The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-09-06

- 80 - AeAA sAAleAA 20 Att- ~ - ~
pealed to. ii must be appealed 10 a it
l. aud as embodying the belief of the
people of Maryland, and it cannot be
emasculsted by arbitrarily dropping
ont the word white, and when that
now Is thus dropped OUT no argument
can be deduced that the ballot law Is
unconstitutional because in conflict or
supposed conflict with the ema-culated .
article Of the Declaration of Rights. +
Therefore i i that We lid fault with .
the Republican Convention FOR mis-
quoting the Declaration OF Rights to .
bolster W deuunciation Of the ballot
law.
Thus bad tegins but worse remains .
behind. The promise 10 restore man
hood suffrage must mean promise to
restore the suffrage TO ilIiierate negroes
if they have been deprived of it. And
it must mean this because the eXper-
fence We have had in this STATE with
the Republican party when ii dealt
with the suffrage question at a time
that the party was in untrammeled
cont d Of the state, Ii s led u TO be-
lieye that it was then CHIEFLY concern
ed with the acknowledgements of white
Democrats. The proof of this state
ment will lead Us back me years, but
the proof j. conclusive
In the Presidential election of ls6O
there were % 5o2 votes cast in Mary
land. 1t Is not probable that the
voting population materially decreased
from then until 1864. At the election
held On October 18th and 18th in the
last-ramed year upon the adoption of
the Constitution framed in that year,
there Were 51,077 votes cast in The
state AID :, >56 soldiers votes cast out
of the state making til OF 1898
or 3 80 less than had cen cast at the
Presidential election four years fore.
OF he-e 81, O77 votes Only - oil were
In favor Of tie adoption OF the Cou~'i-
tuition. Adding u the 27,54l, 2.G33
votes cast beyond the state hy soldiers,
and the y. te by which the Con>titu-
ton ii 1854 was adopted aggregated
SOFIA, or less than o1e.third of the
le-ti voters OF the state What be-
ca.ue OF The other -iNty-.wo Thousand
a.d odd voters? IWeuty-uin- thou~-
and, -eveu hundred and tine,y-uiue
voted against theadortiou of the Con-
III utiuu, other, Were nntoupt in the
& utelic at. aru y. but the great pre-
p.ude.ancc Of the r~ldue were dis
IraIral~ed Y The Repubii an party,
aided Icy Federal hayoucts
There were 1T least 3 600 voters dis
men an Democrats And Vet at that
very time the d ciaration If Rights
adopted in ISL was in foice and con-
tanned idenlicaliy the same provision
partially quoted in the r publican
platform from the Declaration Of
Rights # l>G7, TO the effect that every
white male citizen possessing the quail
ificatious prescribed bv the Coustitu-
ton Of ISL oUgdt to have the right of
suffrage. But Constitutions and Dec
laratious of Rights did not then stay
the hands of tie Republicans.
The method by which this wholesale
disfranchise ment was effected was
lawless and barefaced By the Con
stitution of 1871, which remained in
full force uutil suYersed d by the one
which went into effect on November
the lst, 1854, every whte male citi.
zen of the State above the ave of
twen,y-one years aud who possessed
the qualifications set forth in the Con-
stitution of 1851, was entitled to vote.
II every qualified voter had been per
mi ted to vote on the adoption of the
Constitution of 1864 that instrument
would have been rejected. To secure
its adoption the convention prescribed
that it should tie submitted to the
votes of those persons only who pos
se>sed other and different qualifications
contained for the first time in the vet
unadopted Constitution. This regula-
ton Of the Constitution was fatty in
. the face of the then eyistino Constitu.