The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-30

we h6d been c0mmt9otQpeQ t0 70 ccE- tsin sh!Es; that when ws came here we found that was not the best thing in our judgment to do. He said the thing to do was to adopt the most practical thing that presented itself to us. and, after adopting that most prae- ticai thipg, to re-submit 1t back to the people that they might have an oppor- tunity of tatifylng what the agent had done. Now the principal was consuifed before the agent was created, and the principal has declared to the agent that he had made satisfactory invextt- sation. Now. he says go and do what I have commanded you, and the agent comes up and seys, "i do no! tn,nh know when Lamar was in that position in the Congress of the United States, and did not think he ought to advocate free silver, he resigned that they might send . Representatives who was not against their convictions. But these gentlemen says We submit the work We do back to the principal again for ratification or rejection" But you re. submit what the instructor did not want. and when you submit t and ne rejects 1t, there Is no way left open for him to get what ne sent you 70 ao .Se him. After repeated inssrnc. agent says that my conviction prevents my doing wkat my prin. cipai wants, ! know better than the principal what he wants, although ne studied the matter carefully before he sent me here. That is the position of the agent and 1t seems to me very dan- gercus ground that the gentleman is getting on here. It 10 a fact, as Mir. Jefferson has said, that the whole art o, governing successfully consists Tn the art of being honest. and wherever lowed in any considerable number to exercise the right of suffrage, there you plant the germ of degeneracy which the cunning will discover and the wicked will open and cultivate the germ you have planted and make It grow to the danger and to the destfuc- tien of the Government.
 MT. Dent-Will you permit me to ask a question? tied. but will permit the gentleman to ask this one question.
 MT. Dent-I understood you 10 say that the majority report squarely com piled with the platform and the obii- gations which we are under.
 MT, Blaekwkell--Yes, I think so. and will answer that.
 MT. Dest-i would like you to show when the platform says "infamous crimes" how you get In "tramps" and the other classes mentioned.
 Mr. Blackweli--I think. as . matter of fact. that We declare by our action. the crimes we mention to be sufi- eiently infamous to prevent men who commit them from exercising the right of suffrage. The exceiienes of every eaUav,, n, ant ia ta q ln tlarS Sa the . of those to be governed by 1t. By this Constitution we are construIng what We meant when we said infamous crimes. Sometimes we are governed too much and go further than author iEed in representing the people. fMr, Jefferson said: we are vibrating be- tween too much and too little govern ment, frequently" hope this Con- yention, as Q matter of fact. will have the pendulum to rest on the middle ground, at the right place, and 1t seems to me that the majority report Axes 1t there. My friend, the other suggestion In regard to some people quoting Thomas Jefferson, and the way they misconstrued him here as to what he meant by government. He said that H waJ absolutely political hlasphemy to attribute to MT. Jefferson the things that our Republican friend read here the other day as the doctrine of the immortal Jefferson. As a matter of fact this seems to me to be very large ly true A number of delegates here have said that they want the best gov You have tried 1t with the negro as voteI During that era did we have the best government
 You know, sir, when the Republicans tack charge of the State of Alabama 1t wed 2h,000,000, and In six years of profllsate legislation by that party they increased that debt to 322,0o0000, and they increased the offices and pay of officers, and when they found we dd not have enough offices to swing around the circle, and give every carpet-bag- ger one. they created new offices When the people elected Governor Lindsay, the Republicans who had their con tracts that they had not compiled with under the carpet-bag rule, refused to give up the office of Governor and Treasurer of the State of Alabama, and you remember, sir. when the Federal hayenet waa brought here to protect the men that had been busted by the vote of the people. The Republican Governor and Treasurer brought bay onets to retain them in office. And we saw'at AiabaRla's Capital the glitter of tho Federal bayonet to overthrow the will of the people. If we adopt the majority report ] think we will have fair elections.
 'TWs will have g weapon frmer set And sure: than the bayonet.
 The ballot though 1t falls as gently
 as the snow flake on the frozen
 sod,
 Yet is executes the peoples will as
 Iightnings do the will of God"
 You remember when they came and found us weak and prostFate, before the smoke of battle had hardly cleared away, the rattle of musketry and the thunder of the cannon had hardly ceased Co reVerbVrate, they laid the strong arm of tho law upon Us by the agency of this negro ballot, and brought corruption Into the State of Alabama and debt, q part of which debt we are still paying, New, do you be- lieve that 1t Is fer the best interests of the State of Alabama that such q condition should be made possible again? had intended to argue many questions involved In this article, and te present some authorities, but I see that the matter before me is going to be more than l can cover In my time. Jeffersen says, The only orthodox ob- jeet of the institution of government Is to secure the greatest degree of happi- ness possible to those associated under t." To restrict suffrage to the vlr- tuOus, the honest and Intelligent is simply to prevent men who are incom-