Extra session of the Legislature.
At a recent meeting held by citizens of
Halifax county an extra session of the Virginia Legislature was recommended, and the
Governor requested to convene one "with the least possible delay."
Dr. E. A. Coleman presided, and
Dr. J. W. Craddock acted as
Secretary. --The resolution was moved by
Mr. James C. Bruce, and adopted unanimously.
The chief argument for the calling together the Legislature was that the menaced condition of the
State demanded measures for the public defence (especially from raids) which it was thought the Legislature should adopt.
The miserable Constitution of '50 saddled
Virginia with biennial sessions of her Legislature.
It was a lame and impotent conclusion for a body of men engaged in so important a matter as amending the
Constitution of the
State to arrive at. The
State of Virginia, with her extensive area, large and multiform resources, and constantly accruing subjects of legislative inquiry and action, requires an annual session of her General Assembly.
In her condition of peace and security she can not without injury to her interests dispense with it. She had better have a permanent session the year round than a session once in two years. If ordinarily, however, an annual session is demanded by the wants and interests of the
State, it is certainly more imperatively called for now, when
Virginia is threatened by hostile armies and roving banditti, let loose upon her from her Northern border to rob her people and desolate her land.
Of course the usual business of legislation is superseded in a great degree by the state of war. The public defence and the safety of the
State now demand chiefly our deliberation and our means.
But this deserves the attention of the whole Government, and the measures proper in the exigency cannot receive the highest degree of efficiency without the co-operation of all the departments.
