The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1851-03-26


I The friend was mol the lucky iiekel
holder. hut his e-riosiiy heing awakened
he called on Henry. and learned The slary
which sou hsve read. dear reader. Con
sider whether il is mai practical lesson.
/ SPEECH OF
ECN. EIMNITI RAYNER,
4 Tor HEREFORD.
! On the proposition 10 change the coasfifufis,l
/ by Legisiafire eriarimsnf so as 10 e1iend "a
tofsrs fur nembers of the House Of Common,
The right 10 rofe for members Of he Seaafs.
ia fhe House Of Commons, December i9n.
and 20ih, 1850.
The majority sf the Committee 10 whom the
subject had ben referred. having reported bill
10 change the constitution By Legislative enact
ment, so rs 10 extend 10 sll voters foi inemhers
Of the House OF Commons, the right 10 vote for
members Of the Senate, and Mr.. Rayne. having
offered, as substitute. bill 10 provide for firsl
taking the sense Of the people Of The State on
the proposed change Of the constitution, aud for
calling convention limited TO that one object
and no olher.in case a majority Of the people Of
the State SHOULD vote in favor Of it--ihe QUESTION
coming up on substituting Mr.. Rayner's bill for
the bill of the committee, Mr. X. spoke as fol-
lows:l
Mr.. RAYNER said he heartily concur
red with what had been declared by
other gentlemen who had addressed the
House. in regard to the solcmnity and
Importance Of the work on which the
House was engaged. We are (said
Mr.. r. employed in no ordinary work
Of legislation. The usual work Of le-
gislstiyc duty here can be as easily un-
done as done. The people have but to
pass on our acts, and If they do not APP
prove, our successors can, at the end
Of two short years, reverse our action.
But in the serious business of changing
one Of the provisions Of our fundament-
al law under which our fathers lived,
and under which we have lived SO Sc
curely and happily, the case is entire
ly different. Our present action is in
tended for long distant future-it is
to affect the very frame work Of our So
cial organization--it is to operate for
good or evil, upon our posterity after
we shall all have left this busy theatre,
and our very names be forgotten. Sc
rious and imposing then, aud fraught
with the most momentous consequent
ces, is the work in which we are now
engaged; and heavy indeed is the re-
sponsibility which rests upon US all.
am decidedly opposed to amending
the constitution by legislative enact
ment. admit the amended constitu-
tion Of 1885 provides for further amend
ments by the Legislature but | think
that proper Interpretation of that pro-
vision, and one most in accordance
with the theory of our institutions,
should confine such amendments to the
exceptions just alluded to. Those ex-
ceptions are such as involve mere con-
yenience, when there is a general con-
currence of opinion in regard to the
necessity Of some slight change. IN the
mere machinery of the government
and when there is no great vital prin-
ciple of the organic law involved. For
instance, if it should be found by ex-
perience, that in order to avoid the in
conyeniences of tie in the Senate,
and for the prompt organization of that
body, the office of Lieutenant Cover
nor should be established in this State,
then it would not only be more conye-
nient, but eminently proper that the
change should be effected by legisla-
tive enactment. So, in regard to al
lowing any one member to have the
ayes and noes recorded in the Journal
If this should be found to work an
Inconvenience and a useless waste of
time, and it should, by something like
a general concurrence be considered
best to limit this to the call of one-fifth,
as in most other legislative bodies, the
change could and ought to be made BY
legislative provision. In both Of the
cases put. no great principle of popu-
lar rights or of free government would
be invaded-there would be nothing in
volyed in the change conflicting with
the settled habits Of the people, nothing
yiolative of the great principles which
constitute the basis of the political fab
ric. No so, however, in regard to those
cardinal elements Of our civil polity,
which ever have been part and parcel
of our social system--not so, in regard
to questions which affect the rights Of
the citizen, which strike at the source
and fountain Of power. This view OF
the subject seems to be in accordance
with the history of the convention Of
1885. An examination of the debates
Of that body will show that the distin,
guished men who composed it looked
upon the compromises therein agreed
upon, as final settlement Of the dis