The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-04-17
A Note from Governor Marye.

A Note from Governor Marye.
we have received the following pleasant
note from Lieutenant.Go Governor MARYE:
....s- FRspERIcgsBuRG, April IL, 1877.
Editors of the Dispatch:
Your editorial OF to-day surprises me. IL
is quite alarming to quiet man 10 DO III
ualed on the public prints as usurping all'
fhority in political concerns; for you EMO"
that most people regard what the eaNois
saw to be true as gospel. Now, why ao yot
implica,e me? Was Ito question our ,Isu9
Meade,s construction OF 1.-THE Ptan "
Don't Meade, like the judge in the oeors'a
Scenes. ..know all the law rs IS. :: !
Thought so: and when Meade wrote me |.
Was nv duty TO make the. appointments
forthwith did so. I appointed e2ioue' a.
II. GUY the chairman, ana hon. oonH ~
Meredith member, Of the EXecutse Sum
mittee. Allow me to add ttiat nh ~ p,ar ,,
-nrovides as follows: "Thcrc shall De an
EExecnt;ye Committee resident at hlch-
mond. composed OF three persons, 10 DE APP
,,o;ntcd nv the president Of the ConVen-
ZION" Now, il "The Plan" adopted by the
Convention in 1873 be not the law Tor the
organization OF the Conservative party then
there is no law: there is neither stare nor
Erecutiue committee. But such cohciu-
SION was rejected ana C0ce after tue iast
Convention rose; and. by universal acqni,.
esccncc. 1.-The Plan" has been recognized
as Of continuing force. Please tell us, then,
how was it competent for the State Com
mittec to abrogate the organic lac as to BILL
ING vacancies in the Executive Committee
And il the committee had no such power
tell us ,cho was to fill vacancy III the IN
ecutiye Committee. You arc some"h't
prone to deal in legal dialectics. Try your
hand again on this topic. Happily the Soh'
seryatiye party will subSSt safely untli iitl-
o,st NO matter Who is OF the Executive
Committee, And il there be the least DAN
ger on this score call on our excellent fr1eno
General Taliafcrro to come to the rescue
and settle the vexcd issue.
Yours cordially, JOHN l.. MARYE, Jr.
We wish to say. first, that the new chair
man appointed by Governor MARTE and the
new member OF the State Executive Com
mittee appointed by him, would be con-
tirmed by us il we had the power to do SO
and we have no doubt the chairman OF the
State Central Committee will recognize
these appointments. When we wrote our
article OF Saturday, we did not know who
had been appointed; and we shall continue
the discussion as if ne appointments had
been madc-that Is, it will have no personal
bearing.
We expressed on Saturday doubt as to
whether the president OF the last State Con-
vention had any power to appoint MEN,
her OF the State Executive Committee. TO
prove that he has, Mr.. MARYE (who raS, but
IS not, the president OF the last State Con-
yention) quotes from the plan OF organiza-
ton adopted in 1878. Now, 1t is sufficient
answer TO this quotation to say that the Ian
suace which he quotes was intended to APP
ply to no other person Qle cannot be called
an officer now, nor president OF Conven-
ton. any more than Mr.. MARYE CAM thau
the president Of the Convention Of 1873. II
the regulation quoted is in force, then the
president OF the Convention OF 1913 Is the
person who should have filled the vacancy
occasioned by the resignation OF Mr.. MEADE.
But Mr.. MARYE declares that il the plan OF
1873 be not in force, ''there is no law for
the organization of the Conservative party"
This, however. is an illogical conclusion.
He ought to have said that If the plan OF
1873 is not in force, then an Executive Com
mittee cannot be appointed under that
plan and this is just what we said, and
saw. We repeat, ''the State Executive
Committee exists only by sutferance." The
Convention OF 1875 abolished the plan OF
1873. The plan OF 1873 not only contains
the words quoted by Mr.. MARYE, "There
shall be an Executive Committee resident
at Richmond, composed of three persons,
to be appointed by the president of the Con-
uention," but it also contains the following
words, which were not quoted by Mr..
MARIE: "There shall be State Committed
composed OF three members from each con
gressional district. Such members shalt 6t
appointed by the President Of the ConUen
tion," &c. There is State Committee now
in existence. Did Mr.. MARYE appoint thi;
committee? He did not. He is member
OF it himself, and of course did not appoint
himself. How happens it, then, that W.
have a new State Committee? Because thu
Convention OF 1876 adopted new plan o.
organization. This will be news to Mr.
MARYE, who declares that if the plan O.
1873 be not now in force there is no law an(
there is no State Committee. He evidently
thinks the present State Committee was ap
pointed under the plan OF 1873. But no
so. The Convention Of 1876 provided :
new mode Of constituting that committee
It did not say anything about the plal
adopted in 1878; nor about the plan adopted
in 1867, or 1869, or at any other time. 1t wa
not necessary to refer to any OF them.
was never heard Of that the old Constitu
ton OF a State could survive the assem-
bling Of new constitutional conven
ton; nor that it was necessary for
constitutional convention to repeal an.
article, section, or paragraph OF the OLE
Constitution. Every article, section, o.
word OF the old Constitution which was no
embodied in the new Constitution wa
always not merely considered as repealed
but aoas actually abolished and destroyed
1cas dead. So as to State Convention O.
a party. The new Convention having
adopted new plan Of organization, tn
old one becomes from that moment deat
carcase. There is nothing left Of it. -Ant
this little Job the Convention Of 1876 per
formed for the plan OF 1873 by adopting
the following resolution:
:. ReSolued, That when the Convention
reassembles fin the afternoon the delegates
from the several districts will report the
,,oroac fhrao MON arc NJ the