The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-11 00:00:00

THE SOUTHERN CON TiE/V 2'/ ONS.

The Republican Convention congratulates the
country on the assured success of the Reconstruc-
tion projects of Congress as evinced by the adop-
tion in a majority of the States lately in rebellion
of constitutions securing equal civil and political
rights to all, and regard it as the duty of the Go-
vernment to sustain these institutions. It is worth
while on this important subject to glance at the
nature of these Constitutions, and to ascertain
what the real grounds are for the congratula-
tions of the Convention on the progress of Re-
construction. The States brought back, as our
readers are aware, are Arkansas, the bill for
the admission of which has been passed by
both Houses of Congress, the Senate on June 2
having adopted it by 34 against 8 votes ; North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana
have passed the House of Representatives, and the
bills were about to be sent up to the Senate ; the
majority in both assemblies in favour of the admis-
sion being so large as to secure the measure against
any contingency. We have seen so much ridicule,
contempt, and abuse thrown upon the State Con-
ventions assembled to frame the Constitutions that
we looked for little that is good in the instruments
prepared. So continuous and so telling was the
sarcasm, such a fertile subject of ridicule did the
" Cuffees" and " Sambos" furnish, who bad the
audacity to come forward as the framers of Consti-
tutions for States in which they had lately been sold
as chattels—so agreeable is the feeling even to
Republican minds of race or any other supe-
riority, that while these Conventions found
numerous detractors, they found few defenders.
These detractors is scarcely any instance had deigned
even to glance at the work of the Conventions so
formed. Sambo was there—and what can be ex-
pected from a pig but a _grunt. The very man
who has just enjoyed his slice of ham can thus m m-
Ho the pig, one of the most useful animals, and,
as a Turk said, the only one "good from the snout
to the tail." We have, however, before us the tes-
timony of one who has carefully examined these
Constitutions. No one can say that the writer in
the Nation is unqualified to form an opinion. Se-
lecting those of Alabatna and Florida as fair speci-
mens, he says Alabama was the first State in the
field with a Constitution quite as R idical as any
since published, and subsequently invested with a
peculiar interest by reason of the struggle over its
adoption, and the practical lesson taught by that
struggle. The writer represents it as differing
little in most respects from its predecessor, which
was so satisfactory to its opponents. The radical
innovations are the establishment of universal suf-
frage without tests, for white and black alike,
which is coupled, of course, wits the formal abo-
lition of slavery, and the recognition of the supre-
macy of the National Government. From this point
the old and the new Constitutions run in parallel
and similar courses; the new taking up every
topic of the old until the subject matter is
exhausted. The first additions were matters of
necessity, bat the last additions were matters of
expediency, and on their utility the document must
be judged. They are comprised mainly in Articles
XI. and XII.; the former establishes by a long
and thorough series of enactments a complete sys-
tem of universal popular education, with ample
sources of revenue to maintain it permanently in
vigorous working order. The latter creates a bureau
of industrial resources, with large powers and cor-
respondingly
important duties, among which are
the discovery and investigation of all the material
resources of the State, and the general diffusion of
information concerning them, as well as itnpr we-
inents in machinery, agriculture, and manufac-
tures. The writer declares it to have been
the honest object of the framers to keep all
of good transmitted to them from the past,
and to engraft upon it all the improvements
suggested by later years. Time Constitution of
Florida has more points of interest and novelty,
and presents more matter for astonishment than
any of its fellows_ Twenty out of eighty members
of the Convention were blacks, yet the Constitution
probably surpasses in Conservatism that of any
State in the Union. A stable—and what is gene-
rally termed a "strong"—administration must, one
would say, have appeared to these politicians to be
the sunznzumbonum. Thus the Governor and Senators
hold office for the unusually long terms of four
years, and the members of the Assembly two
years. The Executive arm is further strengthened
by the privilege of appointmentin conjunction with
the Senate to nearly every office of trust, power, or
executive importance in the State. On the other
hand, the legislative is limited to an annual session
of only sixty days unless sp .cially convened by the
Governor, when it may hold another session of
twenty days. The Governor appoints and the Se-
nate confirms the Judges, of whom those of the
Supreme Court hold their position for life or during
good bebaviour, and those of the Circuit Court for
eight years. The customary Governor's council or
advisary board is a Cabinet proper, in which sits a
Commissioner of Immigration and a Superinten-
dent of Public Instruction ; and to judge from the
duties mapped out for this latter functionary he
will be the busiest and one of the most powerful
officials in the State. Provision is made against
bribery and tumult at elections; principals and
seconds to duels or challenges, and persons inte-
rested in any election bet or wager are denied the
right of suffrage ;. officers may be impeached for
drinking, gambling, and any conduct detrimental
to good morals. After the year 1880 the Legisla-
ture is bound to pass laws requiring educa-
tion qualifications in all persons voting for the
first time after that date. Now who are
they who have passed the Constitutions thus
framed ? The members were chosen by the com-
bined votes of blacks and whites, without either
educational or other restrictions. Tue canvas on
the part of the Republicans was active and
thorough, and the negroes in the first flush of a
power of the extent of which they were fully in-
formed. ,In Virginia, North Carolina, and Mis-
sippi, the black delegates were outnumbered by the
white Conservatives. In all the States except
Louisiana (where the yellow fever had frightened
away multitudes of whites) and South Carolina, the
black members were in so small a ratio as to be by
themselves utterly powerless. In all the others the
proportions ranged from a minimum of one-fifteenth
in Arkansas to a maximum of about one-quarter in
Florida. These figures prove that an immense
majority of the coloured people must have thrown
their ballots for white candidates, and a not incon-
siderable minority conferred their votes on thorough-
paced Conservatives ; thus showing that they were
not influenced by the dividing line of colour, nor,
indeed, by the desire to return those whose prin-
ciple it was to establish their ascendancy. That
they chose wisely is best proved by the work ; when
this is better understood throughout the Union it will
go far to justify Congress iu its
policy of Reconstruc-
tion, and to break downtime prejudice which exclu les
coloured men from the suffrage in the loyal States.
These facts will be hailed with pleasure by the nu-
merous advocates of the coloured people in this
country, as well as in America, and it is seldom
that we have recorded anything with more satis-
faction. These proceedings are the best guarantee
of a return to peace and prosp.rity in the Southern
States than which few subjects now agitating
mankind are of greater importance. Let any per-
son compare these facts with sack an article, for
instance, as that which last Thursday appeared in
ofcreroceunstapirroteoeethdeinfigrsstalm ost ludi
the Pall Mall Gazette, where it is asserted that the
r es Congressoluti
oa
of giveth Chicagotheeaii
Con-
vention. The adoption of the tone into a formal