562 



CAROLINA. 



enforced, and yet t coll 



mandate to the General Assembly, "w^^ .""-- :'"." . 

 mon honesty, regardful of their oaths, and who fetu 

 bound by the opinion of our Supreme Court in rela- 

 tion to the limit of taxation, know not how to diso- 

 bey. It is in these words : " The General Assem- 

 bly shall, by appropriate legislation, and by adequate 

 taxation, provide for the prompt and regular pay- 

 ment of the interest on the public debt." If this be 

 construed as applying to the old debt only, it requires 

 the levy of $1,200,000 of tax to pay interest. Add to 

 this the tax necessary to carry on the State govern- 

 ment, and it will be perceived that the lowest tax 

 which this Legislature can levy, if they carry out their 

 obligations under this constitution, is largely over a 

 million and a half dollars, or five times the tax of the 

 past year. The Governor says, in his message, two 

 "millions and a Jialf^ or eight times the tax of the past 

 year. 



We know that any such tax would crush the peo- 

 ple into the dust. Yet we have taken an oath which 

 cannot be fulfilled unless we do make such a levy ; 

 and, as honorable men, we see no way of escape, un- 



the people will call a convention and relieve us 

 i the dilemma, by changing the constitution in 

 this particular. Let a convention be called, that the 



from the 



tlllS P&rtiCUlUI* JJUt I* V^VJJ-Y fMUA^l-A U\J l/CUl^U.. U1J.JU KA1 



constitutional provisions respecting the public debt 

 may be altered, and the debt itself put in the way of 

 being compromised, or otherwise adjusted, as the 

 people may deem proper. 



The State constitution prescribing that " no 

 convention of the people shall be called by the 

 General Assembly unless by the concurrence of 

 two-thirds of all the members of each House 

 of the General Assembly,' 1 Lieutenant-Govern- 

 or Caldwell, as presiding officer of the Senate, 

 at the time when the said act was upon its 

 passage, would not declare it passed, deeming 

 it unconstitutional, " because the bill did not 

 recite that it had the concurrence of two-thirds 

 of all the members of each House ; " but, the 

 act having been sent to the Executive for his 

 official ratification, Mr. Caldwell, in the capa- 

 city of acting Governor by reason of the im- 

 peachment trial of Mr. Holden, ratified it on 

 February 8, 1871, because the Governor of 

 North Carolina has no veto-power, nor any 

 power equivalent to it. On February 9th 

 Mr. Caldwell requested the justices of the Su- 

 preme Court to say whether the act was con- 

 stitutional, to which the Chief Justice, three 

 of his four associates agreeing with him, gave 

 answer, on the llth, that the act "is ia viola- 

 tion of the law." By a message, under date 

 of February 13th, Mr. Caldwell notified the 

 General Assembly that he declined to issue the 

 proclamation for the convention election, as 

 required of him by the act, because of its un- 

 constitutionally. 



In condemnation of the action of the Govern- 

 or and the Justices of the Supreme Court, and 

 as a protest against it, a preamble and reso- 

 lution were introduced into the Senate by one 

 of its members, on March 6, 1871 ; they were 

 put to the vote on March 22d, and adopted 

 yeas 26, nays 11. The House of Representa- 

 tives passed them on April 1st. 



A second bill, having the same object in 

 view, under the title of "An act to submit the 

 question of 4 convention ' or * no convention ' 

 to the people, and to provide for the election 



of delegates, two-thirds of the members of 

 each House of the General Assembly concur- 

 ring,'" *;> introduced in the Senate. This bill 

 required no proclaimuS*- - te issued ^by the 

 Governor for the convention election, H'uo or- 

 dered the sheriffs to open the polls at the 

 various precincts of their respective counties 

 on the first Thursday in August, 1871, and di- 

 rected the votes to be counted, and the result 

 announced, by the Attorney-General, the 

 President of the Senate, the Speaker of the 

 House of Representatives, and the Secretary 

 of State, or any two of them, and fixing their 

 meeting for this purpose on the fourth Thurs- 

 day in August, 1871; and ordered the dele- 

 gates elected, if a majority of the votes was 

 for a " convention," to assemble at the city of 

 Raleigh, on the fourth Thursday of September 

 ensuing. The power given by this bill to the 

 convention for proposing amendments to the 

 constitution was the same, and the restrictions 

 imposed upon it are limited to those four above 

 mentioned in the first act. 



This second bill passed both the Senate and 

 the House of Representatives. At its second 

 reading in the Lower House, March 31st, the 

 bill passed by a vote of yeas 71, nays 44, or a 

 majority of nine less than two-thirds, the 

 whole number of the members being 120, four 

 absent members and the Speaker included. 

 This vote was, on motion, reconsidered at the 

 same sitting; whereupon an amendment, to 

 strike out of the bill the words "two-thirds 

 of the members of each House concurring," 

 was made. 



The amendment was finally adopted yeas 

 57, nays 54; and the bill, so amended, passed 

 yeas 59, nays 36. 



The question of concurrence in the House 

 amendment was brought up in the Senate and 

 carried yeas 30, nays 11. 



On election-day, the calling of a convention 

 was defeated, the people having voted for 

 " no convention," by a majority of 9,245 votes. 

 The total vote was 86,007 for a convention, 

 and 95,252 votes against a convention. 



The legislative session of 1870-'71 was closed 

 by final adjournment on April 6th. Besides 

 the above-recited act " to suppress secret po- 

 litical organizations," and the two acts relative 

 to the calling of a constitutional convention, 

 the General Assembly passed also many other 

 laws of public interest ; in regard to finance, 

 "An act to raise revenue," specifying the 

 kinds of property, and the occupations taxable 

 in the State, and the amount of tax to be col- 

 lected on them, respectively; and the act 

 regulating the fees of county officers, and of 

 the clerk of the Supreme Court. In regard to 

 internal improvements, it passed about thirty 

 acts to charter or amend previously-granted 

 charters to different railways having both of 

 their termini within the State, or connecting 

 with outside lines ; some to clear canals, and 

 to favor transportation by water. 



Another session of the Legislature was com- 



