The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-09-12
POLITICS IN GEORGIA.
THE EXPULSION OF THE coLoRED MEMBERS OF
THE LEGISLATURE.
Icorrespopaeuce of the New YORK. Times !

THE EXPULSION OF THE CoLoRED MEMBERS OF
THE LEGISLATURE.
Correspondence of the New York Times]
ATLANTA, GA, September 4.-The decision o.
the House Of Representatives of the Genera
Assembly of Georgia, that negroes are ineliRi
BILE to seats in the Legislature, is the subject o.
discussion which excludes all others at this
moment. While it was under debate nobody
seemed to think OF anything else, and now thai
the question is settled, and the House has de-
cided that under the constitution and laws o.
Georgia free persons Of color are ineligible tt
Office, everybody seems to concur In the deci
sion except the colored members, but there is
very general anxiety felt as to what Will be
the result OF the step.
The fact that only 80 few white members
voted in the negative deprives tho action ol
the House of any partisan character. Demo
yea and there can be no doubt that the
speeches OF the negro members, in defence oi
what they called their rights did not convince
many, but, on the contrary, inclined many
who were in doubt to give the benefit of the
doubt to the proposition to exclude the color
ed persons. Chief Justice Browns argument
in favor Of negro neligibility has had great
weight with Radical members, and his inau-
ecce has been exerted with great effect among
those who believed that citiz anship necess 1rily
carries with it the right to hold office. Gov
ernor Bullock, it is said, favored the view ia
ken by th" Chief Justice, and Is much graft
fed by the action Of the House, believing that
it relieves him from the opportunities of negro
applicants for Office, whose number is legion.
LAWYERS. without distinction of party, or
rather, I should say, without reference to
party sustain and oppose Judge Browns opln-
ion; and many pr, minent jnrists hold that,
un ier the existing constitution OF Georgia,
and since the Adoption OF the constitutional
Amendment, negroes are as eligible to seats ln
the Legislature as would be Daniel Webster
and Henry Clay, were they alive and residents
OF Georgit, and that there is no necessity for
any express enactment declaring negroes eli
gible to Office. They are citizens beyond the
possibility of question; and if they are males
over twenty-one years Of age, and residents o.
Georgia for the prescribed time, they can be
elected to the Legislature just as legally ae a
white man. They may not be fitted for the dis
charge Of the duties. They are not, it is uni
versaliy admitted by all parties who have seen
or heard them since the Legislature met. But
the same obje tion lies to their exercise OF
the right Of suffrage, which nobody denies is
conferred upon them by the existing const1tu-
ton. When the new constitution was framed
by the Atlanta Convention, proposed clause
specially conferring the right to hold office on
the negroes was struck out By very large ma
iority. Bryant, 1 think, voted for striking
out on the ground that it was surplusage, and,
and Brown were said to have advocated it, for
the reason that il negroes were declared eligi-
BILE to office, the white men Of Northern Geor-
eia who favored reconstruction would certainly
oppose the constitution and defeat its adop-
ton. During the sitting Of the Convention
Ex-Governor Brown made Q speech, in which
he emphatically warned the Convention
not to confer the right TO hold Office, as the
Reconstruction acts did not require it, and
plainly told his euJience that if the right were
granted he should use all his influence to de-
feat the con stitution, as dangerous to the best
interests Of the State. During the canvass he
maintained that the constitution did not con-
fer the right, and he has since steadfastly
held to that opinion. Citizenship, he holds,
does not carry with it eligibility to Office. Wo-
men and children are ci izens, but they cannot
hold Office; and in proof that such Is The opinion
of Congress, also, he pointed to the fact, that
when il was intended to confer the right on
negroes to hold Office in the District OF Column
bia. where Congress is omnipotent, it was
Kor1nd necessary TO pass n special statute to
that effect. in addition to the previous acts
which declared them to be citizens.
Whether this reasoning be good in law or
not, do not presume to say: Certain 1t ls
that it has influenced the members Of the Le-
eislature, and that, as judges of the quali6ca-
tions of their own members, they have decid-
ed, by an immense majority of the white re-
presentatlvey, that negroes, with more than
one-eiehth negro blood, do not possess the ne
cessary qualifications.
The question now is, what will the negroes
do? WlI they submit peaceably OF will the they
maintain their claims by force, or Will they ac-
auresce in q judgment which most OF their
most earnest friends have pronounced?
There is considerable uneasiness felt and e1-
pressed on this subject. In many parts OF the
State, and especially in Southern and South
western Georgia, reports are life OF large negro
assemblies organized and drilling as armed
bodies; but as yet have not heard OF any act
of violence or any threats OF violence except
from the ir1epressible Bradley, whose am
bition it is to be another Toussaint Overture.
The negro members who are Immediately
affected by the decision are very wrath, and
talk very menacingly, but it is to be hoped
that they will be persuaded Of the folly and
fruitlessness of any attempt to reverse by
force what the House Of Representatives have
done by what almost amounts to an unanl-
nous vote.
siders is why the Radicals voted to exclude
the piepers." There q, 9 all sorts Of solutions
given. One is that it ls dodge to excite the
negroes to insurrection. Another ls that the
white Radicals are jealous o; the negro aspi-
rants for Office, and want to have all the offices
for themselves Another insists that 1t is
grand scheme to influence the people OF the
North for Grant and Colfax, and that it is got
up to order. Those who belive that the Radi-
ell members voted according to their conMc-
ton of the true intent and meaning OF the Con-
stitution of the State OF Georgia, ihd more d!th-
cuIty in uersuading others to adopt their view
thai those who favor the less charitable con,
struction Of the motives Of the scalawags !"
and "carpet-baggers."
bate has come to an end. The taxpayers,
who have to make up the hundred and seven
ty-five times nine dollars day, were begin
ming to grumble Justify at the waste OF time
and tho heavy loss to the State, and it is now
that sea Ey basness sIa g Ds T a