Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1889-03-21

unexceptionable mode. II this General
Assembly does not give the convention
under the vote OF 1887, / would say that
the people, under this very article, may,
without legislative action, vote for q oon-
vention and elect delegates, of their own
motion and initiation, next November,
and the next General Assembly wonld be
bound TO call the convention for which
such delegates might be chosen, and the
obstruotionists would hardly dare then To
contrsv ne the peoples will.
Mr.. Lodge said the time has now come
for the closing act in what he hardly
knew whether TO class as q comedy or q
serious matter. But, as my judgment
tells me that the people OF Delaware are
in earnest in this matter-that, il they
were entirely free from the leadership of
some politicians. / think they could be
nearly all united, will Call it serious
undertaking; for it Is serious and grave
matter to attempt to break do 4n the safe.
guards which have beenD established by
the people for their protection But there
Is another view. AS the child outgrows
its clothes, 30 we are to day ont at our
constitutional knees and elbows. We
want new constitutional garments.
The people want them whether the
politicians do or not. He reviewed
the conventions Of Delaware's his
tory, end then argued that there are
three ways of amending the constitution.
Frat, the Legislative mode, only adopted
to specific and definite amendments.
Second, the unexceptionable mode, O
M n h IA an mr. tultah 10
depend on it alone, think We shall never
would be possible for the dead to rule
the living. Thirdly, by the authority of
the people. Mr.. Lodge quoted from
Jameson and other authorities on what
Sunset COX has defined as ''the witen-
sgemote of an omnipotent sovereignty"
We can apply tine vote of the people TO
any mode. Theye were, I believe,
IL ,205 votes cast tor convention and 4Sl
against; o wonderful vote for speci Al
election. By striking an average OF the
next preceding elections we have the in
dication that there were 25,G64 qualified
votsr5 in 1887. But we have no right to
assume that those who did not vote were
opposed to convention. Here Mr.. Lodge
yielded to motion for q recess to p. M.
AT THE AFTERNOON SESSION.
Mr.. Lodge resumed his speech when
the House reasssmbled, ct 10 p. m He
read from Jameson on the authority Of
the people direct, and on the authority
of the Legislature as the representa-
tive of the people to call convention. l
think there can DO no danger, said he In
calling convention, whether on the vote
of 1857 CT by the Legislature. Any con.
stitution framed by such convention
and ratified by the people will be our
constitutional form of government and
will be q legal one. Shall we, like the
historic Duke OF Yorkshire [laughter1
having led our forces TO the top OF the
hill, turn around and ingloriously lead
them down again? No; we have brought
our forces here let us fight hud win the
victory. Let us call a constitutional con.
vention. [Applause
Mr.. Eckles took it for granted that all
wei 9 in favor OF calling convention at
the earliest lawful day. He did not sup
pose that any one favored revolutionary
methods, but in view of the public feeling
that now exists, IL such course were
pursued, it would be the most psaceabIe
revolution ever recorded in the annals of
history We have been instructed by an
act OF assembly to meet here in Joint ses-
sion and canvass the vote of 1887. We
have done this, snd the majority of the
members of this Assembly, in Joint ses-
sion, have said to the citizens OF Deia-
ware that that vote was sufficient; and
that act is legalizad, as much SO as any
other act that has passed this House, II
1t were revolutionary to call a convention
after the step that we have thus taken, II
would be just as much revolution for a
minority of this House to say that ma.
jority had not carried an act here. And,
furthermore, what spectacle we present
to our sister states. Thousands OF fellow
citizens clamoriug ct the door OF this
House for relief from an unwise and I'M.
inst distribution Of burdens and benefits,
while We treat their appeals with con-
tempt and, am sorry to say, Ia some
cases with soorn. John NJ Clayton said
the door was locked and the key thrown
away, but he forgot the ravages Of time
and rust; and that door, under tho con,
tinued kuockings of these Thousands OF
men, will roll back on its rusty hinges.
am in favor OF convention and think
we have the right to call it. II my
friend on the right (Mr. Lodgs) has
stated his case right, we have half n
dozen ways more of calling it than
knew OF, and trust we can call it by
some one Of these modes. [Applanse.
Speaker Hotfecker, calling Nc. Wallace
to the chair, took the floor and said:
Every one that took that oath on the first
day Of this year felt have no doub, Just
as did-that the oath administered was
sacred one. We pledged ourselves first,
to support the constitution OF thu United
States. Why? Because allegiance is
due from the states to the national GOV
eminent. Every state has secured to it q
republican form OF government BY the
United States. Therefore we took the
oath first to first support the constitution
OF the United States and then to support
the constitution of the State of Delaware.
| subscribed with the rect of you to sup
port the constitution, and l feel that
have done so, and propose TO do SO to
the end of this session. We have de-
cisred in joint session that the work of
1887 was sufficient. The mention of an
mode indicates that there
are other modes. The IA $50 votes that
we're cast, as against 469, should be
,NhiStpae bhsth iOt 10 ~ ~ uppus Autu
why not proceed with the matter and pro.
vide for convention ? 1t matters but
little to us whe'ber that convention shall
be composed of SO members, or more or
less; they will attend to the question of
/ think this is, as 1t
'hould be, not political question; but
'ne affecting the. rights OF every citizen
N the commonwealth. the speaker
,losed by saying he only took the 4 Dor to
Explain why he expected to vote for o
Mr.. Whiteman said he still stood where
le stood on the day of the joint session
He had tried to spe his way clear to vote
or convention on the basis of ths vote
II 1887, but he could not do it. By the /