Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1910-09-29

0iA IL InAI the people nave right
to finally enact their own constitution.
whether they have sense enough to do
so o. not.
Several days ago l offered in this
body resolution which the convention
will pardon me for reading"
Mr.. Wysor then read and had incor-
porated in his speech the resolution,
which is as follows:
whereas, by an set Of the General
Assembly Of Virginia approved March
9Th, 1900, the question Shall there be =
convention to revise the constitution
and amend the same?' was submitted
to the people; and,
whereas, no constitution should be
fastened upon a free people without
their having had an opportunity to ap-
prove or disapprovS the same; and,
| Whereas, as has been well said by
Judge Cooley, perhaps the greatest con-
sttutional authority in the United
States, and whose opinion il sustained
by uniform and almost unbroken cur
rent Of authority: The constitutional
convention is the representative Of SOW
ereignty only in qualified sense, and
for the specific purpose, and with the
restricted authority, to put in proper
form the questions Of amendment upon
which the people are to pass; but the
changes In the fundamental law of the
state must be enacted by the people
Themselves and,
Whereas, the Democratic party, of
whose votaries this convention is largely
composed, on the and day Of May, 1900,
at Norfolk, Virginia, in convention as
sembled, did make the calling of con-
stitutional convention a party issue,
and, in its platform then and there pro-
muigAted, expressed its sense that when
the constitution shall have been framed
1t shall be submitted to the people for
ratification or rejection; and,
Whereas, the General Assembly Of
Virginia, by another act approved Feb
ruary 10th, 1901, provided for the cleo
ton Of delegates to this convention,
and declared that the new constitution
should be submitted to the qualified
voters for their ratification or rejection,
thereby recognizing the impreenable
proposition that changes in the funda-
mental law must be enacted by the peo-
pie themselves, and re-afirming the
solemn promise of the Norfolk conven-
ton that the constitution when framed
shall be submitted to the people; and.
Whereas, the people by all of these
acts and proceedings were unmistakahIy
led to the belief that the new constitu-
ton would be submitted to the people
for ratification or rejection, and would
not otherwise have called the conyen
ton; and,
Whereas, some persons opposed to
SUBMISSION express an unholy fear that
the new constitution, if submitted to
the people, would be rejected, thereby
ignoring the right Of the people to re-
Jsct it, II in their good Judgment they
should see proper 10 to do, and assert
ing the right to compel the people to
accept the new constitution whether it
suits them or not; and,
Whereas, the submission of the
constitution to an abridged electorate
wsuld diSfrAnehise a number Of voters
under the present constitution without
authority or warrant Of law; and,
Whereas, the frequent assertion
that former constitutions Of Virginia
were submitted to an abridged elector-
ate is wholly contrary to the fact, and
only calculated to mislead, some former
constitutions having been submitted to
an enlarged electorate but none to an
abridged electorate, and the two princi-
pies being a. opposite as the poles; and,
| Whereas, undar the facts and cir
cumstances, either a proclamation of
the new constitution. or a submission
thereof to an abridged electorate, is I'M
progressive, undemoeratic, unrepuhli-
can, un-American, q breach of faith ON
the part OF the Democratic party, which
would subject it to the criticism of
po''aeGI perfdy. and be an act of usurpa-
ton unparalleled for presumption in the
history OF the Commonwealth; and,
Whereas, it is our political, legal.
moral and patriotic duty to submit tho
new constitution to the voters under
the present constitution for their ratifi-
cation or rejestion, and it is the sense
OF the convention that it be so submit
ted; therefore, be it
"RssOlUsd, That the report of tbs
Committee on Preamble and Bill of
Rights be amended so that the conclud-
ing clause of the preamble will read as
follows:
I'VE, therefore, their delegates SO
elected and in convention assembled, do
propose to the good people of Virginia
the following revised and amended con-
stitution as the form of government for
this Commonwealth.
The concluding clause of the report
, of the Committee on Preamble and Bill