The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-03-13
THE PETERSBURG CHARTER BILL
GOV KEMPER vETOEs 1T.

GOV KEMPER yErOEs 1T.
The President laid before the Senate |
the following communication from the |
Governor, returning the Petersburg charter
bill not signed:
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA.,
GOVERNORS OFFICE,
RICHMOND, March II, 1874. }
II, tae Honorable the Senate: II
With reluctance am constrained by my
Of constitutional. duty to dis
sent. for the first time, from the action OF
the General Assembly. disapprove the
bill entitled IAN act to provide charter
for the city of Petersburg" and now re.
turn it, with my objection, to the house in
which it originated. a
The provisions of the bill are, in my
opinion, such as would subvert the princl-
pies of popular government in their appli-
cation to the municipality of Petersburg.
Its enforcement would withdraw from the
suffrages of that city great proportion
of the power to control its government
and lodge it in the hands Of appontees, to
be created by legislative act. 1t pro-
poses to transfer such power from the
people to q board of commissioners, de-
irving their authority solely from the bill
itself. While the bill spares The existence
of the usual city offices, it strips manv OF
them of most important and essential
functions, and dwarfs them into insignifi-
canoe. The board is proposed to be made
one of the permanent institutions Of the
city besides exercising many other powers,
it is to appoint and govern all officers, po-
licemen and patrolmen, of the police de-.
partment. and the chief engineer and
assistants of the fire department !;
to dispense other and extensive official
patronage; to dsburse public moneys
through its own orders drawn directly upon
the city treasury, and substantially to
dominate the administration of the city
government. Most of the city officers
would necessarily be the dependents as
we'll as subordinates of the board OF COM
mssioners, for even their salaries are to be
fixed, or, in other words, increased or cut
down at the bidding or caprice of the board.
Such measure seems to me conspicuous
instance Of government being instituted for
people without and against their consent.
Waving discussion of the questions
whether or not, the bill infringes the par
ticuIar clauses of the constitution
which provide for the government OF
cities and towns, and whether or no, the
trainers of that instrument, hostile as they
were to the now prevailing political
sentiment of the state, intended
to empower their own partisans to
govern all cities and towns in disregard OF
The popular will yet looking beyond such
enquiries to the fundamental principles
underlying all free government, am met
by objections to the bill which impress me
as insuperable. The great cornerstone on
which republican liberty rests is the
principle that all government derives
its powers from the consent of the
governed. This fundamental truth
conceived and promulgated by the Illus
strious minds Virginia gave to the country
in its infancy, is deeper and more sacred
than constitutions, CONT OILS their construc
ton, and checks and confines Legislative
power. 1t constitutes great Evolutionary
article of liberty, which will be held sacrec
as long as a vestige of free government
shall remain. 1t cannot be maintained
that the Legislature may exercise, at it
discretion, any and all such powers as ar
not delegated to the Federal government
and not expressly prohibited by the term
of our own constitution. Neither the Leg
islature nor the government is sovereign
Sovereignty resides alone and.inseparabl
with the people, and legislators have n
arbitrary power. They are the trustee
and not the owners of the estate. Tn
fee simple is in (the people,. They 9TH
trustees) cannot ALLEVIATE, they canno
waste" While the Legislature may b
said to be supreme within II
allotted sphere, yet its supremacy
relative and not absolute: for the legisla
tive power is limited and ruled by the fur
damental and indefeasible principles {
right and Justice, commonly called the bi
of rights, which cannot not only contrt
legislatures and governments, but const
tutions. Among the foremost OF these
the just right of self-government permt
ates the whole people, extends to ever
member Of the body polite, and mus
guide and control US in organizing local GO
eminent for particular Subdivisions {
the community, as well as in enactr
general laws for the whole common
ticles of right is to destroy the sanctity
the whole. We cannot invade the liberti,
of single city or single citizen withol
DTcuhIuS uOWu Lit WHlCu D
cure the rights of all. In the present III
settled state Of our political relations v
cannot but hold to this fundamental rig
as the sheet-anchor of our safety.
The complete political and material re
toration of our state depends upon her ii
daunted adherence to the principl
and traditions of Jeffersonian repub
canisIn which she has ever maintaine
Unmoved by her misfortune, and standir
amid the wreck of her former prosperlt
Virginia to-day reasserts her inalienble rig
Of self government, and maintains that t
common government of the Union, bel
limited to the exercise of delegated power
cannot constitutionally interfere with Il
regulation Of the internal, domestic al
municipal affairs. of her people. 1t
submitted that if this bill become la,
Virginia would stand before the world
the attitude of denying to one of her mo
important municipalities the great body
tina. right Of local selfgovernment viii,
she unfinchingly asserts and CLAIMS for h
whole people against all opposers. In II
judgment, the bill is deeply objectionab
on grounds Of expediency as well as pri
ciple. 1t Is especially unfortunate tn
such legislation should at this critic
juncture be applied to city in viii
colored men compose q majority of
suffragans In view of the tundamer
al conditions on which Virginia stan