Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1867-03-19
A Great Speech.

Hunnicut's speech at the recent Colored
Mass Meeting, in Richmond, and lis plan of
action, are thus given in the Richmond Dis
patch:
He said the present rebel Legislature
lad, not in6hth ago, rejected the constitu-
tional amendment, and that now they were
suddenly in favor of calling convention to
conform with the provisions of the Sherman
bill, and that he knew that they did not wish
to accede to this from a sense of right but be-
cause they want to keep 'l-o>y>aI' men out of
power He spoke of Gov l'eirpoint aa hat-
ing sold the loyal men of the State, and said
that he had denounced President johnson
shortly after his accession to power, aud his
opinion had not since changed. 'By the
Eternal said he, 4 would rather vote for
Gov. Wise this night than for this double faced
Union -Secessiouist.'
The negro had long waited for this day, and
the white man had bit little idea that it vas so
near at hand two months ago. He went on
to recite the facts of the passage Of the Sher-
man bill over the veto, and added, Even old
Reverdy johnson voted for it, He was pre-
sent at the Alexandria election, and saw that
the negroes knew we'll enough who to vote
for. And at the next election you'll know
who to vote for, wont you" TCrowd
yes! dat We will You wont vote for joe
Mayo for Mayor again, will you? TVociferous
yells OF No no dat we wont. He aint gwine
never be Nayoragin y Yes my fellow citizens.
then you will know the men who were afraid
TO take the New Mutton the men who were
afraid to meet loyal men in their meetings;
the men who were not afraid to call at the
New Nation office, etc The men who were
afraid to stand by me in the storm will de-
nounce; and those who did stand by me I in
tend to advocate and support with my pen
LCheers and cries Of Oats rightrI
The speaker then went on to give his plans
fof.action. L intend said he, 'to hold a con.
vention. First, there will be primary meet
ing OF Union men black and white The col
ored men are to be admitted upon an equality
with the white men, and will co. operate with
them if they are loyal. There will be no fac
tlons. pledge myself to be governed by the
majority of votes as TO what course shall pur-
sue and you know what Hunnicut says he
generally stands up to. . [Cries of Oats so u
shall ignore everything the Legislature does.
Let the Legislature call convention. and
I'll follow on. IF they do not do what is
right will complain to Congress. They
Will without doubt call convention. and
will elect men to rule US out. l will wager
that there will not be ten loyal mcfS in it.
EVoice in the crowd. No, dere won't be nary
one, Great laughter Well report this
lie then went on to say that this primary
meeting would be held in Nav, and would be
a sort OF an advisory meeting in which all
the cities, towns, and counties in the State
would be represented. This meeting would
devise plan by which the 'l-o>yal men in
the State could act in harmony The dele
gates could then so home and nominate can
dldates for the convention. They would hold
an election, convene the convention in the lat.
ter part of September or beginning of Octo-
ber 1t would be delayed until that time,
In order to give time to inform the negroes in
the country the way they were to vote. The
''rebels" would act in any way to get votes
and IN the rural districts it would not be safe
for negro five miles from the polls at the
next election to leave the field and 90 to vote.
His life would be in danger. Voices in the
crowd "Dat's SO, 'twould dat."l If they
would wait, however, that would be all right;
the military would protect them. Bv Sen.
tember they would not be afraid to 90 to the
polls, and they could vote safely against the
most popular men the ':rebels" had.
After the election, the Convention vouId
convene In September, frame their Constitu
ton, submit it to Congress, and it would GER
tainly be received; ''tor, thank COD Tha5
Stevens, Ben. Butler, and Charles Sumner
are still there. We need not be afraid of
the opposite party, their Constitution will
never be received: They rla7 send it in. but
We ne Will tell Congress by whom it t7as framed.
Inc convention convened by the Legislature
was composed of traitors" After their Con-
stltutIon had been accepted by Congress they
mouiu proceed to elect governor, congress-
mon, Legislators and have everything their
own way, and just have high old time gen
erally" '- '-'--O een-