North Carolina standard., 1851-02-12
EoUAL SUFFRAGE.


friend, writing to US from Windsor, desires
know distinctly the forms to be observed in amend
,ho Constitution and the manne. in which tn
Eoual Suffrage Act is to become part OF that In
o,rument. On the subject of amendments to tn
constitution we quote the language of that instrq
ment, as fellows:
.No mart of the Constitution of this State shat
be altered unless Bill to alter the same shall hav
Soen read three times in each House of the Genera
Assembly and agreed to by three-ffths of the who'll
nnmber Of members of each House respectively; no
sba anv alteration take place until the Dill so agreed
20 cha II have been published SIX months previous Il
new election of members 10 tne uenerai Assembly
If after such publication, the alteration proposed BY
the nreceding General Assembly, shall be agreed t.
in the first session thereafter. by two-thlrds OF the
whole representation in each House OF the Genera
Assembly, after the same shall have been read thret
,imes on three several days, in each House, then the
I'D General Assembly shall prescribe mode By
which the Amendment or Amendments may be sub
;,,od tn the qualified voters of the House of Com
mons throughout the State and If, upon comparing
the votes given in the whole State, 1t shall appear
that a majority of the voters have approved thereof
then and not otherwise, the same shall become part
of the Constitution.
twill be perceived from the above, that the Equal
Suffrage Act, having passed both Houses by three
6hhs vote, must be sanctioned by two-thirds OF the
next Assembly and then, if so sanctioned, the amend
ment proposed must be approved by majority of the
voters at the polls, before it becomes portion of the
Constitution. We see here, in striking light, the
great deIibeIaon which is required in changing or
amending our fundamental law, and the salutary
guards thrown around that law by the wise men Of
the Convention of 1885. Three-ffths may set an
amendment in motion, but it requires larger number
even than this to give the amendment the final sane
7 nd afta all
the people should see proper to reject the amendment
at the polIs it falls to the ground. There can be no
doubt, from all that gather from the Debates
of the Convention Of 1885, that this mode of amend
ing the Constitution considered by that boGy the
preferable A Convention was provided for by
two-thirds vote but no such body was contempla-
ted until such time as it might become advisable or
to remodel, by generol cosen the pre-
sent Constitution, out and out. This is the drift of
all the remarks this subject, which fell from such
men CASTOR, Fisher, Speight, Meares, and Swain,
in the Convention of 1885 ; and while Mr.. CASTOR,
speaking of the basis of representation alluded in
the severest erms TO "Plans of 'aggrandizement" "
which - the widest demagogues " might "excite
he people of the West'' to favor, Mr.. Fisher-a
TTestern man-distincty declared-tha '' he oP-
posed to an easy mode of obtaining a Convention,
md decidedly preferred the plan Of amending the Con-
itut;on through the LegisLature.''
But now we are told, by the Convention organs in
his City and elsewhere, that the only true Republi
AN plan of amending the Constitution Is by Con-
7ention; and that it is madness to suppose that
he Legislature, cooperating with the people, can
liter that instrument as it ought to be done If this
true, the above provision of the Constitution, pro-
iding for alterations by Legislative enactment, is
nti-Repubfcan and such men CASTOR, Branch,
wain and Fisher, were " mad" men. Will the
Register dare assert, in many words. such nom
ense that! And will that paper persevere. by
nplication, in thus insulting the living and .defam
lg the dead
We may reply, in our next, to the article in that
aper of Saturday last on the Equal Suffrage Act.
limsy that article is, from first to last, it may
evertheless be as well to notice it. That paper
ill find, before this discussion terminates, that not
foot of ground will be left it to stand upon. With
lie aid of the opinions of the great of the Con-
enton of 1885, and with truth as our weapon, we
lpect to put that paper the wall and pin it there
ut not nov. We propose, at this time, merely to
ate few facts and to explain. The next election
r the Assembly will turn, in great degree, on this
nestion and the next campaign will be the time for
full discussion of the whole subject. If our life
lOuld be spared, we shall enter that campaign at the
rst tap Of the drum, and shall seek the hottest and
e hardest currents of the battle, feeling and fore
eing that-happen what may-Equal Suffrage will
'me forth with the light of second victory playing
its banner.