The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-10-22
REVOLUTIONARY METHODS IN
VIRGINIA.

Under this heading the September
2Sth number of The Outlook diSser-
tates ON preSuppOsed acts OF our Con-
stitutional Convention, mt the same
time drawing an unwarrantable con-
clusion from an editorial in the Rich
mond Times. Without attempting
to defend the proposition OF pro
claiming" the Constitution, or OF
entering protest against such a sug-
gestion. we want TO set The Outlook
right where it is wrong in asserting
that the legislative act calling the
Convention provided that it should
be submitted for ratification or re
lection. Nor is there unanimlty OF
sentiment in constituting the declara-
ton of the Norfolk Convention, even.
to mean that the work is To be sub
mitted to the present electorate.
This latter is still an open question
among Democratic leaders and pa
pers. and its ambiguity furnishes the
only shadow for assumptions which
possess The Outlook, and other
Northern papers that are labOring
under like misapprehension. \ pro-
test from all parts of the country,
as The Outlook suggests for the
remedy, will hardly avail with Nir-
ginia statesmen-unleSS all parts OF
the country mean within the bound
aries of the Old Dominion. Our
Northern friend falls into error again
when it banks on the grandfather
and the understanding clauses as
being things extant. The suffrage
provision hasnot Vet been framed by
our Convention, and when completed
there is little likelihood of a grand
father clause at least. With these
corrections we reproduce the article
dismembered. Says The Outlook:
Recent votes in the Virginia Constitu-
tiOnal Convention have made 1t all but
clear that. in the absence OF emphatic
protest from all parts OF the country. the
Convention will proclaim the new
Constitution in force without submitting
it TO the citizenship OF the State. An al
legged precedent is found for this proposal
in the fact that Mississippi, South Caro-
lima. and Louisiana have within the past
decade violated the unwritten law that
constitutions can be changed only with
the consent of the people; but in these
cases the legislative act calling the con-
ventiOn either directly provided that it
might proclaim the adoption OF the con
stitutiOn agreed upon. or cOnfessedly LETT
il free so To act. In Virginia. however,
the legislative act summOning the Con
ventiOn distinctly provided that the dOcu-
ment drafted should he submitted to the
people and the Democratic State Con-
veutiOn distinctly pledged its supporters
to recognize the right of the sovereign
people to a direct vote upon its organic
law. Ever since the Convention met,
however. the tendency to disregard the
law creating it and he tacit pledge
upon which the great body of its mem
bers were elected has grown steadily
stronger. and since the failure OF the last
Democratic State Convention TO renew
its declaration of allegiance to popular
sovereignty the disposition OF the Con
vention to assume the powers of sOver-
eighty has come to be predominant. The
reason, of course, for this manifest viola
ton of written as well as unwritten law
is the fear that the present citizenship
will reject the new draft of the COnstitu-
ton because of its provisions for the dis
reimbursement of negroes. Not only does
the whole body of negroes oppose the
race discrimination embodied in the
grandfather and the understanding
clauses, but also a great body OF whites
including we are glad to see, the Demo-
cratic Richmond Times, which heartily
favOrs radical measures to better the
quality of the electorate, provided they
are impartial.