The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-26

q eAANiS Na1 HI ASSlA 1HOn int SNGt
as to persons It might admit TO the
electorate. He hen said:
There is nothing in the text of ths
suffrage clause quoted to show that
there is any denial OF abridgement OF
the right to vote on of race,
color or previous condition. The state.
being the sole judge of the qualification
: of electors, can discriminate among .he
n1iterate as to electoral capacity.
The opportunities or the south are
: those OF h nation. Let her alone and
her possibilities for the future can only
be conjectured. They are limitless.
The rapid industrial progress OF the
south was impossible under negro DOM
nation Restore to the negro indis-
criminately the ballot and invest him
with power and there will not only De
a check 10 tie progress OF the south.
but the advantage gained will be lost
There can be no admixture OF the
races. This is a law OF nature. They
must work out their destinies on paral-
lei lines, which cannot come together.
The Anglo-Saxon blood and brain Will
always be the superior and cannot be
subordinated by the negro.
We or the south are making the ne
groes' conditions better every day. We
do not deny his political rights because
because he is ignorant, and at present
the majority of the negro race has no
electoral capacity.
The question raised is a judicial one.
Congress has the power. but il has not
n right TO declare any law or constitu
tional provision Of a state unconstitu-
tional."
inquired whether McEnery when the
amendment to he/Louisiana constitu-
ton similar TO that To- pending in
North Carolina was under considera-
ton did not pronounce it unconstitu-
tSonal.
Senator McEnery replied that he a
pronounced it unconstitutional, but in
asmuch as it was adopted he had aid
that he would support it in the senate
He felt it his duty to his constituents
to do so and he would also be found
supporting the laws and constitution of
o his state and his country.
Referring to the Filipino insurrection
in his connection, he said: Il do not
stop to inquire now whether my coun-
try in the Philippines is right or not;
/ do not inquire who fired the first shot
which precipitated hostilitieS. 1t is
enough for me to know that my gov
eminent has been assailed. and 1 Will
uphold it's hands until it's enemies are
brought into subsection"
Senator Butler then read letters and
papers written by Senator McEnery,
$1,000 lin
grossly unconstitutional" and that it
was so regarded by the ablest consti-
tutional lawyers in the state. /.
senator Tillman. of South Carolina,
called up a bill to revive and amend an
act to provide for the collection of
abandoned property and the prevention
of frauds in nsurrectionary districts
within the United States. On Senator
Tillman'S request Senator Davis, ex-
planned that the claims were not only
just, but it was the bounded duty of
congress to provide for their payment
the captured and abandoned cotton.
Senator Hale: why, that will
amount to $50, 900, 900 or 800, 600, 600"
To this Senator Davis dissented, say
ing hat under court decisions. the
claims for captured and abandoned cot
ton would aggregate about SO, 200, 600.
This money was in the treasury and
had been held by the United States for
twenty years for those to whom the
courts had %adjudged it to belong. 1T
is not" said he, "a sluice-way for the
payment of all the claims which have
been referred to by Senator Hale"
The bill. was objected to n it went
over.
The senate, after a short executive
session, adjourned.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
The opening debate in the Roberts
case brought enormous crowds TO the
house today. Fully three-fourths of
the spectators were women. Mr.. Rob-
ertS was seated on the extreme right
of the hall, and every neck vas craned
to view him Nearly every member
was in his seat when Mr.. Tayler, of
Ohio, chairman of the special commit
tee which investigated the case, arose
from behind a desk stacked high with
legal authorities and manuscript and
called up the ase. He asked hat the
agreement made between the MAORI
ty and minority of the committee for
a vote on the case at 4:30 o'clock p.
m. on Thursday be ratified by the
house.
Mr.. Lacy, of Iowa, objected unless
it be understood that a substitute res
olution which he desired to offer should
also be considered pending. To this
Mr.. Tayler objected. He also objected
to having Mr.. Lacy's proposition read,
although appealed to by Mr.. Bailey, Of
Texas, and Mr.. Richardson, Of Ten
neSSee. This proposition, as il SubSe-
quently developed, was for h expul-
sion of Mr.. Roberts without swearing
him in.
The majority resolutions to exclude
him and the minority resolutions to
permit him to be sworn in and then
expelled, were laid before the house
and without any agreement as to a
vote, Mr.. Tayler, of Ohio, opened in
support of the majority resolutions
Mr.. Tayler declared that the case pre-
sents in bold relief a question Of gov
ernmental life, the basis Of which is
law. He said that though opinions
might differ as to\the unwisdom of
certain laws, the people cannot stand
for defiance of law, and how much
more must they stand as respecterS Of
such laws as have proceeded from the
people, ait their initiative, n sustain
ed by the deliberate approval Of sub
Stantially all the people. OF the more
than 5000, 900 of American citizens, all
but the merest handful believe and be-
lieve with a mighty fervor. in the kind
of commonwealth which Justice Mat
.thews declares is founded on the mar
riage relation existing for life between
one man n one woman
Passing aside the moral side Of this
question, which, he said, in the face
of the great fundamental fact Of DISC
bedience TO law, plus audaciouS def
ance of it, he did not care TO assert
now. he said:
But We are told that II is a power
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