Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-30

constituents. Inc speaker ueCtaIe0 tiAs1t
| DIR. Mc1lwaine was in honor bound to
| vote to ordain this Constitution
| Such had been the case Of many men,
| bcrs who had voted for proclamation or
| against II: they had voted according to
| their promises to their constituents, ana
| that there was no Violate Of any pledge:
| but on the. other hand. they held them
| selves in honor bound to respect the
promises they had made to the electors of
their several districts or aoidcd IN every
| case by the wishes of their constituents
| and that no question of the perfidy Of the
| Norfolk convention could come between
| the members and their constituents.
| The speaker emphat ically declared that
the Constitution would be upheld, and
! long after he and others passed from
this stage the people would continue to
| enjoy the advantages and prosperity
vouchsafed by the operation of this new
| organic law
Did Not offer to Vote.
The speaker asked what is this suit,
| and declared that 1t was a suit by three
| citizens Of one congressional district, each
OF whom were shown to be a lawful voter
under the new Constitution. and only one
ever offered to vote. and only that one
could claim that he had been denied the
right to vote, which was done under the
law. on account of his name not appear
this ground. they ask that all elections
for Congress in the State of Virginia in
November 1902. be declared illegal and in
valid.
1t was an old principle that each legis-
lativc body was the sole judge OF the
election Of its members. and for the
courts to interfere in this case would be.
an encroachment upon the highest prero-S
satives Of legislative bodies, and would
go to their very existence and work their
utter destruction. 80
Judge of Its Own Members.
Constitutional writers of great note.
such as Cooley and others, had said that
if the right to judge of its members ne
lodged with any other body or court, it
would destroy the purity and honesty or
legislative bodies. and that the decision
of the body was conclusive and essen
tial to enable it to enter upon Its duties
without enlbarra snlent.
The speaker here clinched his conclu-
sion by reading from the Constitution of
the United States. which in positive IAN
guace declared that zach house OF Con-
Sress should be a judge of the election,
qualification. and return Of its members
The courts were excluded from passing
IDon election of members to Congress.
THE NEGRO LAWYER.
At this point there was introduced the
most unique figure Of this case
When General Anderson sat down MI
Wise arose to introduce his coiored asso-
ciate. james II. Hayes. the negro lawyer.
stating that he had been selected by Us.
race to represent the peculiar phase OF
negro suffrage and asked that he be
heard This was almost the first intima-
ton that the audience had that speech
would be made by Hayes. and there was
not a little surprise
Hayes described the method OF testing
the suffrage. clauses provided by the Con-
5titution and said a poor negro would
never git thar" by that route.
What we want to get at he scream
ed bending forward in crouching att-
tude lis how 100000 voters went to oeu
voters and woke up political slaves?
That was done by a convention Of gem;
tlcmen each Of whom said: Before III:
take an oath acknowledging the political.
equality of all men l Will take my nat
| AID go home.
He had never heard of but three depart
ments of government the legislative
judicial and executive. But here we
have a class of gentlemen who were de-
nominated agents Of the people and re-
fused to recognize any law or authority
but their own sweet will.
st nav be-" he said. that we are
technically wrong. But if this avenue is
! closed and this door is shut. we will try
|
want to know what we are. do not see
why lin a well-fcigned plaintive tone),
| "a Deople should be blamed for wanting
! to know what we are. I do not see why
! one should be blamed for wanting to be
! q man There arc no people who have
| been more loyal TO Virginia and nave
done more TO build her up than the BLACK
man.
Everybody knows what the work OF
this Constitutional Convention means 1t.
was 4 most remarkable thing that two
bright able. brainy men Should stand up.
here and handle this question IN kld-
glove fashion. ard never cnce proclalm'
here what they proclaimed in the con-
vention that they wanted to get fld OIL
the negro.
"V7lv get up in the skies, quote Latin.
when all the time it is the negro they
are after and whom they desire to make
a slave of as in 1860.
That is what it means.
what. then. is to become O. the negro:
| We can't go away anywhere we want
| to stay here and we want to know what
We art We want to know If we are men
| in name only.
..All oyer this State 100000 negroes are.
| bending their ears to catch on the breeze
| the tidngs from this court WHAT shali
| i be? Not mere iinesse. Not suDerhclai
| ronhistrv. Nothing Of this character
| cnol,ld prevent tic court from gong 10
| the merits of this matter fairly, squarely,
and fully.
when that is done he said. Il Will
guarantee my clients will bow to II.
| Whether disfranchised or not. for we are
| 2 lav--ahdinc neo0le-
IF Virginia can create a class and tear
down the electorate of 100000 citizens. as
| true and good men. as she has on her
| roll of citizenship, then God IS not lar.
Tear him from heaven. for there is no
God"
! Mr. Wise. in following HAYES: SAID ne
had no hestancv in saying about the
soeech they had just listened to. that its
| pathos vim and perunency brought US
| down from the abstract to the concrete
as the speech of no other IN TINS case
! did It was the cry of pain and sense
! Of wrong as no other here was qualified
| to utter it.
/ "As to my friends on the other side,
| they pretend to be under the Constitu-
| ton and out of il at the same time. When
asked for a definition of what they did
they replied, You must not ask. Every
| todv is satisfied :"
| They reminded him of Texas cowboy
| who banged q tune on piano with his
! rife. and as l<ed the owners of it If they
| We're satisfied
He was not surprised that his friend.
| General Anderson was INDIGNANT. He was
| a member of the convention. Ee is At
| torney-General. And now he is defending
1! this case. I'm VIEW sorry we can't make
| it plea sant for him.
AN IMAGINARY WALLOPULA.