New-York tribune., 1867-02-08
cOySTiTrTONAL CONTENTION.

The People of our State, by n majority OF
more than Ninety Thousand, voted last Fan
that their Constitution needed amendment and
that Convention should be held to revise 1t.
The Governor in his Message, called the
Legislatures special attention to the subject
and urged prompt action thereon Nearly half
the session has passed and the bills pro-
yiding for n Convention are barely reported
At this rate, one of them may-and may not
have passed Of seasonably sent to the Grind
ing Committee) by the tiae the session closcs
The present Constitution of our State (Ars
xiii. S2) expressly prescribes that
at thcgeneral election TO be held IN The year & I @ ana
a. the Legislature may by law proYlde teo question:
Shall there I've Convention 70 IeSTe inc re- on
qualified 10 vote for members OF the hfg1slhtuTe anu ~
case majority Of the electors so qlslled, po,lhg =,
such purpose ts Legislature. at ~ next sesssn siaH
provide by Law foe the election Of delegates to such Con
yention."
We presume no member dreamed, while
voting this sectsu into the Constitution, that
he was actually lettering the right to hCdd
Convention; yet Senators have actually onn-
tended that "a majority of the electors so quail
"ified, voting at such election" means, not
majority of those voting on thts question, but
majority of those voiing at all, no matter for
what! In other words they try to count al
those who did not see fit to vote on this sub
iect ~ practically voting not to hold COnven-
toni Now, had this section been non
existent, no one would have held or imagined
that majority of those who voted For or
Against a Convention, under the act of our last
Legislature was insufficient to make call;
but, because of the above express warrant of
a call III 1885, it is held that the large majority
actualiy east for q Convention is insufficient
To authorize it! Common sense revOlts at this
sophistry.
Cow Fenton, in his Message, suggested the
authorization of general vote for sixteen
delegates to the Convention; the sixteen who
receive the highest vote respectively, and the
nert sixteen also, to. be all elected. The objects
aimed at by this suggestion are the certain
choice Of the sixteen foremost men i'll either OF
the gyeat parties % members. We presume
this result would have been but partially
attained; yet the proposition strikes us favor
ably, and we hope il may receive more consd-
eraticn from the tso Houses than it seems to
have done from their respective judiciary
Committees.
We deeply regret that it has not seemed
practicable to holl all our Township Elections,
as well as those of the Cities and Villages
which elect Charter Officers during the Spring,
on one specified early day, and choose dele
gatas to the Convention also on that day; 80
as to save to most of our people the cost OF a
special election. We believe this might wisely
baye been done, securing far larger vote for
delegates and saving at least Half Million
Dollars to the people. So much time has been
wasted that We fear this has become imprach-
cable.
The Senate's Committee propose choice OF
delegates by Senate districts; the Assembly's
Committee prefer Assembly districts. Might it
not be well TO combine these suggestions, 50 az
to allow each Senate district TO choose one del
eeate and each Assembly district one, thus
making the whole number 1907 1t seems to us
that this would be none too many.
The Senate's Committee proposes to disre-
gard the existing Constitutional restriction on
the Right of Suffrage, whereby Blacks are re-
quired to own $3.50 worth of real estate, and let
them all vote for delegates the same as Whites.
We believe there is ample precedent for this
and yet we cannot deem it advisable. 1t
would enable the Copperheads TO raise the
mad-dog cry of Niger Nigger!" and so gal
vanize their corpse of party into hdeous
semblance of vitality. Believing that the
| Convention will pretty surely sweep away the