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

Resolved, That the forthcoming Constitu.
ton of the State shall provide that all persons
coming Of age after tho first OF January,
1875, Shall possess the qualifications of read
ing and writing intelligently in order 70 be
able to vote Referred TO the Committee on
Franchise aud Elections.
=. Il Randolph offered resolution, which
was voted down, that the constitution shall
hereafter mase 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 an ordinance for the division Of
Pickens District, was announced by the Pres.
ident, wLereupon a lively debate ensued.
Mess,s. l.. B. johnson, Parker, Duncan,
Donaldson, aud some fur Or five negroes ad-
voc,tcd the measure, whilst DeLarge, Whip
per, aud other colo:ed "gcmmen," with equal
power and deloquence, opposed the proposition.
Finally, on motion oil Mr.. +. j. Moses, Jr.,
the sp :cial order was discharged until one
O'Clock next Monday.
TIE next special ordes taken up was the
petition to General Candy for the stay OF all
executions on debts contracted prior to the
Both of June. 1865.
On this question We copy as reported in
the NeacS
The objIec; of the opposition was to kill it
by Amendment Two or three were offered,
waen Del re (colored) called for the p;evi-
ous question. subsequently this was recon.
sdered, and r. j. Robertson, Esq, read q
speech which he had prepared on the subject.
He claimed thai thUsa who had brought
ab out the imp orerishcd condition Of the coun'
try were not the poor men or the loyal mcn,
bu; those VIII pretend 10 represent its wisdom,
intelligence and wealth.
Itw.s this class who were clamoring for
s:av laws and homestead laws. Some Of them
,sert thai they cannot live in this couatry-
that war of races is inevitable. THY are
the principal debtors Of the State, and do not
want TO pay their debts, and they never vii!
S, long IS they have unconstitutional stay
laws to pr9tect them.
For one he would say, let the property Of
the country change hands, and if lands sell
cheap, SO much better for t5e poor man of
the State, tecause it will enable him TO pro,
vide himself with home, and thus identify
himself with the SOIL
Mr.. Robertson did not say, in this connec
ton, that with one hundred Of his four hun
deed thousand dollars he expected, on the
first OF February next, to absorb the proper
t. of probably seVenty-iye 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 do no not recognize
the validity OF the Reconstruction acts Of
Congress, and who refused 10 vote for Lie
gates, to this convention. Some of them
called the convention . menageric, but it is
the mcnagcr:c which is to protect their prop
erty at the expeuse of the loyal citiz rs and
working men OF the country.
The speaker continued in this vein, so well
calculated to appeal to the passions Of the
colored clement, a2d when Mr. Robertson
ook his scat, he was f,l!o"ei By r. H. Cain.
Of Charleston, !; colored preacher, who said
that tie only reason why this peculiar ques-
ton Was before the house was because it
Affected the poCr nlan 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 ju.t or
institutional. Even if it possessed the pow
cr, 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-
ouence 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 he
would make them sell their lands and give
the poor man . chance.
The remarks Of Cain were thoroughly revo-
lutionary in their character, adroitly made,
and well calculated to arouse, as ne intended
they should, the passions Of the colored 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 ut the beginning of our reports
that the negroes had the advantage of intel
lect on the floor, and few more such cxhi-
btions 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-
nzng what are now evidently the prejudiccs
Of the convention.
The hour of adjournment arrived in the
midst Of TIE debate, and The convention &C.
cordingly" rested from its labors."