The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-06

l remained in Washington. humble Office
| holder in one of the departments, during the ad-
| ministration of James K. Polk, and was mem
| Der of Congress during the entire terms of
| Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. so that
saw more of these three Presidents than any of
| the others but have seen them all from Jack
son to Cleveland.
| For nearly half century have been pretty
close observer of our public men, and OF the leg
| islatlve assemblies of our State and Nation
| If you were to ask me to name the strongest
body of men have ever seen. should not hest
tate to answer the Senate of the United State in
| 1850.
| If you were to ask me to name the strongest
body have ever seen assembled IN Indiana
some might think it invidious for me to desig-
nate. but the general judgment of the public
would, no doubt, be the convention which framed
the present Constitution of the State
And this would be no disparagement
of the Legislatures of the State, which,
| in my judgment, favorably compare with
| the Legislature of any State in the Union; be-
| sides, many members Of the convention had
served in previous Legislatures, and over dozen
served in the long and important Legislature of
! 1872, which was exceedingly strong body,
and in the matter of remOdeling the government
| to conform to the new Constitution and in revis
| ing and simplifying the whole code of laws, per-
formed work of the greatest Importance to the
| people and the State
| think it will be universally conceded that the
convention was composed of high order of men
men Of whom any country might justly feel
proud-and my object on this occasion will be to
say something OF the convention and its mem
| bers.
The Legislature of 1889 passed a law sub
hitting to the people whether or not they would
| call a convention to "alter, amend or revise the
| Constitution of the State"
| majority decided to call a convention
There were two bills introduced at the session of
the General Assembly of 1859. both on the
10Th of December-one in the House by Thomas
A. Hendricks, then representative Shelby
county and one in the Senate by John |. Nor
rson, senator from Washington county. 1
presume the bills we're of like mport-probably
duplicates as to which Mr.. Hendricks may pos
| sibly remember. The Senate bill passed the
Senate Jan. 2, 1S49, by vote of "a to II, and in
looking the vote to-day I was glad to find
| the name of my honored father, Major Elisha
| G English, then senator from Scott and Jack
| son, recorded in favor of the passage OF the BILL
| The same bill seems to have passed the House
Jan 13, 1S49, all the members voting for it but
two and this was the origin of the convention The
body was composed of $50 members. of which
| fifty were elected from senatorial districts, and
| one hundred from representative districts, but
| thew all sat as one body
AS matter of local history, it may be stated
| that the convention met at the capital of the
State, in the old hall of the House of Representa-
| tives. on the first Monday of October, the 7th,
| 1850, and adjourned Feb. 10, 1851. 1t was, con-
| sequently, in session l27 days, and this is the
| thirty-ffth anniversary of it's meeting. The con-
| venng of the Legislature of 1851, in December
of that year. made change of the place of meet
ing of the convention necessary, and the sessions
| thereafter were held in Masonic Hail. in this
| city, then just completed.
| The members were paid So per day for their
services, and allowed tire usual legislative mile
age. The entire cost of the convention was only
$50 6S3O5
| Observe this was the total expense of body
| composed of 150 members, in session of 127
days. The Legislature has the same number of
| members, and for the regular session of only
icIv dove
session-sometimes more-the average for
| the last ten years being about 800 900. [ refer
| to this to show, first that the convention
| an economical as well as an able body, and cost
| less than half as much as our Legislatures cost
now for the same length of service; and second
| TO show that in the one item of changing the
| sessions of the Legislature from annual to
biennial the convention has saved the people up
to this time certainly a million of dollars
In the matter of limiting the creation of public
debt, an amount has, no doubt, been saved that
| is simply incalculable. My purpose. however. is
| not to speak of these things, but more particu-
| larly of the personnel of the convention.
| OF the $50 members, all were natives of the
| United States but six. These SIX were to say
| the least, fully up to the general average. They
| were James Dick, g. II. Ballingan and Robert
| Dale Owen. born in Scotland. and Allen Hami
| ton, Dixon Millgan and Beattie McClelland
| born in Ireland
With the first five named. 'life's fitful fever is
over" and they are sleeping in honored graves
| who am glad to See is now present. is the only
one of the six who now survives. Of the IA
born in the United States, "a were born in the
Northern States, and 70 in the Southern, distrib-
uted as follows: Kentucky heads the list with %
members: next come Pennsylvania and Virginia.
each with 10; then Ohio with II and New
York with 16; Indiana follows with Ii; North
Carolina with 10; Maryland and Tennessee with
z each; Massachusetts and South Carolina with
4 each; Connecticut g and ] each from Della
ware New Hampshire Vermont and New Jersey.
| SO that as far nativity is concerned less
| than sixteen States and two foreign countries
| were represented.
| An examination as to their occupations in life
| shows as great diversity as their nativity, but |
think there was greater proportion of farmers
| than Il have ever seen In any other Legislative
body there being no less than sxtytwo. The
lawyers stand next on the list, the number being
thirty nine; next the physicians. numbering six
| teen; then the merchants and traders. number
ing eleven then teachers. manufacturers and
| surveyors, two each. There was one tanner, one
carpenter. one millwrght one brick-layer, one
county recorder. one accountant, one miller, one
editor and one banker and as to the occupations
| of others have information.
AS to politics, in that day the two great parties
were the Wing and the Democratic. Ninety four
members of the convention were classed as Dem
ocrats and ffty-three Wings
| William Steele, of Wabash county. classed
himself as CONSERVATIVES" John Beard of
| Wayne, as a "Free-soiler," and Mr. Burbank as
| an independent" The first two died long ago
The people were divided in politics then pretty
much as they are now but as rule each party
took care to select first-cass candidates
for the convention. and there were many striking
| instances in the State where party entirely
| ignored. In Marion county, for instance, two
delegates to the convention were Democrats and
two Wings and a like spirit prevailed in
other parts of the State. The result was con-
vention of frst-cass representative men,
That they were such is not only shown by the
wisdom of their work in the convention. but by
the high place most of them continued to occupy
in the confidence and esteem of the people. Most
of them were quite successful in life, aud many
We're elevated to places of high trust.
OF the members and officer of the conven-
ton three (Colfax, Hendricks and Engsh) were
chosen by the respective parties to which they
holn god DIT fnr e