Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-12-04

He II is Doeu asked WnaC ne las UOn
% alleviate the public distress, ant
; after answering as well as he could
and been reproached with having don
so little for the public good, has b.
not always sought to xcuse himsel
! b7 Il nonnc;ng the Constitution as al
! III -armouutable barrier between pat
/ rlotic desire and saiutary legislation
Ii the excuse is valid; ii the COnsti
tuition is indeed an insurmountabl'
obstacle to wise, just, and benefic len
| legislation, what possible excuse car
this GeneralAssembly, y, with two-t third:
majority in each branch, give to tht
people for not calling a Convention
and redressing the grievances which
they have hitherto SO loudly and elo
qnently proclaimed The old excuse
Will serve them no longer. This Gen
eral AS emily must call Convention
now, or else the party which it repre-
| sents Will stand, self-convicted, before
the world as vile and venal slanderers
as loud mouthed and noisy dema
gcgues, who achieved power under
false and fraudulent pretenccs; and
'7hO when trusted with power by the
people were either incapable or IN
wiling 10 use it for the public good.
Let US imagine, for moment, tnat
the present General Assembly shall
adjourn without making provision for
the assembling Of a Conventions; that
the representative Is again before lis
constituents for re-electioD; and
that the constituent body again
demauds Of him to be informed, what
has been done to ameliorate the pub
Il: suffering Let us imagine further
that tie answer returned is unSatIsfac-
tory, and tEat the excuse is again prof
fered that the Constitution is the i'm
pediment which prevented the General
Assembly from doin;, all that an en-
Hghteued and magnanimous constitu-
ency he'd "a right to expect of it. Can
it be doubted that such q constituency
would require to be informed, why it
was that the G Neral Assembly, having
the requisite constitutional ma jority in
both Of its branches, TO enable it to call
a Convention to alter and amend so
obnoxious an instrument, failed or
refused 10 do so ? And what answer
shall bc given to this very reasonable
demand Tor Information d? Why, for
so0thi that TIE General Assembly was
Gjr0id to ca J a Convention. AFRAID
Why,in the name of common sense, Of
what was it afraid And the answer
is-afraid of the people; afraid if
CONVENTION were called the political
power. SO recently ard unexpecte dly
acquired, would be forever lost. Sucn
an answer as this is the last straw
which breaks the camels back. The
people, ike the strong man of the
Scriptures, rising in the majesty Of
their unshOrn might, will at once and
forever hurl from place and power the
tlmld, slothful, unfaithful and un-
profitable servants which accident and
an evil fate have in moment of unex-
anpled national Importance, elevated
to station infinitely beyond their
merit. Afraid of the people, were you!
Then tie people are afraid 10 cntrust
y III again with their intert sts. Stand
Il asiae-make way for other aud better
men. The Ship of State is never
again to be entrusted to the COM
mand OF those who blcucied from
the helm when the storm ragged fiercest.
You tod us not once, but again and
again, that this Constitution was the
only obstacle TO wise and beneicent
K fgls!at:un- ICu promised US not
once, bUt again and again, that you
would scizo the first occasion to re-
move this obstacle from your path.
Iou have deceived Us with false
c,am"f; you have doluded US with
false promises; you have, by your tim
ili;fy and folly, thrown away a golden
an opportunity such as
seldom occurs 20 the children Of men;
IN opportunity snch as may not occur
for a century. Again we say TO you,
stand aside. Make way, and forever,
for ,'iior and better men.
l5ut again it IS said, the people do
BOT walt a Convention; and this, 1t is
arguou, IS evidenced by the fact that
t;-e people III the Spring Of 1872 voted
down q proposition for call Of the
Convention.
il is tire that the people did, il the
Spring Of 1872, vote down PROPOSE
ton for cal cf IL Convention. But
why?
First, because tlepeople were afraid
to entrust any body Of men in The
then PROSTATE condition Of the coun-
try and excited state Of the public
mind, with the power of repeating the
homestead and personal property ex-
provisions of the Constitu-
ton.
Second, because son1e gcol men,
and Il few really learned and able law
ycrs thought that the mode then pro-
posed for calling a Convention was
Unconstitutional
Third, because the then Governor
threatened If such Convention should
assemble he would order it to dis
perse, Geeming it nothing more than a
mob, and if it refused to obey his OF
ders he would cali rpon the President
, { thc United States for military aid
in enforcing them.
Now every one knows that il Con
vent:on is called, SO far from repeating
TIE homestead and personal property
exemption clauses OF the Constitution,
the Convention will enlarge the home
stead provision from life estate to
an estate IN ice simple.
ard so, too, every one admits that if
n Convention is called by the concur
rent vote of two thirds of each house
of the General Assembly, it will be
perfectly Constitutional body. A
body, the rightfulness of which, not
even the most bitter and unreasoning
opponent Of q Convention can ques-
ton.
And lastly, when the Convention
shall have framed a Constitution,
il will, before it becomes the
lv i 20 Iand, be submitted
to tho people Ioc ,A>4r ratiica-
ton or rejection. And if, in their
Judgment, the new instrument be, upon
the whole, preferable to the old, or
present, Constitution, they will ratlfy
and confirm the action of the Conven-
ton and adopt it; otherwise they will
reject 1t. and the present Constitution
Will remain the curse of the land.
These are my reasons for the affirma-
tive answers given each of the ques-
tions propounded to me in your letter
Of the 2nd inst.
lam, V: i high regard,
ur ob'd't se'vt,
L. G. EDWARDS.