Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-11-01
RIGHT TO SECEDE.
mr.. WOODROW WILSON DISCUSSES
THE SUBJECT.
TWO VIEWS OF The CONSTITUTION
strict Constructionfsts Were Right,
Hut Those Who Held That Ma
tionnIixation Process HID Changed
the Instrument Were Right Also.

DIR. woodson Wilson lectured on Writ
ten Constitutions" at Richmond College
last night, his address being the third OF
the series on the constitutional govern
ment of the United States.
The audience was very large one, and
the lecture was decidedly the most inte-
resting Dr. Wilson has yet delivered.
His discussion OF the right of secession
was the particular portion of the lecture
which attracted most attention and
caused most comment. The lecturer ex-
pressed the opinion that the Constitu-
ton. as originally framed. recognized the
right of a State to secede. but that since
1889 q process of naturalization had
taken place, and that in 1861 the right to
withdraw from the compact did not eX-
ist. The lecturer followed rather closely
the text of his book, division ana ,Re-
union" in the "Epochs OF American HIS
tory" series. His views evidently did not
meet with the unqualified approval of the
majority of the audience, and there was
much good-natured bantering Of Dr.
Wilson by gentlemen OF the audience
after the lecture was over
ABSTRACT OF THE LECTURE.
Professor Charles H. Winston welcomed
the audience, owing to the slight lndlspo-
sition Of President Boatwright. DR.. Will
son began by saying 1t was difhcut to
approach his subject wi -hout performed
opinions, owing to the TACT that so many
heated contests over our Constitution had
arisen In the past, and there was thrown
around the whole subject so much, In
Guiding a halo of romance. The compact
drawn up and signed in the cabin OF the
Mayfower was said TO be the first writ
ten Constitution, and the men who drew
Ii were thought by many TO be well-ngh
inspired. DR.. Wilson said he had once
remarked to a New Englander that every
man from his section seemed TO think the
history of America was but the expansion
of New England. That little transaction
in the cabin of the MayiiOWer was one
Of the most practical, unromantic things
in the world. Many of those who had
originally intended coming with the party
were not of tbeir congregation and belief
men who had openly said that as soon
as they were landed they were going to
take their own liberty. Thereupon the
Puritan majority said, 1--WE won't land
you, and they went down into the cabin
and drew up the compact, which was the
first written Constitution in America
Then they made the outsiders sign 1t.
VIRGINIA CHARTER FIRST.
But in reality, the first written Consti-
tuition was the charter of the Virginia
Company. Canada ha a written Consu-
tuition, the kind under which she lived
before the Revolutionary war. We had
the same sort of government we have now,
but we did not have the same kind OF
liberty Rhode Island had her old Royal
Charter until 1913, II doing duty as a
State Constitution. State Legislatures in
the Colonies were non-sovereign bodies
they acted under laws which they could
not change. They worked under royal
charters; our Legislatures work under
State Constitutions.
The first Constitutions of the States
were not adopted by popular vote, but by
conventions. The Confederate Constitu-
ton was adopted by a convention. 1t
was the southern idea that a convention
composed of delegates chosen by the peo-
pie to 90 peculiar thing were sovereign
THE RIGHT OF SECESSION.
After discussing the nature of State con-
stitutionS. Dr. Wilson touched on munich
pal governments thing our fathers had
neglected in their ConstitutiOn-making.
We had not learned how TO govern our
cities. They have grown up so suddenly.
They had in them so many who had on
American clothes that did not fit-so many
foreigners. Foreign cities had grown
slowly and had been able to we'll assimi-
late the increase of population.
DR.. Wilson then went into the history
of the formation of our Constitution,
arguing that it was not as most people
thought.
Discussing the new Constitution, DR..
Wilson said two views should be taken or
1.-THE lawyers view and the view taken
by the statesmen. The lawyer reads the
intention of the drawer of a document.
If the lawyers decide the question, the
Southern States unquestionably had the
right TO secede from the Union In 1861.
The acknowledgment of right was UNI
questonably in the minds OF the trainers
of the Constitution, Ii was tacitly admit
ted. and was. indeed, not questioned.
Then there was the statesman's or histo-
rian's view. 1t is not true that consti-
tuition, written though 1t be- must be
regarded as a thing unchanging. AS we'll
say a child must always remain child.
A CHANGE OF THOUGHTS.
II was fact that, beginning not long
after the adoption OF the Constitution. the
North propagated itself in the Northwest.
And not long after this process began,
we reached what we call the industrial
revolution. The application OF steam and
electricity wrought tremendous changes
i'm the condition and relations of men.
The rural nation of the first twenty years
of the Constitution became manufac-
turing nation. and with this and other
things there swept over the people OF the
North and Northwest a great wave OF
naturalization. The sentiment OF the peo-
pie as regards the Constitution changed.
But the South had stood still. Condi-
tons in this section had not changed
1t admits of no question that the views
were the same as those held by the people
of the whole country at the adoption of
the Constitution Each section, from its
own point of view, was right But now
the South has become like every other
section in it's conceptions of the national
compact.
DR.. Wilson said this was not logical
view, but then he had never known his
tory TO be logical.
How long would written constitutions
be valuable IL unaffected by the thought
and the changes in the national life?
Codes are but cemeteries where laws long
dead may have decent burial. Society
says II would like to oblige you, but
really l must hurry on. We must con-
sent TO these constitutional changes, not
as revolutionary, but as the results Of
natural growth
The lecturer was frequently applauded,
and at its conclusion the applause was
prolonged.
The lecture tonight will be on Theory
and Practice in Organization"
GOVERNOR TO GO TO SAVANNAH.