The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-04-20

Monday. ............. APRIL 20, 1868.
Address of the Conservative Mem
bers Of the late State Convention
to The People OF Virginia.
At the election conducted in October last
by Major General Sehofleld and his officers
the undersigned were chosen by the Coneerya-
tive voters In their respective districts, mem.
oers OF the State Convention ordered by Con-
gress for the purpose of framing new Con
stitution for the State Of Virginia Moved
oy the considerations which induced their
constituents to participate in that election,
they took their seats in the Conyen ton which
assembled in Richmond on the third day of
december, animated by sincere desire to
contribute ell in their power towards the es-
adjustment Of civil order and the restora-
tion OF Virginia to her place in the Union
upon the basis of the Federal Constitute ton
and fair recognition of the results of the
late civil war.
Conscious of their numerical weakness, but
sustained by clear convictions of duty and by
the concurring judgment of eminent and en-
lightened citizens in all parts of the State
they continued to labor during the session Of
the Convention to secure q Constitution CAL
culaled to protect the rights and interests of
all classes of the community, to harmonic
upon basis, discriminating and just, the
conflicting elements Of society, and to con-
hrm in manner satisfactory TO the Federal
authorities the expressed sentiment of the
country in favor of perpetual and indissolu-
BILE Union.
The Convention having completed it's work
and propounded q Constitution adverse in its
whole spirit to the procurement of these ends,
and defeating by its extreme provisions the OBJ
Jects contemplated by even the stringent pro-
gramme prescribed by Congress, the under
signed deem it appropriate to lay before the
people of Virginia a brief account of this in
strument, and the thorough subversion of all
existing relations which it will effect in our
society.
The Convention consisted of one hundred
and five members, Of whom some thirty. five
were Conservatives, some siXty-flve were
Radicals, and the remainder doubtful. The
Radicals were composed of twenty-four ne
groes, fourteen native-born white Firginians,
thirteen New Workers, one Pennsylvania,
one member from Ohio, one from Maine, one
from Vermont, one from Connecticut, one
from South Carolina, one from Maryland,
one from the District of Columbia, two from
England, one from Ireland, one from Scot
land, one from Nova Scotia, and one from
Canada. Of the fourteen white Eirginians
belonging to this party, some had voted for
secession, others had been in the Confederate
service, others are old men whose sons had
been in the Confederate army; hardly one
has 4 Union record. A large proportion Of
the northern men and the foreigners were
drifted here in some non combatanL capacity
by the war.
The Convention organized by electing 4 New
Yorker president. Anatiye Of Maryland was
elected secretary. A Marylander was elected
sergeant-at-arms. An 1rishman, resident in
Baltimore, was elected stenographer. The
assstan clerk was from New Jersey. Two
negroes We're appointed doorkeepers. A cler-
gyman from Illinois was appointed chaplain.
Even the boys appointed us pages, with one
exception, were negroes, or the sons OF north
ern men or foreigners; while the clerks OF the
twenty standing committees, with Two or
three exceptions. were also northern men or
negroes.
For nearly five months we have patiently
satin this Convention listening to encomiums
upon the negro race, to wholesale denun-
Citations against the whites OF the South,
TO propositions and speeches levelled against
property, and addressed to the cupidity OF en-
franchised slaves suddenly invested with the
controlling power in the State. 1t was our
aim to secure good Constitution, and to this
end we labored through the better part of the
session, until we relinquished the effort in de-
spair ofgetting anything that was even tolera-
ble. 1t gradually became obvious to both
sides of the house that the more violent ele.
ment in the Radical party had obtained
the mastery over those who were inclined
to more moderate measures. This was ac-
complished in the caucus which sft al
most as regularly as the Convention,
and what was determined on there was
pushed through under a call for the pre-
vious question by the united party in the
Convention.
It was the subject of remark among us du-
ring the progress of the Convention that
the negroes grew more and more intract-
able The reported debates of the Conven-
ton will show how active they gradually be-
came in the proceedings of the body-al-
though, in this connection, it is proper to OBJ
serve that 4 correct idea of the speeches and
conduct of the negroes is only TO be obtained
by reading the press reports OF the Rlchmond
newspapers. The decorous harangues in the
official reports of the Convention were invent
ed by the stenographer.
Another matter which attracted our atten-
ton was the utter disrespect which the north
ern leaders in the body paid to all that had
heretofore been distinctive in the funda-
mental law of the State. They by no means
contented themselves with securing to the ne
groes the control of the future legislation OF
the State, but, in a Tanton and reckless spirit,
overthrew whatever had been consecrated un-'
der all previous Constitutions IN the atectlons
of the people, or whatever such men as Madi-
son, and Marshall, and Leigh, had deemed OF
prime importance in laying the foundations OF
our social organization. Ruthless lnnoVa-
ton was INDUCED in where there was no OBJ
iect to subserve, and the ploughshare was
driven over the monuments Of the past in the
temper of confident and irresponsible power,
and with the rudeness and hear rtlessness of
barbarous conquest.
SUFFRAGE.
We will attempt now very briefly, as we
have proposed, to explain what will be the
operation of the new Constitution if it shall
become the law of the State. The pivot OF the
system to be inaugurated is, of course, negro
Suffrage The instrument submitted provides
for this on the widest basis. There is universal
1eoro sufraae, without limitation, except that
the party Shall be q male, of sound mind,
twenty-one years of age who has not
been convicted of crime, and who has resided
twelve months in the State and three months
in the county where he proposes to vote we
could not secure any educational or property
qualification whatever, not even the pre- pay.
ment of taxes not even the pre- payment OF
the one-dollar poll tax. We could not even
persuade them to exclude 11auper8. But this
universal suffrage was confined TO the ne
groes; all whites who ever held any ONCE
what teyer under the Federal Government, or
any civil or military office in the State, In.
Guiding the large list of county and municipal
officers and who afterwards participated In
the urebsllion,'' are excluded not only from
office, but from the elective franchise. Inc
object of this was to secure, as Mr.. Bolts eX-
pressed it in an address he maze 10 Inc fSaoi,
cal members of the Convention, "a good
working majority" in the State, ana 10 give
a decided preponderance to the negroes In the
the LEGISLATURE, as we'll as in the county or
ganiZation.
COUNTY AND TOWN ORGANIZATION.
The article adopted by the Convention on
county and town organization fear1uiiy inteh
sifies the practical operation of this universal
negro, and restricted white, suffrage. The
counties are all divided into townships, the
smallest to contain at least three. For each
county there are to be one county Judge, one
sheriff, one attorney for the commonwealth
one clerk, one county treasurer, one su
perrin tendent of the poor, one superintendent
of schools. In each township in the county
there are to be one supervisor, one township