Washington telegraph. [volume] (Washington, Ark.) 1839-1871, 1862-10-08

AMENDMENTs,-Wheneve a written
Constitution provides for its own amend
meut, the provis' on itself is part Of the
compact, and imposes upon every mem
Der OF the compact, the duty of abiding
by all amendments, made in accordance
with the provision.
Since each State Of the Southern Con-
tcderacy has reserved the RICH: Of seces-
sion at pleasure, there seems Il first view
to be an anomaly in providing for amend
ments, to be forcedupon unwilling States,
and binding them with all the force on the
original compact. But there are many
questions which MAJ q, ise 10 our future
history regarding the POWERS aud opera
tiOns of the Confederate Government.
which in the opinion of most Of the States
may require u change of the Constitution
although not Of sufficient importance to
justify disso.u lou Of our government
into It's original elements of State SOvcr-
eighties, for the purpose Of forming a
new constitution for such States = might
chose to adopt it, leaving the Others al Jlt,
Is il were, aud thrown upon their own re-
sources as separate governments. Ia view
Of this eyil, aud uuder "a sense Of the vast
| Importance 10 all 0f the mutual benefits
Of tie Contcdcracy the trainers Of our
constitution have provided for such
changes as experience may dictate; ,,ani
to be made IN such manner US not ~ In.
terfcre with the COnfederacy, or tic iden
tiiy aud continuity of the government.
The right tf secession is still left to the
recusant States, certainly, but the burden
is thrown upon the recusant State Of de-
termining whether it will, by doing 20,
sacrifice all the benefits Of the Coufeder-
alton, and incur the odium which would
necessarily attach to State upon repu-
diation Of its own previous compact, u
acquiesce 10 Amendments W made
The provisions for the amendment Of
the old Constitution were such as to pre-
cludc the first step towards that object il
all cases of oppression by means of Sec
tioual majoritics. 1t was required that
amendments should be proposed by two
thirds of both houses of Congress, or else
BY convention called b. Congress ''uopn
application Of the legislatures Of two.thirds
Of the several States" Had the South
ern States been ever so much inclined,
before secession, to seek an adjustment Of
their rights by au amended Constitution,
and to preserve the Union under stronger
guarantees of their rights, they had no
means of formally presenting such an is
sue to the Northern States. They could
neither propose the amendments, nor hope
to have them proposed BY hostile Con-
gress, nor call convention to propose
them without the cooperation of States
already adverse 20 the very amendments
to be sought. Even could they have
been co-s:itutionally proposed, the ratif-
cation of three-fourths Of the States was re-
quired to give them validity This was
mockery. The northern States, arrogant
10 the consciousness of power, and unwil'
ling that the desired amendments should
be openly discussed before the world, re-
fused even to propose them. The con-
stitutional remedy being cut off from the
South, secession became the primary re-
sort.
We have opened au easier door to the
proposition for amendments, which i:
useful So far at least, as to make it encum
bent upon each State, to decide directly
upon the question of granting the amend
mcnts asked-or to run the risk of forcing
other States into secession.
Under our Constitution, Congress
s'upon demand of any three States, legally
assembled 10 their several conventions,
shall "summon a convention of all the
States to take into consideration sucf
amendments to the Constitution as tn
sal States shall concur IN suggesting a
the time ,ohen the said demand Is made.
We cannot but admire the wisdom whic'
prompted the precautions against sous