The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-04-18
The Truth of History.

ginia, approaching our positions more eau
tiously, and with manifestly thinned and
wavering lines, as compared with its first
over-confdent assault. 1t states that The
JOURNAL attempts to parry the destruc-
tive blow which it dealt us in the
outset but we think the modi.
fed tone of The Enquirer, and its
coming down from the unqualified assur-
ance that Radicalsm means the negro |
above the white man " to the more eau
tiously modified statement that its princi-
pies and measures have " the effect of sub
ordinating the whites to the negroes of
Virginia." shows most Individually who is |
doing the parrying" at this stage OF the |
controversy.
The Enquirer sums up the position taken
in our Wednesdays article as follows:
First That these measures 1.-THE test.oath and
DISTINGUISHING clauses of the constitution) were
favored by bare majority of the Republieansin
the convention only.
Secondly. That no man favored them who has
not since been thoroughly repudiated and thrown
overheard by the Republican party.
Thirdly. That the Republican party Of Vir-
ginia long since repudated the doctrines involv.
ed in those clauses of the constitution.
To controvert the first of these positions,
The Enquirer refers us to an authority
which is not within our reach, and which
the Conservative party Of the State seems
to have been very anxious to keep from
the public eye, for reasons best known to
itself. That is, it refers us to the jour.
nal of the Convention, manuscript page
2s4, to show that Mr.. Hine, at the eve
ming session Of that body, on the oath day
of March 1868, moved the adoption of
the test oath clause, which received " forty
Republican ayes and six Republican
noes >" and then adds: -
A previous proposition, proposed by Hine on
the 18th, to disfranchise everybody who advo-
Gated secession here by word or act, or who voted
for secession candidates, who advocated Sc
cession anywhere in the Union-much the most
Infamous Acknowledgement attempted in any
convention-received thirty-six Republican ayes
to eighteen Republican noes. journal, 24O.1
These facts dispose of the first statement of The
STATE JOURNAL. l.t
Not quite so fast, neighbor. We stated
that the test oath was embodied in the
constitution against the earnest protest Of
men who were then prominent in the Re
publican party, and who have since been
its most honored and respected members
while those with whom it originated, and
was carried through. the Convention, had
been thoroughly repudiated and thrown
overheard by the party. And we further
stated that even Judge Underwood (whom
The Enquirer seeks to stigmatize as the fathel
Of the Convention) demonstrated agains
the insertion of the two obnoxious clauses
and charged that a snapjudgment had beer
taken in his and the absence of other prom
inent Republicans from the floor of the Con
convention. This was our charge, and tn
reference of The Enquirer to the suppress
ed journal, page 2S4, shows most conclu
sively that our statement is true. 1t give
the Republican vote on the test-oath claus
as forty "ayes" and sic noes," whel
there were, at least. SERENITY Republican
members in that body. This shows tina
there were twenty-four Republican mem
bers absent at the time, and that the charg
of Judge Underwood as to snap,judg
ment was fully justified under the circum
stances. Ns3#
Now, if our statement is not true as tx
the present party obliviousness of thos
who advocated these proscriptive measure
in the Convention, will the Enquirer tel
us who this Mr.. Hine" knowing the tw,
vindictive propositions in question: is, AM
where he is to be found within the reacl
of Republican inquiry to-day? We hav
been in the state nearly two years, and GU
neighbor is the Axst man in all Virginia t.
give us the sligfs,st intimation of his pc
litical existence, even. Have the Conserva
tives since rsn him for Congress, in consid
Grafton of &e eminent services he rem
dered them in the Convention, as they di
Hunnicut, aud tried to Bayne, two othe
bright and eminently proscriptive lights Q
that Radical Conservative {" body? W
thus dub the Convention. since it wa
the extreme Radical and Conservative ele
ments of that body which secured tn
DISTINGUISHING clauses in the Constitution
In answer to our allegations on this hea
The Enquirer says that no Radical
Radical in the head-crest Of ruminan
has received, or is now receiving, more I
the confidence of the Republican part
in Virginia, than the Hon. James I
Platt," who voted for ali thos
proscriptive measures" As we have n,
our neighbours facilities Of access to Il
journal of the Convention, we cannot r
ply to this statement as confidently as "
would wish to do, to-day. But we wi
say that, if Mr.. Platt voted at any tim
for these proscriptiye measures, it was vi
doubtedly with view to moving recol
sideration when the Republicans should
present in greater force in the Convention
for no man in the state more strenuous
opposed their adoption as part and pare
of the constitution than he. In fact, Il
friends of these proscriptive claus,
charged Mr.. Plat with being the hea
and front of the opposition, in the Republ
can party, to them. OF "John Morri
sey," one of the other four persons name
by The Enquirer, as being "honored r
publicans' to-day, we have never heal
his name mentioned in the political circl'