Proud kings and purpled potentates of earth, DEMOCRACY CONSERVATIVE-THE CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. THE The recent HE recent vote, adverse to a change in the Constitution of the State of New York, is indicative of a growing conservatism among the people, well calculated to inspire hope in the minds of the true friends of republican institutions in the stability and permanence of this system of government, and affords additional evidence of its advantages, in every point of view, over every other system, either ancient or modern. Only twelve years have elapsed since the adoption of the present Constitution, which, if not the most perfect in detail, is the most democratic and liberal in principle of any other within the United States. The public discussion that led to the calling of the Convention of 1846, which framed the present Constitution, exposed a degree of profligacy and extravagance in the management of financial affairs in this State, which had brought it to the verge of bankruptcy, and so closely and strongly were the interests of corporate monopolies and individual speculation leagued against the interest of the State, that the evil was almost beyond the reach of legislation. It is true that the reckless and extravagant policy of the opposition received a check in the democratic legislation of 1842, in what was popularly known as the "stop and pay policy" of that year. At this period the opposition had augmented the public debt in that degree, and reduced the State credit so low, that the State bonds, if negotiable at all, could only be disposed of at a ruinous depreciation. The few loans that were obtained were at the rate of about thirty per cent. below par. This condition of the public finances. was attributable chiefly to an extravagant and injudicious. application of State funds in constructing canals, and to a corrupt practice of first loaning the credit of the State to railroad companies, and afterwards paying the debts of said companies, for which the State had become surety, either by funds from the public treasury, or by issuing State scrip, redeemable at a given period. Under this unwise and destructive system one railroad corporation-the New York and Erie-defrauded the State of seven millions of dollars. Although the money from the State coffers was poured out as freely as the waters of Lake Erie flowed into the canal bearing its name, the interests of the industrial classes, and the public improvements of the State, especially the railroads and canals, languished, and in many instances were really in a state of retrogression and decay. Immense sums of money were annually collected from the people, under promise of improvement in its use, by applying it to the legitimate purposes of the State, and under the more attractive yet delusive assurance that the magnificent canal system of New York was to reap the benefit of these enormous drafts upon the capital and labor of the people, whose expectations were not realized by a fulfilment of the repeated promises of those having the management of public affairs, that the credit of the State should be redeemed and taxes diminished. Finding no advantages accruing to them at all commensurate with the vast sums of money collected, the citizens became dissatisfied, and elected the Democratic legislature of 1842, who inaugurated a new financial policy that at once redeemed the credit of the State, and in a very brief period placed its bonds above par. As the result of this policy, the enlargement of the Erie Canal was recommenced with vigor, and the improvement and completion of the lateral canals prosecuted in a careful and economical manner. The railroad companies finding that no farther reliance could be placed upon the loan of State credit, or donations of money from the State treasury, discontinued the lobby system, the means employed to secure appropriations of money and credit, which had brought reproach to the Halls of Legislation, and turned their attention to private capital, which never fails to stimulate and carry forward successfully all judicious enterprises. No longer mendicants at the capital of the State, railroad officers occupied their time in the practical business incident to their position, as directors of this class of internal improvements, which, from the hour that all hope of support from the State ceased, revived and progressed in a degree unprecedented in the history of railroad improvements on the American continent. The salutary and healthful influence of one legitimate and honest legislative session upon the various interests of the State, after the practice of a false policy for years, operated no less to the advantage than to the astonishment of all classes. Not only did the canal and railroad interests revive, but commerce, agriculture, and the mechanic arts received an impetus that placed all these departments of industry in the most prosperous condition. Apprehensive that this condition of affairs might be changed by the united efforts of parties interested in the use of State credit and State funds, at a time when the public mind was directed to matters of exciting political interest, the people demanded a Convention to form a new Constitution, that should perpetuate this policy. The Constitution it was proposed to supersede was adopted in 1821, and amended by a popular vote in 1826, and was more liberal in many of its features than the one adopted at Kingston on the 20th of April, 1777, in the midst of the revolutionary struggle, when Democracy was yet in its infancy, and when the minds of the members of the Convention were in a great degree absorbed by other matters of momentous importance, and concentrated upon the common interests of all the American colonies. Although not quite in conformity with the present standard of State Constitutions in some respects, the organic law of 1777 established a basis upon which all States might securely rest in the formation of their respective Constitutions. The announcement by that Colonial or Territorial Convention, "That no authority shall, on any pretence whatever, be exercised over the people or members of this State, but such as shall be derived from and granted by them," gave assurance, even at that early day, of the ultimate triumph and successful application of the principle of popular sovereignty which has lately been ingrafted on our fundamental law, and received by the people of the United States. Having said thus much in commendation of the first Constitution of New York, let us come directly to the consideration of that of 1846, in our opinion more perfect in its provisions and comprehensive in its purposes than any that preceded it. As already intimated, the leading object for convening the Convention that framed this Constitution is traceable to the determination of the people to check, by constitutional enactment, the persistent efforts of interested parties to augment the State debt and increase the taxes, which had become extremely burthensome to all classes; and as the extent to which these burthens could be carried was, under the amended Constitution of 1821, solely dependent on the caprice of a Legislature subject to change, in one of its branches, every year, and in the other every four years, it was deemed necessary to place a more permanent safeguard against unreasonable expenditures than could be expected from the preliminary enactments of the Democratic body of 1842. It is proper here to remark, that other matters, scarcely secondary in importance to the financial question, presented themselves to public attention, as the discussion of the policy of a new Constitution progressed. The Democratic party inaugurated the movement' resulting in the call of the Constitutional Convention of 1846, and it is but just to say, that it was sustained by many of the more liberal members of the opposition. The preliminary act, recommending a Convention, was passed May 13th, 1845; and in the November election of that year, the proposition of the Legislature was ratified by a very large popular majority of the votes of the state. The delegates to the Convention were elected on the last Tuesday of April, 1846, and they assembled at the Capitol in Albany, on the first Monday of June following. The Convention, consisting of one hundred and twenty-eight members, was in session over four months, concluding its deliberations on the 9th day of October, when the present Constitution, the product of that Convention, was ordered to be submitted to the people by a vote of one hundred and four Ayes to six Nays; and it was ratified at the ensuing November election by a large majority. No more able, patriotic, or disinterested body of men ever assembled for the transaction of public business. Although in a party sense the Democrats were in a majority, the deliberations of the Convention were free from all partisan considerations, and its members, with scarcely an exception, were governed by a sincere purpose to promote the best interests of the whole State. The diversified interests of every section, and of all classes, were presented and considered in a spirit of unimpassioned, comprehensive truthfulness becoming the deliberations of an assembly intrusted with the most solemn and important duties incident to the establishment of organic law, which is necessarily, in a great measure, to shape the future character of a large and powerful state. No personal considerations were permitted to weigh against the interests of the commonwealth. When an office, however lucrative to the incumbent, or an office of the greatest political influence, was regarded as standing in the way of reform, they were required to yield to the common good. While the canal and railroad improvements, the banking and commercial interests, with all other interests of * Many offices were abolished, and as a consequence officers removed or deposed, nearly all of whom were Democrats. |