The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-01-25

views with regard 10 the Acknowledgement of trai-
Tors, but on the principle that II was wrong to
make The innocent suffer with the guilty. he op-
posed any Acknowledgement whateyer. With re-
gard to the new constitutional amendment 1t only
dissbes certain parties from holding Office, not
from voting, and this disability will be renewed
so soon as the States shall be back again in the
Union. Congress does not expect 10 have these
excluding clauses hanging forever over the heads
OF The Southern people. No free government
can long stand where any considerable mass OF
her intelligent and thinking people are prescribed
and disfraDchised. Congress did not xpect these
proscHpuve clauses prolonged by Incorporation
into the State constitutions He agreed with the
delegate preceding him in not wishing to return
good for evil.
Upon motion of Judge Cooley, Negsham's
amendment was laid on the table.
Wicklihe, Of Orleans, offered a substitute, ex-
GLIDING from the elective franchise and from
holding Office, all disfranchsed by acts of Con.
greSs. Two fatal mistakes, he said had been made
by those who had canvassed the question. They
had either feared that to carry out the
1t would strike back on themselves or on some
one else among their friends. For himself. be
willing TO make the sacrifice of his life, if ii
necessary for the good of the country. This
question Is simply one of practical craftsmanship
involving the peTpetuity of the Union. Disfran-
thisement Is an essential measure for this end.
u is the doctrine of self preservation, the first
wv OF nature. He did not believe that two
wroDi made right, but tie illustration as intro
duced by preceding speaker was not pertinent.
The experience OF the past taught him that what
ths Confederates had attempted once, they would
attempt again, should the opportunity offer, aud
Audy johnson is leading to-day the movement
which Jefferson Davis failed TO carry out. II
Congress cannot trust these men. can you trust
them? This prescription does not exclude the
mssses-but only their leaders. In striking down
the leaders you strike down the people.
The speaker discussed the question at consider
able length, assailing the course Of President
johnson and upholdng that of Congress, upon
rh hfa m dina mt MAJ haaa
other things, saying to the colored people that
they would be worse THAI simpletons to give up
to their enemies the power now placed in their
hands.
Packard, of Algiers. regretted that the dele
gate preceding him had failed to advance any
Arguments showing why his amendment should
take precedence OF that previously offered by the
speaker. The latter, he commended, was the more
cOmprt hensye Of the two. He urged upon the
convention to go into the struggle clad ia the
amor which Congress had given it, He was not
willing yet 10 trust himself in the hands of those
men who had betrayed him. Should the dele
ga'es do so, they were false to the people who
sent them here.
Judge Cooley was perfectly willing to pass By
IN aOticed the argument adduced by a preceding
speaker (Mr. Wickhie) as too dirty to soil his
hands with it. But when he cane to bolster it
up with the reconstruction acts, he could not neg
lect the opportunity TO show the delegates the
attempt made deliberately 10 humbug them.
Congress, in the fifth section, had directed that
the franchise should be conferred upon coiored
men, but it never intended to dis!ranchise
others. The only Acknowledgement contained in
the original reconstruction act is found fifteen or
twenty lines lower The speaker analysed the
various clauses Of the reconstruction acts relative
10 acknowledgements, giving them an entirely
different explanation from that given by Mr. Wick
lfie)
How does the fact of man having held an
office forty years before effect his having been
subsequently guilty Of treasOnl The latter crime
Is entirely independent Of the former circum-
stance. Forrest, Of Tennessee, is to-day a voter,
while Robt. E. Lee, the gentleman soldier is ex-
cluded. Here you see the practical injustice
which you propose. The man who has been a
constable, who has dispensed charities in the ca
pacity of hospital warden, who has been po-
llceman to protect you from robbery or the sssas-
sin, becomes, under this law, nonentity,
nothing; while. on the other hand, a man who
may have been too young to have held those
Offices, and may have served the enemy with all
his ability, il admitted TO vote.
He bad himself, said the speaker, favored the
e1fraDchsement of every one, not even excluding
The "illustriOus exile, )" as he bad been termed,
who IL now enjoying his otiunl cum digniidte
his plantation in Mississippi Do you think, more
over, an oath can be made stringent enough to
exclude any man who may be determined to
come in?
Judge Crawford of Caldwell. spoke. opposing
disfraDchisement generally, aud taking the same
Messrs. Cooley. Blackburn aud others.
At the conclusion OF his remarks the convention
Adjourned to Saturday. the 18th inst, at 10 A NJ.