The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-11-11
Striking the, Word swhiteo from
y ? - > the Constitution.

- = - . stne COnstftutfOn.
Editors Of the Register:
We INDUCED the hope that the result
of the late election would have buried
the dead carcass of the Flick Amend
ment so deep that it would never again
have been resurrected, but we have
been mistaken. Scarcely has the smoke
of the battlefield passed away, but We
hear from a certain quarter indications
of submitting that question, together
with a proposition to call convention
to amend the Constitution of the State,
to the people at the same time-based
upon the supposition or idea that if
the Flick Amendment should be adopt
ed it would supercede the necessity of
calling State Convention The Flick
Amendment contains two propositions,
one to strike the word white from
the Constitution as prerequisite
to voting, and the other to wipe
out the test or iron-clad oath, as
it is called in common parlance Every
true lover Of his kind and State will re-
joice to see the day when this oath shall
be abolished That question has already
been decided by the voice of the people
in prompt tones at the recent election,
and it has also been decreed by the same
tribunal, equally emphatic, that the word
white shall remain in the Constitution.
These were the principal issues in the
recent canvass, and | trust there is no
one 80 dull as to mistake the verdict of
the people. 1t is folly to say that we
cannot separate these propositions and
reject the one and restrain the other
In other words, retain the word white
as it is in the Constitution, and abolish
forever those DISTINGUISHING elements
which were put there by fraud and cor
ruption. But it is claimed by the advo-
Gates Of the Fifteenth Amendment that
any constitution hereafter framed,
or amended, would necessarily strike
out the word white, together
with the disfranchislng clause in order
to conform to the act of Congress in
pursuance of the claimed ratification of
the Fifteenth Amendment,-we admit
that such an act has been passed and
such amendent has fraudulently been
imposed upon the people. But might
don't make right, and because we can
not prevent the negroes from voting at
our elections fraudulently and illegally
it does not follow that we should recog-
nize such an outrage upon our dearest
rights and convictions Of justice with
the solemn sanction of constitutional
amendment. Where then is the necessity
for it? We have as speedy and certain
a mode to enfranchise the distranchised
without the humiliating acknowledg-
ment of negro suffrage as we have by
making the concession. The Leg
islature will surely repeal the
obnoxious features of the reg
istration law, and will have the
same privilege and power TO strike from
the constitution the amended section
containing the test oath, as former
Legislature had to put it there 1t will
not be contended that the people Of this
or any other State are obliged to change
their constitutions, to comply with any
and every usurpation i'll the shape of a
Congressional enactment.
There is no power which can compel
the people to obliterate the word
white from their organic law, but
it is contended that it wOuli be
a dead letter to let it remain,
that the negro would vote anyhow.
We admit the fact for the time being at
least, "but even dead lion is sometimes
better than a living dog Is that any
reason why the people of the State
should deny their manhood, sanction
that which they believe to be wrong in
principle, disgraceful in practice, and
commit crime that could be called by
no other name than moral perjury.
Suppose the Congress of the United
States should pass an act comforting the
right of suffrage upon the negroes alone?
Would the people Of this or any other
State be expected to amend their Con
stitution in hot haste so as to correspond
to an acquiesence in such an enactment?
No people with any respect for them
selves or their own race would do any
thing of the kind, nor could any power
compel them so to do, although
they might be debarred for time the
rights and privileges Of freemen. What
the people of this State want and
what they decided to have among other
things, is to enfranchise those who have
been illegally and wrongfully disfran-
chised in the most expeditions, cheapest
and satisfactory manner, without com
hitting themselves to negro suffrage in
any shape or form whatever. II II is
necessary to call a convention to correct
the odious features Of the constitution,
let it be done, and that speedily; and il
that end can be accomplished without a
convention, let it be done in that way;
but never let it he said that the people
of West Virginia, by their own deliber-
ate act and deed to their eternal shame
and disgrace, sanctioned, by the solemn
form of a constitutional amendment,
the humiliating mockery Of negro sut-
f'age. j.
Bran for Horses.