Middletown transcript., 1891-03-26
A Way OUT.
[coMMUNIcATEDl


h. EDITOR 1T is said that Della
wares great lawyer and statesman,
0onn M. Clayton, quietly said to one
" MS confidants after the adoption of
lne present constitution of that State,
that ''he had locked that constitution
up in a safe and thrown the key Of the
saie INTO the sea-" Whether he did
say that or not is immaterial. But it
Is tne Deiief of great many that the
enece OF his cautions against any
possible amendment 10 that constitu-
lion Is as effectual as though it had
been placed in a safe and the key was
lost. Nor is Delaware alone in the
sisterhood Of States in this sad condi-
tion. New Hampshire and Connecti-
cut now seem to be suffering from the
same mischievous cautiousness of
those statesmen of the past, who
assumed that in themselves was con-
tained all that was true in the art of
governing. But can the hypercritical
cautlousness of these old statesmen,
VINO evidently did not agree with
Ihomas Jefferson when he said. 1.-THE
eartn belongs, in usufruct, to the liv-
ing the dead have no rights over it, !"
prevent the people now living in those
states from having an organic system
Ia accord with their own views Is
It right that the present generation
should suffer because of any misconep-
tlon of the statesmen of the past as to
what constituted correct statesman
ship2
The legislators of these States rep
resent the will of the people they
stand for the will Of the people; were
elected to represent the will of the
people. And were they simply to
exercise the sovereign power of
government to declare that the time
had arrived when the constitution
should be amended, and that a conven-
tion should be held for that purpose,
and were two or three legislatures in
each State succesively elected to so
declare, 1 think even the ermine
Of the Supreme Courts would be in
sufficient to brace up their members to
veto the will of the people so clearly
expressed.
But should the Legislature of one of
these States, suffering from the fossil
remains of the craftsmanship of those
long since dead, simply provide that
an election Of the people be held upon
a certain day to decide whether con-
vention to make a new constitution
should be called, and such an election
should be held, and the people by an
overwhelming voice should declare
that such convention should be held,
what power is there that would dare
say nay ? The government of the
United States guarantees to each
State Republican form of government
The Supreme Court Of the United
States could not truthfully say, and
would not say, that such action was
not perfectly consistent with a Re-
publican form of government. The
same Legislature that provided for the
submission to the people of the
question, "Shall a convention to
amend the constitution of the State be
called p" could also provide for its
own reassembling latter such an cleo
tion was held) to count the votes and
decide whether or not the convention
had been demanded by the people
and, if so demanded, provide for the
time of the election of the delegates.
and the number of delegates that
should be elected and upon all ques-
tions pertaining to their election. And
when such a convention had assembled,
completed and submitted
its work to the people for their ap-
proval, and the majority Of the people
had approved its work, is there any
doubt in the mind of any jurist as to
whether the constitution so adopted
should not become the organic law of
the State I submit this question to
the members Of the Legislatures Of
those States afflicted by the fossil re-
mains of the egotistical labors of
statesmen who have long since been
gathered to their fathers, and ask
them if they cannot see in it a way
out from the environments of what
appear to me to be principally tomb
stones. JAS A. B. DILwoRTH.