Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-11-19
II Picture OF tho Constitutional
COnreuisOn.

COnrenisOn.
IT is much to the honor Of the Con.
stitutional Convention that il stood
out so firmly against Woman's Rights
aud other isms, and confined its work
to correcting errors developed under
existing forms of government. That
its.work is effective and wonderfully
complete all fair-minded men will con.
cede. How il became 80 some are at
loss TO discover. Those who ntten.
ded the sittings Of tho Convention
were not impressed with the idea that
IL was q deliberativc body. 1t was
always in earnest, but not always de-
iiberate. IL possessed characteristics
peculiar to itself; for instance, it was
no respecter of persons. IL seemed
to have no thought about the source
Of proposition, preterring to look
after its merits in its purpose and
terms. When the most learned man
in the body, an ex-Chief Justice sab.
mitted propositions about our judi
cial system, of grave significance,
forthwith a score or more of lawyers
were on their feet attempting to find
defects in its purposes and structure,
if not in its language. When another
ex-Chief Justice submitted his plan
OF purifying the Legislature by iron.
clad oaths aud the Introduction of all
intercourse between representative
and his constituents, there was gen.
eral pitcl,-in from all sides, resulting
in the prompt rejection of the propo-
sition OF the greatest Constitutional
lawyer in Amorioa. when -. av
Senator Of unequalled ability and ex.
perence proposed well-considcred
Apportionment bill, every feature of il
fell before the plan ofan unpretending
deacon, and then the deacon's plan
was thrown overheard also. When an
ex-Govcrnor submitted form of par.
doning power, the result of his expe.
ricnce, it was promptly assailed by
young lawyers and old farmers, and
down il went. No more fortunate
were tho able advocates of Woman's
Rights, for they usually fail at the
hands of married men of large cxpe.
rience.
Differing from most dcliberaiive
bodies in this country, IL had no lead,
er, Republican or Democratic. There
were members whose position gave
them an active part in the proceedings
of the body but no man followed
another. A good proposition was as
safe in the hands of the humblest
member as in those of the ablest.- -
Nothing short of an examination ol
every feature would satisfy the Con.
vention. The whole hundred law
yers seemed like Committee of Wig.
lance on new propositions. There
were semc--calm about everything
clse-who became frenzied at the
mention Of the words cumulative vot
ing Rarely, if ever, could il be dis,
covered that tho members bad been
elected by different political parties
The only perccptble thing in that way
was that there was certain number
of Republicans who seemed inclined
10 vote with the leading Democrats,
and about an equal number of Demo
Gratis inclined TO vote the other way
and the violations Of courtesy passed
between members of the same party.
1t was Convention hard on hob.
bies. Whatever q member especially
desired he was almost certain never
10 get--instance cumulative voting
and woman's rights.
The Convention was not only un.
manageable as TO what it world do,
but equally so as to how il would do
IL. IL bad adopted rulse which ;,o
presiding officer did his best TO carry
out, but bis.trouble was that some OF
these carried him outside th limits of
all known principles of Parliamentary
law, and then he would founder. And
in this connection il was notable that
those members who knew most about
Parliamentary law were most uni.
formly pronounced out of order, and
those who were 80 frequently on their
feet about points of order were those
who knew least about the rules.
AT times the action of the body be-.
came almost cratic, being fatty ncon.
sistcnt with itself, but after all, and
wonderful to relate, when the time
came to settle down finally on any con.
troverted point, the decision was al.
most invariably the best that could be
made, and hence the perfect charau-
ter of its finished work.-Age.