The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-03-16

mud of about the consistency of hotel
soup. Everybody is complaining Of
wet feet, bad colds. and general discom-
fort; the citizens are apologizing for
this Every extraordinary weather and
the members OF the Convention feel
blue, cross, and miserable. AS the
stars in their courses fought against
Sisera," 80 the much vexed people OF
Charleston think that the elements have
conspired against the psrmanency OF
the permanent seat" The river is
high and eth rising. and the climax Of
horrors would be reached and the hopes
OF this community would float away
along with the fences and drift wood If,
perchance, another such flood as that
of 1861 should sweep over the valley.
Since this winter has so shaken their
faith in the clerk of the weather and
caused them to lose confidence in all
terrestrial things, the people Of
Charleston won't swear by the river
and are not at all sure that it will not
soon be found one OF the most inhuen-
tial Capital movers" in the State.
The Convention is still engaged In
II
considering the article relating to the
Legislative Department. The report OF
the Committee of the Whole, which
everybody thought would be speedily
adopted without important change or
pro,racted debate, has now been three
DAYS and a half under discussion /;
numerous changes have been made and
speeches too tedious to mention" 1t
is not finished yet, but is still open to
amendment and will be gone over sec
ton by section, again, before its final
adoption. How long it will yet requlre
and how long the Convention will con-
sumo over the reports on Judiciary,
Executive, Taxation and Finance, Bill
OF Rights, Elections, and Education, as
we'll as the three or four reports yet to
be presented for the first time, are
conundrums that no one pretends to
answer. They belong to that mys'
terious class Of events that mo fellah
can ind out" and hence predictions az
to the time of final adjournment are as
various as the views OF individual men,
bers.
The legislators oath which has been
twice passed upon by the Convention
during few days, was, on yesterday,
amended by striking from it all that Is
retrospective and making it apply to
the future alone. The member is not
REQUIRED to swear that he has not
accepted bribe, but that he pilI not.
An effort was made to strike out the
whole thing and provide in another
place for the punishment OF bribery and
several very earnest speeches were de-
livered by Messrs johnson, of Wood
Johnson, OF Tyler, Matthews, Fitzhugh,
Ward, Woods, Raymond, Wilson and
others. Mr.. Raymond, being chairman
of the Committee on the Legislative
Department, has chung to the report
with a good deal Of tenacity and has
generally succeeded in retaining its
language.
Mr.. Davenport, Of your city, detected
and caused to be changed, a section that
might have proved exceedingly disad-
vantageous to the city Of Wheeling.
The Legislature is, by the forty-first
section OF the report. prohibited from
passing any local or special laws in a
number of enumerated cases; among
others, Incorporating cities, towns or
villages, or amending the charter of any
CITY, town or village" Circumstances
have arisen on several occasions to meet
which it has been necessary for the
Legislature to amend the charter Of the
city of Wheeling; for instance, for the
establishment of the Municipal court,
and more recently, for extending the
corporate limits. Should the Legisla-
ture be prohibited from making the
amendment, the old charter to which
the people are greatly attached, would
have to be abandoned and new one
formed in accordance with the pro-
visions of the general law to be hereafter
adopted by the Legislature in relation
to this subject.
Mr.. Davenport explained the diff
culties that might arise if the Legisla-
ture were deprived ofpower to amend
the charter OF the city and succeeded
in amending the section OF the report so
as to make it only apply to places 'con-
tanning less than 2000 inhabitants"
Charleston has been somewhat agita-
ted to-day by its municipal election.
The rival tickets were Improvement"
and "Anti-Improvement,' and l have
Just learned that the Anti-improve-
ment men have earned the day,
defeating DR.. Hale for Mayor and
electing a Mayor and Council Of the
old fashioned fossil persuasion who pro-
pose to dead leck the wheels Of progress
and, if possible, restore things as they
were. A good deal Of disappointment