Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-08-15
A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
FHE RIGHT no HOLD RRez
PRIETY AND MEL ESSITY


FHE RIGHT no H0AD xT-EEsR Re
PRIETY AND NECESSITY.
To the Editors Of the Union and American:
The calm which ordinarily sue
leeds a State election, such as that
which has just taken place, can
hardly be c1pSstsd at a time like
The present, when all men recog-
Mise that the Legislative, now elect
ed and soon to assemble, has before
it a duty which is not impol tant
merely, but momentous. With al
most a painful consciousness, on all
hands the necessity is admitted OF
calling the State Into convention.
Such a step, when occasion arises,
pre- sents the most Striking phenom
enon that cav oc9u~ in our system
of government; and to statesmen
ss wol Thy of obs s,yation, as to men
of science Was the recent phenom-
enon occurring in the solcr system.
Indeed to that total eclipse Of the
sun the ingenious mind, with bat
little straiuiug Of the imagination,
may discover many fanciful points
Of resemblance in the phase soon to
be presented by our State sover-
eighty during the period in which
the forms of government are TO be
obscured by the body then as
sembled = which body will pass
away only to leave Us once more
v thin the sunlight of constitu-
tional liberty. For many days pre-
vious to the recent eclipse we saw
the obse1 yations of men of science
on the like former occasions re.
viewed and brought forward in the
public plints with reference to its
expected recul renee. In the same
spirit, with reference to the coming
great event IN our political history,
it is now proposed to recur to some
of the principles on which is based
the right of the people to assemble
| the power of the State into con-
yention. 1t is believed that some
| of those admitted PRINCIPLES, which
| lie at the base of al governments,
and on which indeed are founded the
elementa~y rules of law, may now
with propriety DO discus sed in the
ordinary and unpretending form Of
newspaper communications.
| 1t he's been well said that every
| government is either despetism
or is f. 9; for where there is any
the slightest, restriction on tho
power of the sovereign, no ceases
to reign in his own right. Ia the
one case the monarch is the master
of his pcopIe; in tho other ne II
their sci Sant. 1t follows as a con
sequence that in 81 constitutions
governments the people are free
| in the sense of being the acknowl
edged source of power, aud the form
of their government IS but tn
machinery of their will. This, how
ever, would not be the case, di'
tho people not have the right, II
the exerci, . of their sovereignty
to alter, abolish or reform the gov
eminent at plee sure. What IS t
prevent them? If tho government
can hinder the viii of the people /
that regard, then the governmer
has ceased to be their servant an
, has become their master. The uil
mate sovereign power must renal
somewhere, and Of course if 1T is
the government the pr Ople are nc
| free, however bcnefcent may /
their government in is practlc'
operation. There is not then
. constitutional governments, whetht
| monarchical or republican in forn
| anv gu, stion as to the inhereI
sovereig nty of the people, but on
! as to the mode of giving expressio
10 their sovereign WI. And
, looking for pre- ccdeuts upon TIL
point, &c. a''y We are compell'
, to recur to the constitutional hist
g ry of England, since our coDs'It
, ton is the English constitution n i
t only such changes as arc incident
n to the adaptation oft TO the mach
8 ely Of a republic; thatis TO say, tt
r merely incjd,ntll chsnge OF
n running gear. Ia every principle
g a reiteration of the same princiE
A iu the British constitution witho
J., the variation of a letter; or rath
I that would be literally ae we
At the constitution of England reduc
d | to writing inst cad Of beng, as it
p. the essence of the great 'e.r n
d scripta, as the common law ID APT
m termed. That this fundamental Ia
h or body of essen al principles, col
a be expressed at large in the spa
l. of our w.i.ven constitution,
D. greater pant of which is devoted
10 the nero adaptation OF it, no o.
70 and col ,aiuly no lawyer, preten
if But attIe Same tine certain OF
cardinal principles, or the W
as principle of ia vitality
of we may say, known as
I'd Bill of Rights,is fifty promised TO
n instrument as q solemn admonitl
to of the spirit in which it is to
r. read. The Bill of Rights IS borrow
Id from the instrument known in Fl
" lish history as Magma Chal'a, Z
Mt great charter or bill of writing,)
nd the liberties of Englishmen. 1t
" nowhere pretended that the con
lis tuition of England had its origin