Letter from Rev. Lewis Woodson.

THE CONSTITUTION.

MR. EDITOR:—Since the publication of
the Constitution of our "National Council,"
in your paper of the 15th inst., I have had
my attention called to some of its provisions
by gentlemen who desire to understand and
forward its designs; but which, after due ex
amination, I find myself unable clearly to
understand, or explain to the satisfaction of
others. I therefore, to assist myself and my
friends out of a difficulty, call for an "Ex
pounder of the Constitution."

Art. 1 says, "The Council shall consist of
two members from each State represented in
this Convention, to be elected by this Con
vention, and two other members from each
State, to be elected as follows." The Con
stitution then goes on to provide for the
formation of State Councils, and from what
preceded, we should suppose it would direct
that each State Council should elect the two
other members before mentioned; but in
stead of this, it says, "The State Council
thus elected, shall meet on the first Monday
in January, 1854, and elect additional mem
bers to the National Council, in the propor
tion of one to five thousand of the colored
population of such State." Now this seems
to be directly in the face of the first provis
ion, which says, "The National Council shall
be composed of two other members from
each State;" for, according to this provision,
some States, as for instance Pennsylvania,
would be entitled to elect ten other members,
some only one, and some, as for instance
Vermont, none at all; for it has less than
one thousand colored inhabitants.

Now can these provisions be harmonized?
Or if they cannot be harmonized, can one of
them be dispensed with? And if one of them
can be dispensed with, which of them should
it be? I confess I have my doubts whether
any second party, not authorized to do so,
has the power to make such alterations as
this document seems to require; but if the
power to alter exists, and it is exercised, I
hope it may be in favor of the latter provis
sion; for it would confound all sense of jus
tice and equity to give a population of 710
the same power in the Council as a popula
tion of 53,201.

Did we not wish to avoid all appearance of
unnecessary faultfinding, we might here
notice at some length, that provision of the
Constitution which requires that each State
Council shall consist of neither more nor

less than twenty members. Is it proper that
Pennsylvania, with a population of fifty-three
thousand, should have a State Council of no
greater number than Vermont, with a popu
lation of only second hundred and ten? The
sovereignty of the States should have been
regarded, and the number of its Council left
for each to decide.

But pursuing our examination of the Con
stitution still further, another difficulty
arises. The Convention elected twenty
members of the National Council, which,
when its number shall have been completed,
will not be more than one half, and author
ised this half to proceed immediately to the
discharge of the duties of the Council. The
other half cannot be elected, and take their
seats in the Council until the end of one
whole year from the election of the first half.
Now is it in accordance with the principles
of justice and equity that a body only half
constituted should begin, and continue to
act, for one whole year, as though it were en
tirely constituted? Is this showing a de
cent respect to the will of those yet to be
elected, and whose election is necessary to
perfect the body? Or can the act of any
half constituted be legal?

These being to us the more serious diffi
culties in the way of a clear and satisfactory
comprehension of the provision of the Con
stitution, we waive any notice of minor ones,
and anxiously wait for the reply of the "Ex
pounder of the Constitution."

Yours, &c.,

LEWIS WOODSON.

PITTSBURGH, July 27th, 1853.