The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-04-13

| DIS CledTly DIS WOruS cam Iue precise views
maintained by DR.. Plumer in his discus
sion with the eminent lawyers named il
the title of his pamphlet given above
and thus they have been incorporated in
the fundamental law, and have been es-
tablished as the permanent policy of Vir-
ginia.
No charters, such as DIR. Plumer op-
posed in this address, have ever been
granted in Virginia; and while the Leg
lslature has always been careful to i'm
pose the necessary limitations and restric-
tons, it has not been the policy of the
State to refuse the incorporation of reli-
gious, charitable, and benevolent objects,
when specially presented, and of conceded
utility. In 1914, the Virginia Bible So
ciety was incorporated. The petition for
the incorporation of the Episcopal theo-
logical seminary and high school at Alex
andria was successful. DIR. Plumer, it
will be seen above, did not oppose it; but
whether it passed that Legislature do
not remember; but certainly it was passed
shortly thereafter, and has long been a
law. Several times the incorporation of
our Union Theological Seminary at Hamp-
den Sidney was before the Legislature,
before charter was secured mutually
acceptable to the Legislature and the
Church. Subsequently to its passage, a
number of others for benevolent, literary,
and religious purposes have been en-
acted but In no case have the trustees
been incorporated as churchmen or eccle-
siastics, but simply as citizens of Vir-
ginla. On the other hand no church or
denomination has been, or since 1851
can be, incorporated in Virginia. The
general incorporation law was defeated
as the result of this discussion between
DR.. Plumer and the gentlemen above
named. In 1862, the Legislature re-
fused to incorporate the trustees of our
Southern General Assembly, considering
the charter in effect an incorporation of
the Church; and if not forbidden by the
letter, at all events excluded by the spirit
and intention of the Constitution. 1t
was, moreover, against just such general
and indefinite acts of incorporation as
this DIR. Plumer argued, holding that
charters should be granted very sparing-
ly;. and then only when the very object
to be incorporated should be brought be-
tore the Legislature for careful scrutiny,
as to its necessity, propriety, and utility.
During this discussion, there appears
to have been a good deal of sharp shoot
ing, and trenchant blows were given and
received; but at the same time constant
courtesy prevailed, and the mutual re-
spect of the disputants was preserved.
The happy manner in which DR.. Plumer
parried the blows of his antagonists is
one of the traditions of the debate There
are several such incidents in this pamph-
let which are very amusing.
think there can be little doubt that,
had DR.. Plumer not interposed when he
did, the ability and influence arranged
on the other side would have carried the
day with the Legislature, and secured
the change requested in the policy of the
Commonwealth; and that DR.. Plumers
mastery argument saved the people from
that calamity, and secured the incorpo-
ration into the fundamental law of that
policy which was early adopted after the
Revolution, and is now destined to be as
enduring, doubt not, as the Common
wealth itself
DR.. Robert J. Breckenridge once said
to me that DIR. Plumer was 1.-THE greatest
stump orator in America" That was in
1893, when there were living number
OF the greatest stump orators this coun-
try has ever produced and it was the
opinion, moreover, of a man who, as a
popular speaker and parliamentary de-
batter, was. among the greatest The re-
suit of DR.. Plumer's debate with two of
the ablest lawyers at the Virginia bar of
that day. its effect on the Legislature
on the people of the State, and on its
subsequent history, prove him TO have
been not only a speaker of SURPRISING
power, but statesman of a high order
When he died, prince and great man
fell in Israel for few ministers of his
generation attained unto higher honor
or greater usefulness. He was nv friend
and my fathers friend and friend he
never forgot The last token of his
friendship with which he honored me
was copy Of his commentary on the He
brews, which he directed to be sent to
me from the General Assembly at Charles
ton; but it reached me after much delav.
and too late to be acknowledged before
ne entered on his rest I cherish it as a
gift from the grave. EFT. BAIRD,