Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-01-29
Resolved That the Forthcoming Copstitu.


coming of age after the first OF January,
1875, Shall possess the qualifications of read
ing and writing inteIligep'ly in order to be
aLle to vote Referred to the Committee on
Franchise aud Elections.
+. a. Randolph offered Q resolution, which
vas voted down, that the constitution shall
hereafter make no distinction on account of
color in such laws as it may adopt with refer
ence to the public schools.
The special order for O'clock the consid-
Grafton of au ordinance for the division Of
Pickens District, was announced by the Pres
ident, whereupon lively debate ensued.
Messis. l.. B. johnson, Parker, Duncan,
Donaldson, aud some fur or Eve negroes ad-
voc ,tcI the measure, whilst DeLaTge, Whip
per, and other colo:ed "gemmen," with equal
power and eloquence, opposed the proposition,
Finally, on motion o Mr.. 1. j. Moses, Jr.,
the >p :cial order was discharged until one
O'Clock next Monday.
TIE next special order taken up was the
petition to General Candy for the stay OF all
executions on debts contracted prior to the
3Oth OF June, 1868.
On this question We copy as reported in
the NtrS
The objec; of the opposition was to kill it
by amcnament. Two or three were offered &,
waen Del rye (coiorea) called for the p;evi'
ous question subsequently this was recon
sidered, and T. j. Robertson, Esq, read q
speech which he had prepared on the subject.
He claimed thai those who had brought
about the imI orershcd condition of the coun-
try were not the poor men or the loyal mcu,
bu; those WIN pretend 10 represent its wisdom,
intelligence and wealth.
II IS this class who were clamoring for
s:sv laws and homestead laws. Some of them
assert thai they cannot live in this couatry-
that war of "a ;es is ine viable. Thy are
the principal debtors Of the State, and do not
want 10 pay their debts, and they never will
s, org ss they have unconstitutional stay
laws to protect them.
For one he would say, let the property Of
the country change hands, and if lands sell
cheap, SO much better for tie poor man of
the STATE, ecause it will enable him 10 pTo.
vide himself with home, and thus identify
himself with the soil.
GMr. Robertson did not say, in this conncc
ton, that With one hundred Of his four hun
deed thousand dollars he expected, on the
first Of February next, to absorb the proper
ty Of probably seventy-fve poor farmers and
turn them adrift in the world to seek homes
elsewhere
The men, said the speaker, who are asking
for relief, are those who d. no not recognize
the validity OF the Reconstruction acts of
Congress, and who refused 10 vote for d It.
gates, to this convention. Some of them
called the convention - meaaserio, but it is
the mcnager:c which is to protect their prop
erty at the expense of the loyal citiz ns and
working men OF the country.
The speaker continued in this vein, so We'll
calculated To appeal to the passions Of the
colorcd clement, AID when Mr.. Robertson
ook his scat, he WAS f,io~-ci BY r. II. Cain.
Of Charleston, . co!ored preacher, who said
that tie only reason why this p;culiay ques
ton Was before the house was because it
Affected the poCr man as much if not more
than it did the rich. He was in favor of
measures of relief, but die not believe that
any act of the convention could effect relief
in such manner as would be either just or
constitutional Even ii it possessed the pow
er, the men to be most greatly benefited By
the passage Of the resolutions belonged to
that class who. since the war, have done all
they could to antagoniZe the true progress Of
the country. If these people had made con-
tracts they had done so with their eyes open.
If they now suffered it was only in conse
quence Of their own sins, and for one he was
not willing to afford them any relief whatever.
They not only should sell their lands, but be
would make them sell their lands and give
the poor man chance.
The remarks Of Cain were thoroughly y rcvo-
lutionary in their character, sdroitly made,
and well calculated to arouse, as ne intended
they should, the passions Of the coiored dele.
gates. The speech will probably have the cf-
feet Of dividing the two races on the floor,
breaking up all combinations Of moderate
men, and dragging such as Whittemore, Bow
en-, Whipper, Wright Langley, and others
into Tie ranks of the negro extremists.
We said at the beginning of our reports
that the negroes had the advantage of intel
lect on the floor, and le,. more such cxhi-
bitions as those of Cain will draw the whito
men body and soul into the range Of colored
control. No colored man will dare to risk
his reputation by answering Cain, or put him
self beyond the pale of his party by antago-
n;zing what are now evidently the prcjudiccs
of the convention.
The hour of adjournment arrived in the
midst of the debate, and the convention &C.
corlingly rested from its labOrs."