The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1899-09-21

Amendment. by attempting to set
up q kind of doAbis -stsndard. thar 10
al qualification for one RACE. and not
for ia. other. violates this equality.
Hence its ancoBssisntionaiisy.
| In order 10 mys,ify the question. the
sut hors OF this Amendment contend
thar sr does not disfranehise the Ne
gre. SIMPLY AND soLkLy, because he II
Il Negro, And that 10 true But j. -
! equally :rns, that il does dis.rAnchise
| him, PARTLY AND ONLY. because be is q
/ Negro Thus Under this A me nd men
] iIlltersry, alone, does not disqualtsy,
FIR all iilis-rats white meu eaa vote.
| Neither do@s u-gro-blood, alone dis
qualify for educated Negroes can vot~.
But IL disfrabchi-e = man, under this
| .oubis-faeed aud double d j n z
| Amendment. he must be BOTH An H.
| LITERATE AsDA NEGRO, which forces
the question OF race into this contro-
vercy, which by violating the equality
prescribed ia Article XIV viIiaies sec
tor NJ The Amendment. Surely IL
does not require nnre than the snaiyt-
zeal powers Of . child, to penetrate
such a sophism as this.
There is still another way in which
the unconstilutiopality, and even alb
surd,ty. of this Suffrage Amendment
can be made 10 appear. For il must
ALWAYS be borne in mind, that Article
XIV L s Constitution was SO framed,
as TO protect the elective Franchise,
not of the negro race only, but Of the
the Article itself, the debates uI on il,
| nd al q .tira ST q Il
ing its adoption, show this. For at
that time, there were three Southern
States, Of whose population a major
lity were Negroes, while in three 9TH
ers, he numbers Of Whites aud Blacks
were nearly equal. Thus: South Car
ojina had 2S9, 1872 Whites, and il6,Sl4
Negroes; mississippi had 30S III
Whites, and 444,20l Negroes: Ard
Louisiana had 49,, Jos Whites, and 1884,
30 Negroes.
Now, therefore, SUPPOSE that in any
one of these States, Mississippi for in
st, n .s--for, alb ough stronger case,
abbor 10 Use the names of South Caro-
lima and Ben gilman, when it can be
av0ided-the Negroes being largely in
the ascendency, as they were, had
sought to dis:ranchise all illiterate
white men, it would only have been
necessary for them to copy, or invent
section of the Suffrage Amend
ment-its Grandfather Clause-and
change JUST ONE WORD in 1t, which
would not have affected its cOnstiOn-
aliIy in the least, and the thing would
have been done, provided always, that
u thing so vile, and vindictive, was
then, is now, or ever could be law, in
this country. For by the use of a sim
gle negative, that is to say, by substi-
tuting the word "disqualified," for the
word "entitied," our own beautiful
Grandfather Clause would read IS fol
lows:
ARTICLE vi.
: SECTION s. No person who was on Jan.
: l 1867, or at any time prior thereto dds.
IQUAL1FIED" to vote, under the laws OF sny
state in the United States, wherein he then
\ resided, and no lineal descendant of any
: such person. shall be denied the right to
register, and vote, at any election in this
State, by reason of his failure to possess the
educational qualification prescribed in sec.
, ton of this Article.
: Thus by simply borrowing sour own
devilish invention to plague us With,
all the Negroes in Mississippi, would
hove been clothed with the elective
franchise, and all illiterate white men
would have been robbed of il.
Here then is just one question which
I! | desire to ask our Bar Association
= and it is this: Can it furnish me the
name of any member of that Corpora.
tIou. who has thu hardihood to affirm
, if the negroes Of Missi ssippl had thu:
copied, or invested, Section of this
:, Amendment-by charging single
/ word, but preserving ITS WHOLE SPIRIT
and without impairing its legality
hot To n
r with Article XIV U. s. Constitution
and that the white men of Mississippi
q would have been entitled to no relief
: pause to hear his name announced
= since it is always important to know
+. who is the BIGGEST LIAR, in state al
l big as North Carolina.
Oh! what tangled web they weave
I When first they practice to deceive
t Bot is there no escape, for thes'
t lodging and slippery Attorneys, whs
S constitute so large proportion of TIT
G present General Assembly, from q di
y lena such as this? Yes, cert ainly.
| Iindoo Juggier can swallow. or seen
=. to swallow, naked swords, and Goals o
fire, and so can Juggling Attorney
;, And from this dilemma he can find ,
r way of escape. For there is another
: case on r cord, that is on all-fOurs will
), t. is. And it is a celebrated case. 1t II
il a leading case. 1t is one O.
1 which it can be said, as was sale
: by Chief Justice Pearson of the case
of Hoke VS. Henderson, that it is .
} mine of learning" 1t is a case iha
was reported by Noah Webster, ane
1 can be found near the end of a Blue
F Back Spelling Book, that bears hi,
/, honoreo name. l regret that l, having
0 mislaid my bret, cannot cite the page
! But it is the case of An Honest Farm
:, er vs. A Lawyer Not So Honest. Tn,
: matter in controversy was claim fol
i. damages FIR the goring of an OK by q
Bull. In reading that case, one car
+ not help being struck with admira
J, tion, at the dexterity with which thu
Y Farmer uses the weapons Of his adver.
e sary-a dexterity equal to that will
h which Hamlet exchanges swords with
Laertes-and pins the Shyster to thu
!, wall, But NOT TO HOLD HIM THERE. OF
= no! For the Pettif0xger then, as now
covered himself with a principle o.
law that has ever since been summed
t up in the legal maxim "c-i-r-c u-m
D sta n-c-e-s II l-te-r- Cas- e-s" AnC
2 that is the only principle of law wh:ct
. underlies this whole Suffrage Amend
: ment.
~ Again: This Suffrage Amend
ment disbOn"rs the people of the State
1 since 1t is a distinct reputation of tn,
pledge, which she gave, when in com
e pany with the States of south Carroll
' "a, Georgia, Florida, Alabama
l., and Louisiana, she reentered III,
American Union,> under the Enab
ling Act of June 25th 1868, that Ac
being supplementary to the Recon
straction Acts of March and March
23d 1867. The Fundamental condition
named in the Act of June 25tt
: 1868, and upon which North Carolins
= was re-admitted to the Union, was il
! the following words
Its Constitution shall rever be 50 amend