Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-08-25
Our Job Printing Department.
speech of Hon. E. H. English.

Speech of Hon. E. III. English. DELIVERED AT THE DEMOCRATIC RAFT.
 FIcATIoN MEETING OF EAGLE TowN.
 SHIP, PULASKI COUNTY, ARKANSAS
 AUGUST 9TH, 1868, ON THE TEST OATH
 Ere.
 Whilst am obliged, my fellow sub. jects and tax-payers, to my friend Capt Benton for kindly and politely intro. ducing me, 1 think the Introduction was hardly necessary. For nearly a quarter of a century have known some of you, and the fathers and moth CTS of others of you, who have not lived to see their sons become the mere tax-paying inhabitants of province, instead of the citizens of state, &C., 'cording to radical political schemes and theories.
 When, twenty -four years ago, I stood under the shade of yon aged oak, by the side of that Lake, and converscd with my old, but now departed friend Ringstaff, little dreamed that I should live to see the day when would be as completely stript of the franchises of an American citizen as the tree that sheltered us, and has survived him stript of these franchises, too. not by the judgment of my peers, but by cx post facto, and grossly unconstitution- al enactments. That tree can neither vote, serve upon jury, nor hold an office. Nor can I. Under an act, copied from the statute book of Iowa, and recently introduced here, by a body of men styling themselves the representative of the people of Ar kansas, but who are in fact strangers to them, that tree is taxed, and so is your speaker, most progressively. In Inc wisdom of Providence, who fash toned all things in grades and classes, the tree is denied the liberty of speech and of lecomotiop, but is compensated for these dcpsivations by being fed without labor. I can walk and talk with some prudence anG caution as to when and where I travel aud what say, but must toll for bread and share the larger portion of my earnings with those adventuring gentlemen who have kindly come among us from other states, and taken upon themselves the making of new constitution, laws, and the holding, or disposition, of all tue public offices without our consent.
 The new constitution, springing from congressional usurpation, and forced upon us by military despotism and fraud, attempts to disfranchise large portion of the white men of the state, for participation in the late rebellion, without the intervention of Judicial trials and condemnation-mcn, too, who have been pardoned by Mir. Lin- coln and Mir. Johnson, ill the exercise of power vested in the president, by the constitution of the United States, and of which he cannot be legally de- privcd. Oh! shades of the Barons who forced from King John Magma Charta Oh. spirits of the departed states
 
 of that great charter into the American Bill of Rights. protect and defend us i! If the legal effect of these pardons, and the validity of the reconstruction acts, and the constitutions spawned from them were submitted to the impartial judgment of the judges of the English Queens Bench, we should have no ap- prehcnsion of the result. But from partisan judges, who consult the politi- cal creeds and adhere to the schemes of radical leaders, rather than follow the impartial adjudications of the great English and American jurists, we have but little to hope. One thing is sure, the new constitution made for the peo- pie of Arkansas is now in force, and the government organized under it is a government de facto, and will continue to exercise its authority until after the presidential election. What then may be its fate remains to be seen. To this government we must patiently and peacefully submit until it can be abol- ished or reformed by lawful means. To use tritc saying of radical orators, we must accept the logic of political events, but we should, nevertheless, labor with all the strength that is left us to shape the events of the future into a better logic.
 You have painted. in large letters on the canvas before me, the names oi SEYMOUR and BLAIR, and you de- sire them elected president and vice. president of the United States m No vember. Some of us are debarred, by the existing constitution, from voting for them, but if every conservative man, who is not disfranchised by the provisions of this constitution, will but do his whole duty, Arkansas may have five voices in the electoral college to swell the triumphant majority of these standard bearers of constitutional ID erty! Oh! but I hear voice saying we cannot take that horrid test oath Yes, but you can take it, and should take it; and to the discussion of this scare-crow oath, I propose to devote the remainder of the time allotted me
 The distinct provisions of the oath which the elector is required to take before he can register and vote, arc about as numerous as the ten command ments, and it is perhaps unfortunate that two of these commandments were not incorporated in it, namely; Tho'