Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-03-27

Also, this substitute for section ) Of the
| same article:
| The following classes shall be disoual
flied from office: First, All persons who
shall deny the being of Almighty God; ID.
All persons who shall have been convicted
| OF treason, perjury or of any infamous
crime since becoming citizens of the Uni,
ted States, or of corruption or malpractice
IN office, unless such persons shall have
been legally restored to the rights OF citi-
| zenship."
Mr.. Durham said persons of color had
become citizens since the passage of the
| Civil Rights bill, and of course every ne
gro who had been convicted of an ina
nous crime before the war, during the war
and even since the war, would not be dis
! tranchlsed; but white man, here at home,
would be deprived of his rights to vote if
| he had been convicted OF crime. A ne
gro, no matter what may have been the
nature of his crime, committed within the
| last three, four or six years, would not be
intcrfered with, but eChde nacGa wonld be.
Mr.. Durham then moved to strike the
| words 'slnce becoming a citizen of the
United States, - giving the above reasons
| for wishing to SO amend.
The question REQUIRED upon Mr.. Dur
hams amendment. Mr. d. asked for the
yeas and nays, but Mey acere refused, and
| the amendment was voted down.
The article as amended was put on its
passage and adopted by a strict party vote
| of yeas 70, nays II.
Mr.. French, of Chowan, introduced an
ordinance chartering the Albemarle Rail
| road Co.
Mr.. French moved to suspend the rules
and put the ordinance on its passage, and
explained the provisions of the ordinance
at some length.
Mr.. Moore opposed the passage of the
ordinance. He said that the State had al
ready been run into debt beyond her abil-
ity to pay for forty years to come.
Mr.. Pool said that he had opposed all
Railroad schemes presented here and would
vote against this one, though he thought
it had greater claims upon the considera-
ton of the Convention than any yet pre-
sented.
The question recurred upon the motion
to suspend the rules, and the motion was
| lost, sufficient number not voting.
Hayes (negro), of Halifax, offered the
following resolution
That it is the sense of this Convention
that intermarriageS and illegal intercourse
between the races should be discontinued,
and the interest and happiness of the two
races would be best promoted by the cstab-
AonLASuI VI ot EJdlttS SCuOOlS.
The rules were suspended and the resO-
luton WAS adopted, after q refusal to hHre
| tie yeas and nays.
Mr. Gambler now moved to reconsider
the vote taken last night upon Mr.. Ellis
amendment to Hoods ordinance, LEGAL
ILING all marriages celebrated under
license issued by the military.
Hood (negro) moved to lay the motion to
| reconsider on the table.
The yeas and nays were called for and
had. and resulted in the following ballot
IEAs.-Messrs. Andrews, Benbow, Bume,
Bryan, Carey, (negro) Carter, Cherry, (negro,
COgrove, Congloton, Cox, Dickey, Eppos, (negro,
| Fisher Forkner, Franklin, French, of Rocking
| ham, Gahagan, Galloway, (uegro,) Gunter, Har-
ris, of Wake, (negro,) Hayes. Of Halifax, (negro)
| Highsmith, (neGro,l Hood, negro,l Lyman, me
! gro,) Kinney, Latin, Marshall, Mcdonald, OF
| More, Morton, Murphy, Nance, person, negro.
70 |, Ray Renfrow, smith Silly, Stilwell, Sweet
| and Tucker.
| NAYs.-Messrs. Aydlott Baker, Bradley, Cand.
| Ter, Daniel, Duckworth Durham. Etheridge,
| George, Glover. Grahsm, of Orange, Hare, Hof-
| tier, HoIloweIl, Holt Jones of Caldwell, Lennon,
McCubbins, Merritt, Patrick, Parks, Read, Rose,
| Sanderlin, Turner and Williams, of Wake.
Harris, of Wake, NEGRO from the COM
mittee appointed to investigate the alleged
| frauds in the election Of Plato Durham.
| ESQ, reported that they lad failed to cOlIec1
SUIT lent evidence to inculpate Mr.. Durham,
| and asked to be discharged from further
consideration of the matter.
Mr. Durham then arose and said
l have to say, sir, in reference to this re-
port, that, from the beginning, the whole
matter has been a most fraudulent and
cowardly attempt to cast reproach upon
! my character. and to prevent an investiga-
ton oi the alleged fraud in passing certain
| ordinances which have passed this Conyen-
ton. Fearing an investigation of the
charges contained in the resolutions intro
| duced by myself to investigate these cor
ruptiOns, these charges of fraud in my elec
ton were trumped up by parties inside and
outside of this Convention. to intlmldate
and drive me from that investigation. And,
| sir, [ must be allowed here to say that, in
| the appointment of the delegates to serve
| with me on that Committee of investiga-
| ton, it was the intention of the President
| to prerem full and fair investigation, or
1t was intended as an insult to myself. Ii
| the latter, can only say that [ cannot be
| insulted in any such manner. The rela-
| tions between one of the members of The
! Committee (Ashley) and myself were LnOacn
| by the President to be very unpleasant, and
| he also Rne1U that had refused, from the
| commencement of the session, to recognize
| the delegate from Wake, the other member
of the Committee. And yet Mese are the
delegates that the President appointed tc
serve with me upon that Committee.
The appointment was intended to pre-
vent investigation and to insult me. But
as stated before, [ was not lnSulted, MOI
can be from Ghy such source. It was my
intention, at first, to refuse to meet these
delegates. Soon afterwards, threats of vlo
lence were indicated, if the investigation
shall be proceeded with. [ then convened
the Committee, merely because these COW
ardly threats were made.
The resolutions in reference to my elec
ton, introduced by the black sc0u"|t''el iron
Wake, were conceived in iniquity anc
fraud by him alone, but by certain
parties outside Of this COnrentiOn, who
when they could not combat the arguments
of honorable men, resorted to this bastard
ly and lying manner to cast reproach upon
my private character. And when the dele
gate from Pasquotank &C.. c. POOL signed
the report, without any evidence OF even :
meeting of the Committee, he acted mos
unbecomingly, to say the least of it.
~ y, T I n