The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-04-30

GERS.
Eighth. All persons now exercising the
functions of the municipal offices may con-
tinue In such offices till their successors are
and qualified, as herein provided,
and no longer.
: Ninth. The officers appointed In pur-
suance of this act shall continue in office
until their successors are elected under the
Constitution Of this State and duly quail
fed.
Tenth. Every person appointed as here
in prescribed shall take the oaths of office
by law, shall give bond in such
penalty and with such security as existing
laws may provide for officers holding like
offices, and shall receive such compensation
as existing laws may provide In like cases.
Eleventh: The judges Of the corpora
ton and circuit courts and courts OF pro-
bate, hereafter elected for the said towns
and cities of the Commonwealth shall APP
point the officers of their respective courts,
to continue in office until their successors
are elected and qualified as provided by
law. The sheriffS, clerks, and other officers
required to give bond, appointed under this
section, shall not enter upon the discharge
of their respective duties until they shall
have given bond according to law, and in
case Of the failure of any such officer to give
such bond within twenty days after his ap-
pointment, the said appointment shall be
vacated, and the aforesaid court shall pro-
coed to appoint his successor, with like
powers and subject to like limitations as
herein provided.
Twelfth. This act shall not be construed 30
as to deprive the General Assembly of the
right to removeany and all officers at pre-
sent holding offices in this State, or who may
be hereafter appointed under the provision
of this act, or to adopt such other measures
for filling vacancies in offices which now ex-
ist or may hereafter occur as to it may seem
right and proper.
Under this act, and in strict pursuance
of the terms thereof, the Governor ap-
pointed councilmen for the city Of Rich
mond, who appointed Ellyson as Mayor,
and he accordingly took the oaths required
by law, and proceeded to execute the du-
ties of the office. At the time of his ap-
pointment and qualification, Chahoon was
acting as Mayor under the appointment Of
General Schofield, as before stated. Had
the Legislature constitutional power to pass
this act, SO far rs it relates to the subject of
the present inquiry? The act may be I'm.
constitutional, either because it is contrary
to the Constitution of the United States or
the laws made in pursuance thereof, being
the paramount and supreme law Of the
land or because it is contrary to the Con-
stitution of the State Of Virginia. The
counsel for Chahoon contend that it Is con-
trary to both; the counsel for Ellyson that
it is contrary to neither. There is certainly
nothing in the Constitution itself Of the
United States to which this act can he op-
posed. Is there anything in any law of
Congress made in pursuance Of the Consti-
tuition of the United States towhich 1t is OPP
posed?
If there be any such thing In any such
law, it is in the acts of Congress, commonly
called the reconstruction acts, or in the act
admitting the State to representation in
Congress.
Tie reconstruction acts certainly SUBJ
jected the State to the military authority Of
the United States. But they were limited
in their operations, and it was expressly
declared in the first Of them-to wit, the
act of March 3, 1867, to which the others
are merely supplementary, that it should
be imperative in said State when and after
the State shall be declared entitled to repre-
sentation in Congress, and senators and re-
personalities shall be admitted therefrom on
their taking the oath prescribed by law.
The State was declared entitled to repre-
sentation in Congress by an act passed Jan
uGry &c, 1870, and her senator's and repre-
sentatIyes were thereupon admitted there
from on their taking the oath prescribed by
law. So that by the very terms of the re-
construction acts they have become inope--
rative in the State. They were enacted
only for purpose which has been fully ac-
compliShed.
We can see nothing, then, in the recon-
>truction acts which can give to Chahoon,
any right to continue to hold the Office OF
Mayor against Ellyson, the appointee under
the enabling act Of the State.
The authority Of the military commander
of Virginia ceased when her representatives
were admitted into Congress, and when has
authority ceased that Of his appointees also
ceased. 1t would be strange If after the
principal ceased to have any authority his
subordinate agents should continue to have
authority.
Then, as to the act admitting the State to
representation in Congress. This act pro-
vides "that before any member of the Leg
islature Of said State shall take or resume
his seat, or any officer Of said State shall
enter upon the duties of his office, he shall
take and subscribe to certain oath there
in set out; and further provides "that every
such person, who shall neglect for the Pc
Rod Of thirty days next after the passage Of
this act TO take, subscribe, and file such
oath as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken
to all intents and purposes to have vacated
his Office"
1t is argued that this act recognizes,
and in effect declares, the right of persons
who have received appointments to office
from the military commander, and contin-
ued to perform the duties Of such Office un-
Ill the passage of this act, to hold over until
their successors are appointed and qualified;
and that this is one Of the fundamental con-
ditions on which the State was admitted to
representation in Congress.
All do not think so. Congress, in the
passage Of this act, had not in its mind the
question whether such persons would be
entitled to hold over or not, and much less
did it intend TO give them authority to do
so. Its manifest and only object was to re-
quire every member of the Legislature be-
fore taking or resuming his seat, and every
other officer Of the State before entering
upon the duties of his Office, to take the
oath prescribed by the act. 1t was properly
left to the State to determine who were or
should be her officers. 1t is true the second
proviso declares vacant the Office of every
such person who shall neglect for the pc.
Rod OF thirty days next after the passage oil
the said acl, to take, subscribe, and file such
oath, but this only imposes a penalty fol
the failure to comply with the previous pro
vision.
Certainly Congress did not intend -
any person who might have been af : n
by the commander of a military. -
perform the duties of an office
should have any right under the Con- -
ton and laws Of the United States to cou.
tinue to perform those duties after the ces
sation of all military authority in such dis
trict, and after it was fully restored to it.
position as sovereign State of the Union
did not intend that the Legislature, the re
preventative of the sovereignty Of the State,
subject only to few constitutional restric
tions, should not have power to enact law
appointing another agency than the ont
which had been used by the military com