The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-01-21
The Virginia Constitution.


LETTER 0FqTHE VIRGINIA COMMITTEE tt
THE SENATE JUDICIARY CoMNITTEE.af
To the Judiciary Committed of The United
States Senate: sEia
On behalf of the delegation of. citizens q,
Virginia, and in accordance with the re.
quest Of your committee, we beg leave re.
spectfnlly to submit, in the form of amend
ments to House bill ], ,4S5, now under your
consideration, such notifications of the
constitution proposed b. the late conven.
ton as in our upinior. fs Il, under all the
circumstances, lead to la "cccptance by the
people of Virginia. aalll'agy 5.z 81 -
-, Itis due, to candor to IN this connec-
tion that those who sent re expressed, as
we believe, ethereal fee nd purposes oi
the people Of Virginia WA they declared.
"while the conviction of ire undersigned
and, as they believe, Of TIC people of Vir-
ginia generally, remains unchanged, that
the freedmen Of the southern States, in
their present uneducated condition, are not
prepared for the intelligent exercise of the
elective franchise and thee performance Of
other duties connected with public affairs,
and are therefore, at this time, unsafe de-
positsries of political power; yet, in view
Of the verdict Of public opinion in favor of
their being allowed to exercise the right OF
suffrage, as expressed in the recent cleo
tions, the undersigned are prepared, and
they believe the msjority of the people of
Virginia are prepared, to surrender their
opposition to its incorporation into their
fundamental law as an Offering on the altar
of peace and in the hope that union and
harmony may be restored on the. basis Of
universal suffrage and universal amnesty"
Taking it, then, to be established as the
policy of this Government to require in
Virginia constitutional recognition and
enforcement of the civil and political
equality of all men before the law, we have
in the amendments proposed inserted all
the provisions looking to that result which
Congress has heretofore deemed proper, and
we shavealeft undisturbed all the provisions
of the proposed constitution il, any manner
relating to that subject.
The first modification Of the proposed
constitution suggested by US is to strike
from it all those features of disfranchise-
ment and disqualification, and all those ele-
ments of bitterness and strife, political,
sectional, and sectarian, which, in our .judg-
ment, are wholly incompatible with good
government and good feeling, and tend to
perpetuate alterations and discords, which
all good citizens must deprecate. The
power of State to subject any of its citi-
zens to disabilities for offences against the
United States has been seriously questioned.
1t seems to be conceded that for. the pur-
pose of punishment no such power exists,
and that disquali6cations and disfranchise
ments are only admissible as measures Of
precaution and safety.
In this point of view it is worthy Of con-
sideration that since the close Of the war
the people of Virginia have been living
without disfranchisement or disability Of
any kind under a government whose legis-
lative and judicial departments and whose
local organizations have been in the hands
of the very classes whom it is sought by the
proposed constitution to exclude from every
position of trust in the State. We claim
with confidence that the result has been
that the supremacy of law and order has
been as fully maintained, and that the func-
tions of good government have been as well
performed in Virginia as in any'State in
the Union. .... -.r~r....s,,a.-
Itis believed that article three, section
one, paragraph four, would disfranchise
not less than ten or fifteen thousand voters
in the State, including all those whom the
people have been accustomed to. trust in
public employments.
Article three, section seven, would dis
qualify for every position of public trust
not less than ninety-fve out of every hun
dred Of the white people of Virginia who
would otherwise be eligible, and would in
connection with section three of the same
article extend the like disability to serve
upon juries. aye- taa5a = 30
1t is believed that there is no advocate of
universal negro suffrage who will not agree
that in its application to Virginia, at this
time, it is fearful experiment, requiring
for its success all the wisdom and expe-
rience that can be brought to it's manage
mert and it is respectfully submitted, that
to exclude from participation in State or
local governments at this time so large q
proportion of those who, by experience in
public affairs, are fitted to deal with this
great problem would be unwise and unsafe.
We earnestly declare that, in our belief, it
would be wholly inconsistent with domestic
tranquility, public order, or the security
of the lives, liberty, or property, of the
great body of the white population of Vir-
ginia.
The provision of article eleven relating
to church property is an attempt to re-
verse the settled policy Of Virginia. which
restricts the ownership of church property
in amount, and confines it strictly to the
local religious congregation The purpose
is to enable ecclesiastical bodies outside
of Virginia, in opposition to the legislation
Of the State and against its judicial deci-
sions, to take the churches of Virginia from
the local congregations who built them.
The provision opens controversy full of
all the combined bitterness of party, and
section, and sect, over every Presbyterian
and Methodist Church building in Virginia.
d, The next modification suggested By ms is
to strike from the proposed constitution,
and thus to2leaye otoslegisiatiTc enrolment
or modification, the whole Of the cGmbrous
machinery for local organization, govern
ment, and police; which, in orr Judgment,
is clearly unified to the condition Of the
State. and if fixed in the constitution Till
be cause of embarrassment and difficulty
and strife, seriously affecting the public
peace and the harmony and good order Of
society.
!, The population of Virginia is very
sparsely and unequally distributedoyer the
territory of the State, and the physical and