The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-04-17

have 40 idea that the exception Of the
Confederate soldiers themselves to the
application Of electoral qualifications
would be allowed to stand. and the at.
tempted extension Of such q privilege
to their descendant would. | have little
doubt. be held to be prohibited by the
10th section of Article / Of the consti-
tuition of the United States. prohibiting
a State from granting a title Of nobility,
for it would establish an hereditary
privileged class. But if not within the
strict letter Of the prohibition of the
constitution of the United States, such
a provision would certainly be I'm
American-in conflict with the spirit of
our institutions. The Cincinnati So
ciety was bitterly assailed because it
established a distinctive hereditary class
though the class was but for social
purposes.
Would the descendants Of the civil
officers Of the State and Confederate
governments be excluded from the ben
e6ts of this privilege? If so, what will
they have to say?
The ooly suggestion which | can
make in this direction is to repeat one
I made in an address to the Legisla-
ture in 1879, which may possibly be
worth considering 10 this connection,
and that is to follow the precedent Of
the amendment to the constitution of
Massachusetts, by which the educa-
tional qualification Of that State vas
adopted.
In adopting the educational quallfca-
ton which it did, that commonwealth
excepted from its provisions any person
who was so years of age at the time
the amendment to the constitution
took effect, and [ suggested that a
similar provision-say, for instance,
that the qualification should DOT apply
to any one who then exercised the
right Of suffrage for so many years,
might possibly be adopted with
safety.
A provision might be go framed that
the excluding qualifications should not
apply to those men who had AID exer-
cised the right to vote prior to 1868;
and this might incidentally save the
right to old soldiers and other white
men who had exercised the right to
vote before the passage of the Recon-
struc,ion measures, whether they are
able to comply with an educational re-
ouiremeot or not. But this | believe
to be the extent to which such a saving
clause could 60.
I must, however, confess to a sense
of humiliation in %endeavoriug to find a
means of evadiog for the white man a
test Of intelligence which We propose
to require of the black. What becomes
of our boosted superiority which has
to be protected iu such a manner?
| have made these suggestions at
your request, but there is another i'm
portant ooe which | must not omit,
Notwithstanding the length Of this let
ter, and that is the inquiry whether
the constitution is the place at all
for any specific detailed plan of cleo
tiop.
1t is objected with great force that
the % mill educational tax should
not be in the constitution, as it is prop
erly a matter of legislation and not of
constitutional Limitation. But does Dot
the same objection apply to the lncor-
p, A.ion in the constitution of any spe-
ci6c election scheme?
The difficulty has hitherto been that
the present constitution contains the
provision: "Sec. 8. The General As
sembly shall never pass any law that
will deprive any of the citizens Of this
State Of the right of suffrage except
for treason, murder, robbery or duel
ling, whereof the persons shall have
been duly tried and convicted
To meet this the present election law
is based upon the theory that the word
ballot" assumes and involves an edu-
c%ational qualification, inasmuch as to
vote by ballot is to vote by a secret
written instrument, and that to do so
implies an educational qualification, the
educational qualification being thus i'm
planted Within the constitution itself.
But this theory is now questioned, and
it's validity is before the courts. both
State and Federal.
Is it Dot the wisest course for the
convention when it meets simply to re-
peal this clause and leave the details
Of the election law to the Legislature?
y specific detailed provision put
10 the Constitution, if it proves unwise
ard impracticable, can only be amend
ed by the expense Of another conven-
ton or the cumbrous method Of sub