Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1881-07-08


deal. But his piece furnishes interesting
evidence of the pretentions, whereby the
few office holders in this county, calling
themselves Republicans, seek to delude
the colored race, and take advantage Of
their ignorance to continue themselves in
our county Offices by the colored mems
votes, against the will and in defiance of
the tax payers of the county. So specious
is the argument, that it appears to have
been accepted even by one so intelligent
as Mr.. Mullen appears from his pitch to
be- The contention is. that, because the
State constitution in prescribing the quail
ifcations of voters uses the term ''white,"
that, therefore, the cslored men have no
right to hold offices in the State, and that
the only thing they can do is to keep on
banding together as q race and electing
these ex. rebels to al the county offices.
They doubtless hold out the promise as a
consideration for this polite ii servitude,
that, whenever the State shall submit to
Republican domination, they will gra-
ciously expunge the word white" from
the constitution, and thus admit the col
ored population to the privilege of office
holding. AS there is very little human
probability of the State ever becoming
subject to Republican control, they can
safely make this promise.
This whole pretensien is tiimsy and
false. At the time the constitution of
1857 was made, the right of suffrage had
never been exercised by the African race
in this, and, with single exception we
believe, in no other civilized country.
Such state of affairs was not seriously
contemplated at that time, even by these
who shortly afterwards became actors in
the measure. Hence the term white,
which had always existed in this connec
ton in the State constitution, was, OF
course, retained. The same constitution,
in Article of the Bill of Rights. however,
expressly states that 1.-The constitution OF
the United States, and the laws made or
which shall be made in pursuance thereof
are and shall be the supreme law of the
State; and the Judges eff this State, and
all the people of this State, are and shall
be bound thereby anything in the coastitu-
ton or lac Of this State TO the contrary not
acithstanding." Therefore, when the 14th
and 18th amendments subsequently be-
came incorporative into the United States
constitution, they became, (conceding
them to have been fairly adopted, and the
Democratic party has so conceded by
virtue of this clause of our constitution,
part and parcel ot the organic law OF
MARYLAND. and binding on our courts and
people. The restrictive word ''whi e in
Article became thenceforsh dead letter.
and it was and has been wholly unneces-
sary to amend the constitution in this re-
spect.
Says Basil why, sir, section 0, OF Arti-
Gle 3, (of the State constitution say.
very plainly that no person shall be Gig
IDLE as Senator or Delegate who at the
time of his ectisn is not a citizen Of the
State of Maryland. Now sir, d ses not
this one. withou, anything else, exclude
the colored man from holding any STATE
or eoahty cfice in this State 2" He then
goes on to allude to the distinction taken
by the majority of the Supreme Court in
the New Orleans slaughter house case in
which they construed the term 'citizen OF
the United States" as used in the 18th
amendment to refer. salSy ~
chised blacks, and from this he 1'lSe
that the negroes are not citizens OF the
State of Maryland, and are therefore, not
eligible to Offices in which citizenships f
The State is a necessary qualification
This is certainly quite an ingenius dodge
on the part of our ex-Coniederate-D Demo
cratic Republicans. The decision of the
Court of Appeals to which they a'lude has
no bearing upon the question. Whatever
lodging distinctions the Supreme Court
may have taken as to citizens of the
United States and citizens Of States, there
can be no doubt that men who exercise
the elective franchise within the State
and all the other attributes of citizen
ships, are its citizens in contempls ion OF
its constitution. and as such, eligible 10
office
This is entirely 100 thin gentlemen
1t is altogether ungenerous in your ex-
rebels and disguised Democrats to be try
ing to bambeozle your colored friends
with such flimsy pretenses. II there is
any possible justification for the lately
emancipated and enfranchised race to
band together as race in antagonism to
their white employers in the support of a
party that is in a hopeless minority in
the State and powerless to help them, such
justification is to be found only in pur-
pose to secure to their own race some of
the emolumenis of their offices.
a., la