The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1864-09-22
A National Convention How is it
-L--. to be Callad2


1utu to be Called2 u.
i BY article V. Of the constitu
! tion OF the United States il ia pro
vided that "The Congress-"
ron application Of the legislature
OF two.thirds OF tho several States
shall call a convention for propos
ing amendments, which" -.
"shall be valid to all intcnts anc
purposes as part of this constitu
ton when ratified by the lcgisla
lures of threc.fourths of the sev
eral States, or by conventions il
three iourths thereof, as the one O
the other mode of ratification ma,
be proposed by the Congress. -
Congress cannot, it will be seen
OF its own motion, call n conven
{ on, which it can do only whei
moved thereto by two thirds of AL
the state legislatures, that is, ot
J all the States, rebel as we'll as
loyal. For of course the action oI
a national convention, composed
ct representatives OF tho loyal
States, would DO rejected by the
others. The friends OF peace par.
ticnlarly will demand that the
application to Congress should be
united in by tho legislatures of all
tho rebel States. But such an
application, would it not be an
acknowledgment by these States
that they were part OF our icdcr
al Union, and owed iealty to our
constitution Is it to be believed
that the rebel States are willing to
do thisI And ifs), what need of
u conventioni They are already.
in the Union by their own consent,
which is all that we requir-.
Tno case is however, still more
difficult. The second clause oi
article vi. of the constitution do.
clare that the "members of the
several State legislatures shall be
bound by cath or affirmation to
support this constitution" I. e., oil
the United States. A body of
men pretending to be a state legis.
lature, whose inc,ubers were not
bound 10y this oath, could not be
recognized by Congress as a state
Legislature, and would not be such
in the meaning of the constitution.
From body not bound 10y such
an oath no application could he
received by Congress in reference
to the call OF a convention. 1t
would he an unconditional move.
ment, and a mere nullity. 1t fol.
lowe that, before the Legislature of
any rebel State could make II valid
to Congress for the
call of convention, each member
of such Legislature must be bound
by oath or affirmation to support
the constitution OF the United
States. Tho legislature Of the
rebel States have taken no oath
to support our constitution, there.
fore no such application can be
made by any Of them.
II the peacemongers think that
the legislatures NOW existing in the
rebel Stntes will take the required
oath, or that the people will elect
other legislatures who will take it,
this is only assuming that the
people of the rebel States have,
with singular unanimity, reversed
their opinions, and are ready to
submit unconditionally to the
government OF the United States;
for what else would the oath to
support the United States govern.
menti And if this be the frame
OF mind they are in they will soon
render an armistice with them not
only useless but imp ,ssible; for,
prompted by srch feelings, they
will disband their armies and 90
home, aud there will be no rebell-
ion more.
This Chicago plan for procuring
peace, then, is only practicable on
the assumption of a condition Of
either on the part of the
southern leaders or ofthc southern
masses, which defeats the very
necessity fthe plan. 1t is a scheme
which can only be executed under
circumstances that render the exc,
cution Of it supererogatory. II the
southern legislatures, or the south.
ern people, are ready to take an
oath to support the constitution Of
United States, their hostile organi-
zation as a Confederacy is at an
end. They have no longer occa-
sion for it; the old Union sutfices
them; and as members of that
Union they may settle their dis
putes with us on the old battle.
ground OF Congress. Certein ques.
tions, perhaps, which Congress
cannot settle, may hereafter need
to be referred to national con-
vention; but the question Of ter
the war cannot be one OF
these; because the rebellion must
ceass before a. convention can be
held ~. Y. Evening Post.
TMrs. Partington had just
returned from a shopping Tip
As she ssated herself on a low
stool dust her gaiters- some
what disoriored by her morning