The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1867-11-28
TEse Alabama Convention,

Montgomery. Ala. (Noy. 1el correspondence of the
New York We'd.
There is a certain mouldy old delegate
ere-Bingham is him name and Vermont
Is his nation-whOm | have already at
tempted TO describe you as presenting the
general appearance of ghoul. The eyes
Of this ancient man are shark : eyes, with
great bags there beneath. His Eair is
4 rusted saw. He talks much in a quaky
screech, and as he grinds cut the word
= t-er-r-r-ai-tor, is de1oured by admiriug
negroes in the galleries with looks OF flame
The show Is rare one, and. as to-day 5
exhibition was progressing, visitor OBJ
served : = lie looks as If be had a furlough
from Ill that had almost run out. Z"
What adds 10 that point is that the visitor
was himself a radical, and yet the remark
admirably enibodies the prevalent conser-
vative opinion here OF this Alabama " con
ention. " The horror, the apprehension,
the fury with which the whites regard it
are something terrible. and yet, in the
midst Of this sentiment, appears deep
seated conviction that the whole thing is
too unutterably bad to last. In a prior
visit to Alabama, came to know something
Of the way in which the military Tower of
the United States was rrostituted to the
advancement Of the radical party, but that
knowledge was as nothing to the informa-
ton lately obtained. If an honest con-
gress;3nal committee could be obtained to
examine into, aud report upon, the whole
subject Of reconstruction in this state, the
people of the north would have such an
exhibit laid before them as would swamp
the yiliany in a whirlwind of popular dis
gust. La tie registration Of voters, IN the
apportionment Of electoral districts, in the
conduct Of the election, aud in the action,
s. tar, Of the convention, such riDR-
l.sirous illegalities appear that there is moth
ing short of az official report that could
/ give them credence. In this very city
where ! write. registrar boasted that he
+ had added 200 names Of his own mere will
and motion to the registration lists, and in
/ Perry county another registrar stated that,
il the polls failed TO show radical MAORI
| y hs would make them. y: the election,
minors voted negroes known To have stayed
ct home were put down as voting, and it
was received belief that suffrage meant
10 east 3 vote cash day an election contin-
ued. What all dis yer goin' up to town
mean ~ said one of the nations wards,
"gib al DEM tings 70 QUE ob de men, an
lot him put EN- IN de box" and this idea
! Of voting by proxy is widespread negro
belief. A further belief carefully inculca-
+ ted was that by registration the freedman
bound himself 70 vote and, in case he did
not 60 to the polls, would be sent TO the
peni'entiary for three years for breach of
promise, or " "jyidgsr truss" (breach Of
trust) as was carefully explained to me by
suflragan. Still another belcf-for hope
as well az fear was appealed to for a vote
was, that, by voting, a mule and forty
acres would, in the fullness of time, be the
fruit Of suffrage; on one occasion this con-
yictiOn was turned to a ludicrous account
a wag sitting near the polls asked some
negroes what good it would do thsm to put
the thing in the box, and was answered
with the usual mule and forty acres, where
Of the ticket, they had been told was the
certificate. "Then," said the wag, " il
you give mp your certificates TO that man
up there, he'll get all thc lands and mules
for he'll have all the tickets Don't you
see ?" Ethiopia did see it; go emphsti
cally that the last man of 'em trudced
homeward with "de stifkt" in death
like grasp, wholly declining all the allurina
Invitations given him TO vote.
AS the result of all this, the official fig
ures give 90, ,2S3 for convention and 5,5Sa
against, though, in place of these numer-
ais, any others with equal propriety might
have been put Figures don't lie, but they
may be made TO lie with great ezactness
1t was necessary to have majority for
convention, and necessity, as we are aware
knows no law-reconstructed or otherwise
The majority was had and the convention
/ is its seauence--a convention in which, OF
the 81 present, 16are negro barbors, coach
drivers. and Wallets, l9 are men Of southern
birth, IL of such unknown antecedents as
to seem, like Topsy, not to have been born