Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1869-05-21

she situnton as II is--io make the most Of
it, and to reconstruct Virginia from The ma,
terials which are at hand.
But there is another question. and one
which Is not settled. The Negroes right 10
vote Is established by law :, bus the ones-
ton Is, shall the white man have an equal
right OF suffrage BY the G institution.
which Is to be submitted for your reflections
or ratification, large numbers of the white
people of Virginia are prohibit, d OF fran
chise, and nincty-dve per cent. are debar-
red from holding of any Office. State or
Federal. And the provisions which so de-
prive the whete men of privileges declared
TO be the rights of colored men, here pro-
nounce Infamous. No republican govern.
ment can exist permanently or successfully
in which one portion Of community IS
thus elevated TO the detriment OF the other.
Glass legislation, 10 all its various phases, is
odious, is as unstatesmanlike es utiust. an
u-republican in every point of view, and
certain TO destroy the government which
recurs to It. And the same reason which
makes man acknowledge the right of ne.
gioas to suffrage, shold logically lead him
hope to be elected, and the principles of
which should carry out, $50 far as politics
entered my administration at ALL is UNI
VkRsAL AMNESTY AND IMPARTIAL SUFFRAGE.
And, fellow citizens, there IS another sub
Ject involved in the canvass, wi ich over
shadows and dwarfs all other considerations,
IL has been little dicussed, aud Is, perhaps,
little understood. Without a proper solu.
tion of this gu, stion, nothing 10 this State
can ever prosper Shall the State be so re-
stored that all its people can live 10 mutual
confidence and harmony in the same dis
triet, the same county, the same hamlet 7
Or, shall there be distrust, bitter feeling,
an'mosity of all kinds-in short, war OF
racesf The man who goes to the polls in
the coming election and votes for tho Under
wood constitution without txpurgation,
votes for strife eternal aud to the death he.
tween the two,elemeDts of our population.
They are laboring TO establish here the an
Gent strife between Guelph and Ghibelin,
devastating, extermnstiDg, everlast n z.
But tho man who goes to the polls and votes
tor the policy l represent here tonight,
goes TO the polls with an olive branch lis
ballot is an Invocation Of" Peace and 90 ID
will among men - his voice is not for war
II he will have saved bis country. Upon
that basis only of universal amnesty and
impartial suffrage as freely to
one as the other, can these races harmoni-
ously dwell within the same boundaries.
That party which favors tests and proscrip-
'ions, moss people VINO are telling you, col
ored men, to vote for the Constitution as
whole, without" as says the Petersburg
Platform, alteration or modification" that
party aud thosepeople are sources of discord
and fomenters of strife. They are enemies
not only to their own race, but deadly en-
emies to the negroes. Is there any hope
for peaceful prosperity In this laud while
the master fears his servant, aud tho SER
want suspects his masterH Can either pros
per hated and hating! No, hundred times,
and remember it, no. II such Is to be the
state of feeling-snd no other can result
from the adoption Of those clauses In the
Underwood Constitutiou-then one race or
the other must go down.