and miSdemeanors.' ..
1t was contended, on behalf of Mr.
BLoUNT, that rs Il senator he was not a
'cfpH officer Of the United States" neither
was his senatorship an "oBtce," and, on
argument, this plea was sustained and the
ease dismissed 14th January, 1899. In the
impeachment proceedings against Mr.. JOHN
| SON this case was again brought up, anC
conceded to be good law. The principle is
that United States senatorShip, and by
parity of reason, Il seat in the United States
House of Representatives, or in State LIE
| Sisature, is not an office"
| Nevertheless, as that is law for us which
General CANBY chooses to make law, it is
as Mr.. COLLIER says, highly improbable thai
the mailed hand of military power shall be
lifted from our body polite so long rs any
excuse can he found for keeping it there.
----- -------------~-----------------
The fifteenth amendment to the Constitu
| ton of the United States:
"ARTlCLE XVI. The right of the citi
Gems of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States
or any State, OH account of race, color, OF
previous condition of Seryitude.
"II. The Congress shall have power tc
enforce this article by appropriate legisla
| tiCn."
|
Secret History of the Southern Confederacy
Gathered "l5chind the Scenes in Rich.
mond." BY EDWARD A. POLLARD, author
of ..The Lost Cause" etc., etc. National
Publishing Company Philadelphia Chi.