New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1846-02-23
TIN, CONSTITUTIONAL Convention.

Press have you done US justice In the premises
The Constitutional Convention
THO official notification that the People Of our
State have voted, by a majority oil one Hn@eTeo
and Serenity Nine Thousand or si1 to one, to hold
constitutional Convention for the revision OF their
Fundamental Law. appears in our columns today.
The day fixed for the election Of Delegates to that
Convention is the fourth Tuesday in April next, be-
ing the 2sth day of that month. Are the People
prepared or preparing for that election?
From the frst we have ardenty hoped and
earnestly abored for the assembling Of this Conyen
ton. We have anticipated great good from it,
though not without fears ,ha. the just antcipat!ons
of lis friends would be disappointed through caucus
intrigue and party machinery. The PEOPLE, who
have SO empbatically called this Conventions, meant
thereby TO secure genuine and thorough Reform
They will obtain it If they are allowed fair play
But the men who have profited by the serious
defects and perncious abuses of our present Const
tuition have very different interests and aspirations.
and they are generally able TO compass their ends
What the People pay for dear Justice or still dearer
Injustice these in good part receive. The power of
which the People are stripped by our present ma
chinery of vast Senate Districts, choosing Assembly
men by County general tickets, appointment of
County Officers at Albany, &c, &c these men usually
WELD and apply to their own uses. From the nature
Of the case they be sincerely favorable to sub
siantial Reform without undergoing thoroughtrans,
formation They therefore acted perfectly in char
acter when they resisted and till the last moment
prevented the call OF Convention, portraying the
fearful dangers Of its assembling at time when the
public mind is convused and distracted by new
doctrines and extreme opinions as if it were likely
TO be demanded in any other. When the call could
no longer be directly defeated they tried hard to load
i, with conditions and restrictions which should
render it as nearly nugatory as possible. Bai,ed
here again, they will strive TO smuggle into the
Convention rs many as they can who will endeavor
70 guide and override its labors to Insignificant
and worthless issue. That they will succeed is not
probable but it possible, aud the bare possibility
should arouse the friends of Reform to the most deter
mined vigilance and activity hencefor,h TO the day
Of Election. For this Convention has not been
called merely 10 make some change in the distribu
ton of Political Patronage but 10 destroy Patronage
SO far as possible-not merely 10 provide that the
People shall revise the acts of the Legislature on
certain questions of Debt and Finance, but to make
such change in the manner of choosing Legislators
that each Legislative measure shall be truly and by
no legal fiction enacted by The People of the State
of New-York'-not merely that obtaining Justice
through Law may again be practicable, but that 10
use the Law &c shield for Injustice may be rem
dered morally impossible.
CaEAP JusrIcE-in which is implied and includ-
cd Speedy Jus,ice-this il the first and paramount
object of the Convention. Justice for the homes,
creditor against the swindler or proAisate who by
~ ! ~.
Creditors property-Justice which the Poor shall
not find too dear nor TOO distant for their scanty
means-Justice which the roguish may not elude
nor the crafty hold at bay while they riot on their
illgoiten weaith-Justice which shall not require
the services Of thirty forty ministers to determine
whether A. shall OF shall no, pay his own note OF
hand given to B. snd 10 which he has no colorado
defence whatever-J ustice which shall no, sell
farm worth $1,000 unconiested mortgage for
$500 and bring the luckless owner in deb, on the
cos;s-Justice which shall give more EQUITY with
fewer Judges, and speeder Law without tax ing the
valuable time CT 20 many Lawyers-for this the
People arc every where looking; and, hard as may
be the task OF securing it, ind formidable the
interests esgusd against its establishment. they mus,
not be disappointed.
But Justice presents other demands than those
which are TO be satisfied solely through Judicial
and Legal Reform. She asks that the humblest and
most oppressed class of citizens shall participate
equally with other classes in framing the laws by
which and choosing the magistrates by whom we
are all TO be governed. I, insists that he who is
taxed as a man, held accountable for his debts and
his crimes man, and is ready 10 discharge all the
responsibilities Of manhood shall be allowed to vote
man There ha NJ, dapia1 If this don,
which does no, give the lie TO the fundamental as
sumption OF our Declaration Of independence and
brand the authors of that document as rebels and
traitors. The requisition of Freehold Qual6ca.
ton for Suffrage of tina, class to whom our preju-
dices and our laws deny nearly every opportunity
TO earn property. is injustice too monstrous TO be
paiated. 1t canno, sbide the light of free discus.
sion. Away with i, for everl
MOI less important TO the thorough establishments
Oh Justice In our midst is the emancipation Of the
e'P'e fsom the control of the County Iuntos ofbusy
'''e's VINO now too generally determine who shat,
anu !" 10 seail not DO our Legislators There is no
S000 ts"'o" "hateves--not even that of conven.
.enos-'of making the City of Albany dependent
nor her own especial Assemblyrna, a, rho vol. of
the rural portion of the County-so With IT,. "a
Rensselaer, Co-Rochester and Nonro.-s,,.Ia,,
and Erie &c. &c. Very often ditsercn, portions Of
the Senate District, and even of the COUNTY boys
diverse interests. real or fancied) which p,evsn,
even members of the same party acting in hsrpon1.
The very genius of Representation requires ,ha, the
districts be small practicable and the selection
Of the member thus brought as directly as may be
home to the constituency. In this City of ifty-odd
thousand voters, no, live hundred persons have
really potential voice in selecting the the thirteen
Members who very often control the Assembly
Who can doubt that the People would be more truly
represented under Uniform District System
Space fails as to speak farther of specific reforms
Seventy years will have rolled away while