The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-03-03
RICHMOND, March .

Il ~ AOu SiA lhS tht -
issue of Saturday an abstract of my argu
ment on the constitutional features of th
charter for Petersburg. Will you perm
me to lay before the public, through you
columns, my objections to the charter iron
a standpoint of public policy? IL is a YER
easy thing for q lawyer, skilled IN techni
c~alities and hair splitting to befog a constl
t~utional or legal question. It is not so easl
to reply to arguments which are addressed
to the common sense.
/. The proposed charter will necessarily
produce conflict between the mayor ant
common council on the one hand, and thu
municipal commissioners on the other
Even though it may not result in riot ant
bl~oodshed, as when Mayor Wood, of the
city of New York, resisted the police com
missioners appointed by the governor oI
New York, yet where there are practically
two rival legislatures and two rival exec
utives in the same territory, conflict must
ensne, and it will often etnbarrass the Off
GERS and citizens of Petersburg to tell
which authority to obey. /.
2. 1t must produce endless litigation
to test the jurisdiction and powers Of the
new officers created, a state of affairs that
the lawyers ought not to complain Of, per-
haps, if the rest OF the people are anxious
IrS. This confict, this litigation, and this
'horde of new officers created will be
very expensice to the city, as well as injuri-
Gus to individual citizens. Fetsi,a,B .oy5aa
a. This system of srecial legislation will
be very expensive TO the state. The same ar
guments which are used to disfranchise the
voters of Petersburg will be used to put
the other cities and counties of the state
under the autocratic rule of judicial
"Czars5''OEach year will develop some
imperfection in the proposed charter of
Petersburg, and the time of the Legisla-
ture will be taken up with adapting the
laws to this new monarchical government.
OF course the people of the state must pay
the expense, andagriculture, manufactures,
commerce, finance, immigration and pub.
lie education must stand aside while this
work gees On.ao',A sal i 90 GpftLg hpg
8. The welfare of the state is absolutely
in the hands of the Conservative party for
the next four years. They came into
power upon the distinct pledge to carry out
the principle of universal suffrage"
Their platforms have again and again as
serted their desire to do equal justice to
all, and the Governor, in his last annual
message, calamity responded to the ante
cedent promises of his party. Can the
Conservative party afford the inevitable
conclusion which must follow # they carry
out this ill-timed and suicidal policy?
G. THIS policy, If carried out, piH put
an entire stop to the mach desired inttur Of
Immigration and capital. The Governor Of
the commonwealth, in his last message,
made o statement to the effect that there
were. some matters concerning Virginia
that the natives of her soil understood
better than outsiders, which certainly was
a verv reasonable remark. The %correla-
tive remark is also doubt less true, that
those who have been born in other states
and have settled in Virginia, and for the
pas t few years have been trying to induce
others to follow their example, know more
of the real sentiment of the people of
their native state than any one
else. All such persons know from
past experience what the effect of this
Legislation will be, and that they might, as
well try to whistle against the whirlwind
as to try to induce people to settle in Q
state which selects out for this special and
ubiquitous legislation the only Republican
CITY Of Virginia, and a city whose bonds
her Conservative press acknowledge are
the q bestin the market.n The defeat Of
this bill by the veto of the Governor or the
decision Of the court Of appeals would be
worth more to the state than the spending
of a million of dollars to establish a bureau
of immigration and in circulating informa.
| ton abroad concerning the resources of the
state.
The question of q Republican form of
| government in cites, which are usually
centres of ignorance and vice, as well as OF
political, social and moral power, is not
| unattended with difficulties. These difficult
ties have been very apparent in the city OF
New York, which from its position as the
chief port of our foreign commerce has
been cursed with the ignorance and crime
of the Old World. Certainly no case can
be found in Virginia or elsewhere, in which
the arguments for legislative interference
could be as strong as the case of the city
of New York. And yet, after a long ex.
perience of police, fire, and health COM
| missions, it is doubted by many, of her
best citizens whether they have not been
an evil rather than a blessing. The
result has been a large increase of city tax
alton, endless litigation and conflict OIL
authority, a state Of tumult such that nc
honest man would take a part in the city
government ; and finally, the development
of such : statesmen" as Wilt am NJ.
Tweed and Harry Genet, and a revolution
of the city government under the "com'
4 mittee of seventy" 1C yiifti
If the object of the Republican party o
~ ~ eIknsn noItt,aaI antn
troll of the city, the result shows that they
failed most e~gregiously. The police com
mission was established in 1857. In l85t
the Democratic majority was 1000; II
1858, a. 900 in 1860, $4,000; in 1852, 81,
600 in 1864, 81, 900; in 1866, AZ 900; AM
in 1868, 1000. What more eloquent argu
ment could be adduced to prove the mex
pediency Of extreme measures to further
party ends!
said, in the beginning of my remark
before the House, that | spoke only TO
myself; that | could not wholly agree wit
either Mr.. Lyon or Mr.. Gregory in the 20
sitions assumed by them that | consiaere
it the duty of the state to protect its cit
zens in their rights of person and property
and that any commonwealth which did nc
protect its W citizens was not fit to exis|
i furthermore. said, that il any considerable
Y number of the citizens Of Petersburg di
not consider the present police force 0
sufficient to preserve peace and order
l was willing to vote for a polit
commission in Petersburg similar I