Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-01-20

every friend of the road give them help
, ing hand and the work can be accomplished
and it's ownership and control secured to our
own people.
Conventfon-sOvereIg Power of the
People.
We have heretofore published the Con
vention Bill and have urged upon our cit
izere. irrespective of party, to support it
as the only means to secure speedy reform
and q sure escape from the evils that at
fict us.
The terms OF the Bill are so guarded as
| to afford an absolute guarantee that exist
| ING rights shall not be affected and since
Il necessary correction Of abuses alone is
contemplated, the Bill should command
the support of every patriot III the Legls-
lature get, because Of party ties, it may
| fail to receive u tWo-thirds vote. Now,
while we would gladly sec the vote in its
favor as large as possible, We have de-
cidod opinion that it is immaterial whoth
er it passes by two-thirds vote or bare
majority. In either case the Bill will be
come law entitled to the respect and
will decide who shall vote, and how and
when the vote shall be taken upon the
question submitted to the people. In
either case it will be an appeal by the ex-
listing government 10 the will OF the peo-
p!e-the sovereign power i'll the State.
Should the people call the Convention, it
would assemble in pursuance OF law, and
there will be strict compliance with Act
l, Sec. . of the existing Constitution.
There are two recognized modes by
which Conventions may be called. One of
them is under Act Is of the present Con-
stitution, by which the General Assembly
is authorized to call Convention by two
thirds vote the other is for the existing
governn ent to evoke the sovereign power
to call the Convention.
Both modes have been used in North
Carolina and in other States, sometimes
one mode and sometimes the other has
been adopted. according as circumstances
justified.
The first is under the provisions of the
Constitu ton by which power is delegated
to the General Assembly for the purpose
The other is due to what is known as the
American Doctrine" that the will of the
majority Of the people of the State, law
fully and actually ascertained, is the Su-
promo Law.
The Constitutions of the different States
recognize this doctrine in that of n orth
Carolina il is embodied in article /, sec
ton 3, in the following terms
"That the people of this State have the inner
ent. sole Rnd exclusive right Of regulating the
internal government and police thereof, and Of
altering and abolishing their Constitution and
form OF government whenever it may be neces-
sary to their safety and happiness but every
such right should be exercised in pursuance of
law and consistently with the Constitution Of the
United States
In Luther rs. Borden, 7th Howard, the
Chief Justice of the United States, in de-
livering the opinion of the Court, says
"a No one, we believe, has ever doubted
the proposition that according to the in
situations of this country, the sovereignty
in every State resides in the people of the
State, and that they may alter and change
their form of government at their own
pleasure" In this case it was argued that
g the great body of the people may change
their form of government At any time, and
in any peaceful way, and by any mode of
operation that they for themselves deter
mine to be expedient" But Mr.. WEBSTER,
who is authority in such matters, held that
the change must be effected with the sane
ton Of the existing government, and re.
piled, " that when it is necessary to ascer-
tain the will of the people, the Legislature
must provide the means of ascertaining it.
The opposite counsel have cited the exam
pies of the different States in which Con-
situations have been altered. Only two
provided for Conventions, and yet Con-
ventions have been held in many of them.
But how ? Always these Conventions were
called together by the Legislature, and no
single Constitution has ever been altered
| by means of a Convention gotten up by
mass meetings. There must be al authentic
mode of asccrtainiDg the public will some
how and somewhere. ] say that the will Of
the people must prevail, but there must be
some mode of finding out that will"
This mode of calling Convention by
ascertainirg the will of the people appears
to have been rcsorted to in Tennessee, Mi
chigan, Arkansas, New York, Pennsylva-
MIA and North Carolina. In Rhode Island
in 1911, mass meetings were held, and
portion of the people voted for delegates
to q Convention, which met and framed a
Constitution. But this was under no law;
there were no adequate and lawful means
to ascertain the will of the people. The
Legislature declined to recognize the new
Constitution, but yielding to the popular
uprising, it called q Convention which
framed the existing Constitution of that
State.
In Pennsylvania, as in North Carolina.
there was formerly no power in the Legis-
lature to call Convention E; the Legisla-