New-York tribune., 1900-02-07

This voIume will be welcomed by students Oh
constitutional history. The difficulties met with
fn tracing the history Of certain clauses OF 'ie
Constitution back through the discussions Vi
The Convention of 1877 suggested, the aueioi
tails us the utility OF an analysis OF the ue
liherations of that body with reference 10 each
~ them This analysis he has executed WIN
,borouehness and sixth and with commendaole
suppression of Unnecessary details one can
end with ease in his pa ges the essential facts OF
.he orisin (1yithin The Convention). progressive
modification and final perfecting OF every part
Of the great document
rha task which Mr. Meigs thus set before
himself was obviously not an easy one Ihe
o~sa of the debates was intricate, and the
reference Of each of them to the proper poi 'ioii
NJ the completed instrument must have peeh
ssezo.,,. "a effect After the organization of
che Convention its attentjon was first directed
10 she Virginia Plan" submitted by Randolph,
ard the draft Of a constitution (now ioso pre-
pa-ed by Charles Pinckney- These served the
purpose of focusing the divergent ideas OF the
delegates upon the main points at ISSUE ana
were discussed in committee. OF the whole from
Max 30 until June 13. Two days after the COM
,r,;ttee had presented its report another set Of
resoiutiuns-the -'New-Jersey Pian'-was SUBJ
,nit:ed by Paterson, and these, with the report,
were referred back TO the committee. The reso-
lutions originally decided upon being again re
ported TO the House. all the subjects discussed
in committee We're again reviewed by the Con-
vention On July 26 the resolutions as modified
nv this discussion were referred a Committee
OF Detail and the Convention adjourned to-
allow time for this committee TO prepare its re-
mort This was presented in the form of a
draft OF a constitution August q, and was
debated clause by cAluse, until September H.
The final stages were reached in the discussion
OF the reports Of the Committee on postponed
and Unfinished Parts and on Style, and the
signing of the perfected document. Throughout
their entire course these complicated debates
were naturally marked by considerable irreg-
ularity of procedure; subjects were taken up
and then dropped and taken up again; decisions
were reached then abandoned, and then re-
adopted; and compromise, resulting in clauses
which were the embodiment OF the outcome OF
many discussions and tentative decisions, was
the order Of the day. To rearrange all the ma
terial of this seemingly confused mass of debates
in the order required by Mr..Meigs's design would
at first sight appear TO be wellnigh Impossible;
but 10 Judge from such tests as we have been
able 70 apply the manner in which he has gone
about his work seems to have secured exceed
ingly satisfactory results. His method, in a
word was to work downward, referring the ear
lier discussions to the resolutions founded upon
the Virginia Plan; then breaking up this matter
and referring 1t, together with the ensuing de-
bates, the draft submitted the SoiiIiiIittee
of Detail; and again repeating this process in
connection with the report of the Committee on
Style. This process, which in itself insures a
high degree Of accuracy, finally checked
by a direct comparison Of its results with all
the debates from beginning to end" His sou-
ton of one obviously perplexing problem Is
worth mentioning. "One matter Of difficulty at
times" he says, has been to decide how much
TO subdivide the clauses IN considering them,
huF hair str cal a..
opment in the Convention. Where several
clauses were integral parts of one compromise,
or where they all grew up largely at one time,
I have generally considered them together;
otherwise separately.
A good example Of the success Of Mr. Meigs's
labors will be found in the history Of the second
article ind particularly Of the first four clauses
Of itc first section. which relate to the constitu-
ton term of Office and method of election of the
Executive These clauses, which have under
gone more change in the actual working or the
Government than any others, were also. per-
haps the with regard to which the Con-
vention showo8 the greatest amount of vacilla-
ton Others aroused greater diversity and
hostility of views but concerning did the
delegates appear a. be more at a loss to deter
mine what they really wished to accomplish.
The Virginia Plan called for National Execu-
tive 10 be ineligible for e second time" and
Ito be chosen by the National Legislature, but
II said nothing about the number of persons Of
which the Executive lhould consist the
length of the term OF Office. All these matters
at once became subjects of debate in committee
II WAS quickly settled, though not without dis
cussion that the Executive should consist OF one
person. should serve for scum years, and should
be ineligible for second term. But when the
mode OF election considered the diversity
of views and uncertainty of action which marked
the deliberations of the Convention upon this
subject down the very end Game prominently
into view It was suggested G5y Wilson, as de-
sirable. but impractcable, that the President
should be chosen directly by the people, and he
proposed what substantially the electoral
system finally adopted. 1t also proposed
that the choice should be made ~ the Execu-
tives of the States. But the committee con-
cuded that IL should be made by the National
Legislature, and so reported to the House Into
the details of the debates and resolutions which
followed the presentation of this report it is
unnecessary to enter. II need only be said that
Mr.. Meigs's account of them leaves nothing to
be desired in point Of clearness and precision
though one occasionally wishes that he had
given fully the reasons assigned by the
various leaders for their views 1t may be
noted, however, that his narrative brings out
witt great dstinctness the fact that, with the
exception Of the vesting of the executive power
in a single r rdfvidual, all of the points above
noted in the report Of the committee-limitation
TO single term. seven year period and cleo
ton by the National Legislature-were finally
abandoned; and also, what is more notable. that
IN spite Of great diversity of views they were
not abandoned until the whole matter was left
almost in despair. TO the Committee on Unfin-
ished Portions. which did not report until Sep
her. he affao ad ,,