Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-10-23
TERMS OF ADvERTIsINa:s y
VIRGINIA.

The returns Of the registering officers show
,,4g5S whites and J0l, 553 blacks, making a
white majority of Is, 400 votes The books Of
the Commissioners Of Revenue for that State
for last year show that there were 13l, ,SlS
white males listed for taxation, and to this
number we might now expectato witness a:
small increase by means of minors coming to
age. Deducting the whiteTegistered vote from
this number, we find the number disfranchised
by the law to be about II, 900 votes !or Vir-
ginia alone. - - -
If, however, We turn to the number OF color
ed males over twenty-one years OF age listed for
taxation by the Commissioners, we find there
are only II, ,20l. m .s.tgS saIs4.s..5 Es4. I.j 49,
These Commissioners OF the Revenue took,
account of every man, white orblack, In the
State They did their work in 1866, when the
latelreconstruotion acts were not passed, and
hardly even thought Of They had no posi-
Bile political motive to make the white list
larger or the black list smaller than facts war
usual Radical theory, that these ex-rebel Off
GERS had bias against the black man, and were
not disposed to treat him fairly, We must be:
lieve that they would be very particular in
hunting up the blacks and listing them, SO as
to throw on this class Of the population their
full share Of the taxes. .s.a5s5 zasga;li4. y
And yet while the Commissioners of the
Revenue have found only 1901 blacks for the
purposes of taxation, the registration officers"
have been able to enrol l0l ,553-this is to say,
24,552 more than the others s as a3@a
There were various modes of accomplishing
this business Negroes are difficult Of Identified
tion, especially in cities and towns and it is
there, therefore, that we find the greatest ex-.
cess in registration Of negroes over the lists ar
rived at by the tax commissioners. The same
negro has been made to do service by register
ing in two or three different districts, with as
many different names; and although at re
cent election some of these colored men forgot
their aliases, and thus lost their vo tes, yet we
apprehend that on the election their memories
will Iberefreshed by means of the ready access
their friends will have to the registration books.
The most fruitful source Of fraud, however,
was by registering every we'll eolored lad
who presented himself, from eighteen years Of
age and upwards By this meansa very large
addition to the list has been secnred. And yet
who does not know that very few .colored men
we're ever able to tell their ages until admitted
to- the ballot? They now learn their ages all
of a sudden, and, with the encouragement OF
the registration officers, swear to them
And yet disfranchisemen of II, 1000 whites,
and registration of 1882 blacks, was
not enough; there was still majority of 49,
400 white men in the Old Dominion. What
was to be done with this ugly fact? Accord
ing to all ordinary and fair rules the whites
would have a majority of the convention pro-
portioned to their majority on the poll books.
The districts were then arranged as to give thir
teen colored majority in the convention, Md
htelhgencer go -