Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-03-19

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Report ora the Admissson Of Al.s.m.--
Majority OF the People In Favor Of the
Constitution.
WASHINGTON, March 10.
The Committee on Reconstruction, to
whom was referred the application of
Alabama, asking admission into the
Union as q sovereign State, reported this
morning as follows: That IL Is the inten-
ton to persue the spirit, IL not the letter
OF the law of March 23d, 1867, entitled an
act supplementary to an act entitled an
act TO provide for the more efficient gov
ernment of the Rebel States, passed
March 2, 1867 and to facilitate restoration.
They especially intended to enforce the
spirit Of that law when there seems to be
any conflict in the facts in evidence be-
tween the spirit and the letter. Such is
the true principle laid down by moral
jurists for the Government Of Judges
BY the act two things were evidently in
tended: one was to admit Alabama as q
State, IL after q full registration. with
time for deliberatiOn, majority Of per
sons should be i'm favor Of the admission;
the other was to prevent hasty and pre-
cipitate legislation before the people
should have duly examined the subject.
Hence the law provided that not only
Alabama, but all the Southern territory
should have all her legal voters register
ed by proper officers, and ifa majority of
legal voters thus registered should cast
their votes in favor Of Constitution, a
convention should be ordered for the pur-
pose of framing one, but IL majority of
all the registered voters by either their
own volition or casualty, should not
be cast against the Constitution, they
should be counted in the negative, most
unusual provision in our or any other
| Government. But in ordinary times IL
would have little effect.
On the day Of the Alabama election, q
most extraordinary and unexpected state
of things existed in very large portion
of the State, especially in the Republican
portion. Avery severe storm ragged from
morning tillynfght. : The streams were
swollen to such an impassable degree,
\ that it is testified by Governor Smith,
then elected Governor of the. State, and
from the polls numbers of voters who
would otherwise have attended. In at
tempting to reach the places of election,
one or more persons were drowned, which
deferred many from proceeding further
Thus, all who choose to stay away, were
counted as voting against the Constitu.
tion, though If they had all gone and
voted against it, itwould not have chang.
ed-the result from q positive majority in
it's faver to majority against it. A large
majority of legal voters, in the State are
known 10 have cast their ballot for it,
Decides very large proportion of the
registered voters were deferred by the
most infamous threats from coming t.
the polls, or, when there, from casting
their votes forthe Constitution by few
white men, and very few black mel
dared thus to cast their votes, lest they
should be deprived of the food for which
they are suffering. All this is proven BY
the sworn testimony of most respectable
citizens in a portion of Alabama. In
lasd neariy tsse, hundred. laborers hav,
voluntarily come forward, singly, ant
testified to their violent discharge, sine
the election, by their cruel employers
for having exercised the elective fran
chise occOrding to their own will ant
pleasure. 49,
Careful analysis has been made, as wei
as could be of the number of votes tina
were destroyed. Boxes were seized ant
thrown 1.-THE windows, and other mode
of violence used to destroy them; and i
is believed from all this that the numbe
Ofvotes thus destroyed and detained from
the polls by violence, outrage, and fraud
had they been cast, would have over
balanced all those counted against ths
Constitution, whether cast or not enum
Grated as cast, by reason of sickness
absence, or death. Some time before the
Alabama election, the Convention saw
the injustice of the law, and requested
| Congress to restore the majority princi
pie in the vote upon the adoption of the
Constitution. The House did not hesi
tate to perceive its justice and passed the
act and sent it to the Senate. The Sen.
ate by some unaccountable delay, from
motives which it is hard to fathom, suf.
fsred that act to sleep upon their Fl les for
two months, till after the fate of the
Alabama election was announced. They
then took it up and passed it, and it has
now passed both Houses of Congress-
The principle, therefore, that a majority
Of the votes east should govern, has been
| restored, and your committee can see no
reason why it should not govern in the
present case. The circumstances of the
the election, the violence of human pas
sion but little less malignant and raging,
and the wild frenzy of former masters at
the polls, together with the evident in
justice Of the principle in question, upon
which no one has acted, seems to your
committee to demand that Alabama
should be admitted into the Union as one
of the States thereof. But while this
free people are rebuilding a mighty ma
ton, in which there must be no taint of
despotism or injustice they have exam
iped carefully all the provisions of the
Constitution, and, as precedent which
they hope will never be departed fran,,
becomes necessary by the Injustice of the
sister States, they have determined that
no State shall ever be admitted into the
Union, where the right of universal suf-
frage shall not be made permanent and
impossible of violation. Fearing. also,
that some cunning scheme might be
devised by which peonage, such as is
already established in some of the South
American States, might be created, we
recommend the passage ofthe act for the
admission of Alabama as q State in the
Union"
The Public Dsbt--ssesemsn MT for March
Ist--A Decrease OF s7,4s5,75I.
w WASuINGT0N Mareh q The foIlow-