Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1871-06-13

pleted. Il is now incumbent upon Us to make
such new arrangement and apportionment.-
The present Constitution further requires an
arbitrary apportiOnment of the House of Dele.
gates by dividing the whole Irhie population
OF the State by the number of which the
House is to consist, &c. Il is found that il
Is impossible to make such apportionment aud
arrangement as required, without great in
justice being worked to certain portions Of the
State, and that certain localities will ncees-
sarlly have an increased representation at the
expense Of others. Aud then, the represen>
tHtiOn is confined to the white population aud
Eot to the total population of whites aud
blacks, aud thus We have the anomaly of ne
grOes voting in certain counties aud to great
extent controlling the results of elections in
such counties, aud yet by our present COnsti-
tuition they are excluded from computation in
entertaining the ratio Of representation to
which such counties are entitled. The bare
statement OF this fact should be sufficient 70
convince the most skeptical Of the necessity
OF change in this regard. aud that this rad.
Icaliy defective Constitution cannot be SO
speedily remedicd, so as to give every portion
OF our people their proper representation, rs
by tho means We propose
Again, by the provisions Of the present
Constitution, \ capitation. tax of one dollar
shall he levied on each nLitc male inhabitant
who has attained the age of twenty,oue years.
This Is mandatory upon the Legislature, and
no white iuhabitant Of the required age can
escape from his liability to pay it. Such is
not the case with persons of color. This
Constitution then makes persons of color in
our State a favored class. 1t is no answer TO
the proposition TO state that by the provisions
Of our Code persons Of color are now required
to pay capitatiOn tax. This provision can
be repealed by the act of any succeeding
Legislature, but no act can relieve the white
lnhabitant from its payment. The white in>
habitants of this State are thus by this Con.
stltu'ion placed under disability which does
not apply to persons of color, aud thus an
odiOus distinction is made by it in favor Of the
latter. class.
a reform in the administration of public
justice is impcratively demanded. Our iu>
dietary has been to a considerable degree weak
aud inefficient. Charges of corruption have
been openly made, aud in fact instances of
partisan decision and personal favoritism can
be cited in n humber of cases. By such
means, the most sacred rights of persons and
property III our State have been imI aired, aud
great wrongs perpetated upon our people,
The decisions Of some of our Judges have
been made tho subject Of gibe and Jest and
have greatly tended TO tarniSh the fair fame
aud character OF our State and cause US almost
to lose our State pride. OF course, there are
honorable exceptions to these charges now
upon the bench. But these things should
not exist at all. Our judiciary should be above
all reProach-One whose decisions should com.
mand respect, the personal character of whose
judges should be pure aud whose honesty,
.t"ttEt"l"esS, and cGPuLHIy should not be
questioned. In no way can SO desirable an
end be so readily attaiued Us Gy y uGW CON>
stItuuOn reforming our Judiciary system IL.
t0t0. AGaIn, our prcSeut Constitution fails 70
secure judicial Independence. Judges hold
their positions ut the will Of Il minority of the
Legislature. The sad spectacle has been
twice witnessed in this State Of judicial iu,>
parchment by partisan votes cast in the Leg
islatuTe III. obedience to partisan pressure from
without. 10 secure the judiciary against the
brute force OF partisauship, to give indepen-
dence to the bench aud to restore confidence
in the integrity Of this last resort of the in
Jured for protection TO liberty aud property,
the Constitution should be SO amended rs to
deprive mere partisan majority in the Leg
lslaturc OF the power to drive from the bench
all but the servants of its will.
One OF the great evils in our present form
OF government, and of which We as a Marty
have right to complain, because of our hav-
ing felt the full force of it, is the fact that
mInorltIes arc denied all representations
How lar It would be prudent aud wise to so
alter the fundamental law as to allow minor
ity representation Is, of course, not our prov
Ince to determine. But if a Convention is
called this grave question would doubtless be
taken into consideration and dealt with in the
manner in which it's great importance demands.
No one question of a political nature is now
undergoing SO much discussion and consitlera.
ton us this, nor one to which the public at
tcntion Is more earnestly directed
We expect that a Convention, called for
the purpose OF reforming our organic law,
would retain such portions of our present Con.
stl!ution as wise, and which experience
has proved to be good that it would not act
IN any partisan spirit or with any desire to
undo aud upturn for the mere sake Of change.
a Convention assembled at the present time,
freed from any undue political excitement,
and lmbued with a desire to advance the best
interests Of the State, would act from patri-
otto purposes alone. We cannot but believe
that 1t would in nm eminent degree seek to
maintain intact the integrity Of the State.
lessen taxation, secure aud protect the eff.
hcIcnt working of free school system, pro.
vide Tor retTGnchment in the expenses of GOV.
crnment, and furnish safeguards against legs
lsIatlve extravaganza in appropriations.
We have thus enumerated some of the most
important matters that demand amendment
in the fundamental law of the land. There
are others of vital Importance which would
require too much space to comment on in this
address, but they will readily suggest them,
selves to the inquiring mind Our great de.
sire is to have "A Constitution which will give
us cheap government, reduce the number of
office holders, lessen the burden Of taxation.
cause all officers entrusted with public money
to be made accountable for the same. for the
faithful discharge Of their duty. and the