Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-06-09

he had noticed the SlanderS OF
the opposition, and it WOULD
probably be the last during the
canvass. Tf | cannot win the
contest said he, without cal
ling my opponent the hard
! names he perhaps deserves, I
| will lose it.
! He next proceeded to state
the issues that are in the can
vass, and pretaced his remarks
On these points with the dec
j laration that negro suffrage is
| not in it. 1t matters not
whether it be right or wrong,
whether we are for it or against
it, it is upon us by the inexora-
BILE logic of events, and we can t
if we would, escape il. Let
the dead past bury it's dead,
said he, and let us seize the
living QUESTION of the hour -
Shall the white race be emanci-
pated and restored to all the
rights which they were entitled
to and enjoyed ten years ago !?
Who is it that seeks to deprive
the great bulk ofthe white citi-
zens of Virginia from holding
even the most trivial offices,
and are endeavoring to perpet-
uate this damnable tyranny ?
They are the men who framed
the odious Underwood consti-
tuition, and who now endeavor
to fasten it's tangs upon you
and your descendants.
The platform upon which I
stand is that the white man is
as good as a negro-and if he
isn't better, it is our fault. I
am in favor ofEuniversal amnes-
ty and impartial suffrage l
believe in the good old doctrine
Of the right of the governed to
select their rulers. Does such
a right now exist in Virginia ?
Your intelligence, your expe-
rience, and your worth, is to be
bound and manacled. Our OBJ
ject is to loose their letters, so
that every man in this old
wealth-glorious in
the past, and l trust to be yet
more glorious. and prosperous in
the futures shall have the
right he once had, to vote and
hold office. | would do equal
and exact justice to all men,
without regard to race or color.
Colonel Walker here gave a
detailed account Of the inter
views Of himself and others
with the President in regard
to separate vote on objection
able clauses of the constitution.
His Excellency objected to the
county organization clause, and
thought it ought to be stricken
out, with two others, now to be
SUBMITTED separately. He
reviewed the course of Wells
upon the striking out the test
oath and DISTINGUISHING clauses
and showed how he cannot be
trusted by the people in regard
to them. Before the Recon-
stuction Committee he said their
retention was necessary to the
protection Of the loyal people
of the State And it was not
until after the Presidents
message that he modified his
views, and then he did it in a
characteristic letter instead of
coming out in a brief and
manly declaration, and saying
i believe that test-oaths and
acknowledgements are bego item
Of the devil, and ought not to
be imposed upon any class of
the people They say some
of their party are in favor of
striking out these clauses
Now, ninety-nine out of every
hundred of the party are ne
groes, and these negroes in a
representative convention, after
the publication of their candi-
dates Shadwell letter, declare
that they will vote for the
abominable Underwood consti.
tuition as a whole. The Peters,
burg convention, which NOM
mated him, declared the same
thing; and it is only because he
fears the wrath to come, and
hopes to escape defeat thereby,
that he now processes to regard
test-oaths and disfranchise-
monts as not proper to be in
corporated into your fundamen-
tai law. Il like your Virginia
directness OF Speech said he.
when a man tells what is
falsa Won call him q. l;ar. ond