Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-01-18
Aiis :,fIlauenns.
Amending thell Constitution, and
- ntbar U1binorss sTSiftv Years A 90.
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Amending theil Constitution, and
Other Things Fifty Years Ago.
To the Editor of the Commercial. as2ss ltf
: 1 have before me the file of a weekly
newspaper, printed over fifty years ago,
ia a town in Eastern Ohio, which con-
tains discussion on the subject. =
The Legislature, at the session ol
1S1s-I9, had passed an act submittingtc
the people the question of calling Con-
vention .ito reUise, amend, or changer
the organic law of the State, and the
vote thereon was to be taken at the Oc-
tober election of1S19. slsaa S ! 2
Charles Hammond had been mem
Ter of the General Assembly which
passed the law. calling for the vote.
He was representative from Belmont
County, from which, a few years later,
he removed to Cincinnati. 1t would
be no disparagement of Cincinnati to
say that at that day she could hardly
showa more rebrilliantarray oftalent,than
that which adorned the bars of the two
little neighboring towns ofSt. Clairs-
Vile and Steubenville, the county
seats respectively of the adjoining coun-
ties of Belmont and Jefferson. ! re-
fer to such names as Benjamin Tappan,
John NJ. GoOdenow, jeremiah Halleck,
John C. Wright, Benjamin Ruggles,
Charles Hammond, and David Jen-
nlngs. aisi3t a.af ~ sssa -
But this is a DEPRESSION. Hammond
had voted in the Legislature for the
law proposing to call Convention,
and now advocated the measure before
the people. The State was then only
sixteen years of age, but it was consid-
cred by some to have already outgroWn
its first suit of clothes. The principal
trouble then, as, in the opinion of
some, now, was with the Judiciary.
Our Judiciary system had been framed
when there were but eighteen counties
in State; and already the Supreme
Court had more to do than it could get
through with. This was the oniypoint
urged as matter of pressing need.
Hammond was not only a lawyer, but
he had already distinguished himself
as the conductor of a leading newspa-
der. He had been the. proprietor OF
the s.Ohio Federalist,o (the first news
paper which the writer Of this ,remem-
beFs ever having seen, published in
st. Clairsville during the late war with
England, anu had assailed, with great
power, the administration of Madison
for the policy, and the conduct of the
war. But that was now over, and the
'tOhio Federalist" had been discontin-
ued, and was succeeded by the ssBel.
mont Journal," which, however, was
still under the influence of the restless
young lawyer, and urged the people to
vote for Convention. AT this time
there was published in the neighbor.
| ing town of Mount Pleasant, Jefferson
County, a weekly paper called the Phil
anthropist," edited by recent ini-
grant from old Virginia by the name
of Elisha Bates-a Quaker, of remarka-
Bile plainness Of dress and address. OF
good education, and of considerable
abilities. [He was cousin of Edward
Bates, the noted statesman of Mis-
,S0uPi slsf ri -.r -i-s-s...l .5ias..z ~, q ~.
Between these two men, Ham,
mond and Bates, lengthy discussion
took place in their respective papers,
on the important questions pending be-
] fore the people, and the astute AaWyer
and politician found no contemptibfe
opponent in the demure Quaker. .
The main point discussed was not
whether particu ar changes OF amend.
nnents were needed in our Constittl-
! tion, but whether a convention, with
unlimited powers, was a wise and safe
measure, but the controversy tirifted
4 more or less into personalities and sar.
casm. Two Governors had, in theii