The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-01-30

pain,ment Of Commissioner Of Agricultnrs
protection Of the farmers Of this 6tate against Se
sale Of worthless Fertilizers, &C.. ysur Coumksk
are of the opinion that the establishmens Of 10
experimental garden by the State Of FlosidT sSt
this time Is inexpedient i.Es
Senate bin entitled an oct for the adopsiou III
. child by Henry r. BENJAMIN, and the maklsk
Of said child his beif-at-aw; Senate bill sutEl&
an act to correct an error In the name Of J0ha ~
Lawless. on record in the Office OF the Clark yEt
the Circnit Court, of Escambia county, Finrff4e
Senate bill TO be entitled an act to punish aiattf
and defamation Of character In certain css6g;
and Senate bill entitled an act declaring Crysttl
river, in the county Of fernando, navigxDtfi
were signed by Hon. Charles Dougherty, SpeAkfa,
and DIR. VIM Forsyth Bynum, Chief Clerk OF d.
Assembly. II :sl
Senate bill No. 10: To be entitled an aci ~,
provide for the holding Of an election 10 dttxsrr
mine whether or not Convention Of the peiple
of the State OF Florida shah be held, for tisa
election Of delegates thereto, to Ok the time sst
place OF holding such Convention, and to niak4
an appropriation TO deffay the expenses thesel,S
and the substitute reported by the Committee oil
Constitutional Convention, and cognate subicctsi
being the special order for this hour, was iaksa
up and read the second time, and the mofsol ri
MIR. Dougherty to indefinitely postpone the bfli,
pending the consideration Of which the Assehn1
bly, adjourned on yesterday. - =;
The motion to postpone was argued by Messfs
Mcclellan, Of Jackson, and Wilcox, Of TAylas;
against the motion and Messrs. Mabry, of Surt3
ter, Dougheriy, of Volusia. and Withcrspooa, Of
Jefferson, contra. MIR. Cobb, of Escambia made
a few remarks in explaining his vote, protcSiGg
against the inequitable ratio of Representatives.
provided in the bill as his chief objection 10 It.
MIR. Mabry spoke briefly, but made stfot.g
work Of his opposition to the bill, arguing that
the provisions in the existing Constitution pre-
scribing the mode by which that instrument
should be revised and the method Of eaH.
ing convention therefor were limitations npoa
the sovereign will and power Of the people which
they had themselves deliberately imposed upfn
their power and were just as binding and effective
as any other provision of that instrument. He
read from Cooley on Constitutional LimitaIiops
page 1O6, quoting from DEMO, Chief Justice, sn
People vs.. Draper, 15 N. Y, 543, to show that
the limitations on the legislative power in the
Constitution must of necessity be held most 81
cred and inviolable.
MIR. Miller, OF Marion, in his argument On
Wednesday, made the following strong pninfs
against the bill He asserted that great pt,i.-
ical blunder would be committed by the passage
OF the bill that while Republicans might b.
willing to keep silent and let the dominant party
commit such blunders, their votes should MT
be allowed to aid IN its commission in the re-
mOtest degree; as q lawyer he must WITHHOLD
his assent TO the passage of such q measure wita
the wild. startling and novel propositions which
are therein announced, and which amount to a..
assertion that the people cannot limit their soe
ereignty or surrender any right by constitu
tional provision; that such a proposition. Goa
tains the germ of anarchy; that all conAtitg.
tions are OF necessity limitations imposed By the
people upon their own natural sovereignty; that az
a citizen and patriot he could not consent 10 i
change OF the constitution, and he recitea Tho
numberless changes in the constitutions OF Ahe
several States, and claimed that danger existed
in all proposed upheavals of the fundameatsl
law; that a constitution should be held in rev.
erence; like religion, it requires age to make
it venerable, and TO teach the people to revere
and venerate II and that the extraordinary eoss
of the proposed measure might serio lsly crinuIN
the finances of the State.
Mr.. Mcclellan contended that the bill was
constitutional, and cited the second secticn ~
the Bill of Rights, declaring that "all political
power is inherent in the people" ETC. !; that ,his
declaration was not intended to be an idle asoe,
lamation, but to declare principle which no or
ganic law or constitution could abIidge OF dee
stroy, and to be made effective, right EXERCISED
in legal way. That legal way must be by shs
act OF the Legislature enabling the people to sx,
press their desire or sovereign will and if .thes
so desire, to call into existence body represlnts
ing that sovereign will. 1t is contended that
Section g. Article 49, of the Constitution abr ryes
this overeign will ofthe people. and that the mode
there prescribed is the only one by which shA
people can be heard to express their will. Il
this is true, all that cOnven lion would have to
do in framing Constitution, to strangle the
sovereign will oi the people is to provide thas.
such Constitution shall only be altered: OF
amended or revised after the duration of send
certain period of so or 100 years, and the will OF
the people and their voice is hushed. IhS
speaker read from the decisions of Chief Jus1ict;
Agnew, in Wells vs Balm, and Woods ApneaL
75 Pa. State Reports, pages 47-59. s
Mr.. Dougherty briefly and po;ntedly argued:
that the State is now in happy, peaceful :an&
prosperous condition; that no extraordinary cirS
cumstances exist requiring haste in the confems
plated changes OF the organic law that the beosi
pie nowhere had seen fit to exercise their WELLS
established right of petition to the rulers thex
themselves have chosen, for q change in thAk
fundamental law they themselves had ordained
that the cost Of such an election and conversions.
as contemplated by the bill would amount bes5
fore it was over to at least $50 600; and that
the representation provided for in the bill ,waX
glaringly unfair, and he doubted whether cong
vention so constituted could form Constitu1ioT
which the people would ratify. He feared the
danger to the future peace and prosperity OF tbe1
State and of the Democratic party If such a
vicious precedent was established, and warned
hearers against the danger of setting the Shfp oA
State adrit upon a wild and tempestuous SEA az
revolution, the angry waves of which would
carry her-God alone knows where. 4
MIR. Wilcox argued against the un-repubIicans
provisions of the existing constitution, in givina
the people no opportunity of electing their ewnf
officers in the several counties and demanded it,
as right to which the people were entitled and
which should be no longer withheld from themE
Mr. Witherspoon argued briefly that the prois
posed measure, If not in letter and in spiriE
within the provisions of the Constitution now iu5
force, must necessarily be unconstitutional. Het
also argued that the ratio of representation pre.
scribed by the bill was inequitable and unjust
and cited the case OF several of the countics ins
Illustration, giving the most recent vote theteofs
and contending that If representation In the Con5
vention should be, IS 1t ought to be, according
to the number OF registered voters, the numbeF,
OF delegates in jackson county, instead of 81
according to the bill, would be 8: Ia Jsspars
county, instead Of would be a In Leon, inaaeaxf
of would be 8 in Jefferson instead Of 4 weulds
be D; In Escambia instead Of would be s. ansfs
so on. He reverted to the constitutional ti,eSs..
tion, and averred that any member Of this Legs;
isiature, who had taken solemn oath TO sul- +
port and maintain the existing Constitution D
must violate that oath, II he should vote forsths
revision of that instrument in manner dirsctkss
contrary to the method prescribed therein. Hea
peroration was eloquent 81,
A country may Withstand the shock Of revSls
iuiion-A country may overcome the invasion ifi
. foreign foe-a country may endure tho mufdqsl
OF its executive head but country cannot sufi q
vive the assassination Of the sovereign win d.
by an act Of . legislative body" III
Mr.. Dennfs moved the previous question. ! i
Upon the question, Shall the main question bal,
now putt the yeas aud nays were called fo4 bsas
Messn Osgood and Thompson, and the yosas
was: iii