The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-08-31
HOT SHOT FROM BONAPARTE
Secretary ofNavy Riddles Poe Amend
ment In His Own Inimitable Way.

| other BODY blow to the many hard
knocks which the proposed disfran
chising amendment has received. Mr..
Bonaparte administered the punish
ment in speech delivered at din
ner given by Republican State Chair
man John B. Hanna to the Maryland
Republican Editors Association at
the Hotel Rennert, Baltimore. Mr..
Bonaparte's remarks have been wide
ly quoted in part in newspapers pub
lished outside of Maryland. They
follow in full:
"Of course, you all know what l
am here to talk about. If the Poe
amendment is to become part of our
Constitution, hope the officers of
registration who pass on my qualifi-
cation for the suffrage will select some
passage from it for me to explain
reasonably and to their satisfac-
ton. | doubt, indeed, whether my
explanation, however reasonable to
my own mind, would be altogether
satisfactory to them, and have little
doubt that | should lose my vote
but, in all human probability, this
would happen anyhow, and if it did
MT, with our old friends of the ring ,
able as they would be then to fix in
advance of every election what ma
iority they should get in each voting
4IrD,,,rl,ly,+ u,
privilege of voting against them
would be, after all, rather ornamen-
tai than useful. On the Other hand,
, under those circumstances, it would
be a source of some satisfaction, if not
to the registers, at least to myself, to
sag what | thought of the amend
ment; and, as they will not probably
afford me the opportunity of thus re-
lieving my mind hereafter. and,
most earnestly hope, will not have
the chance to do so, propose to say
what | think of it now.
Il note, bv the way, an odd little
controversy which has arisen as toit'
name. Colonel Baughman, if he i,
correctly quoted, objects to its being
called the Poe amendment because
he thinks the name may prejudice
people against it. | am not quite sure
what name he would substitute; so !
suggest fer his consideration thu
'Tocsin Amendment the 'Publiu
A thn tAnnnvnnn,
Amendment, or, if the title be no
too cumbrous, the Amendment who's
>, author is afraid or ashamed to owl
n it, However, the question is o
academic interest only; whateve
# Colonel Baughman may say, tn
measure is and will be known as tn
Poe Amendment if this name i'm
plies talsehood, the fact is eminent
ly appropriate to its tenor and it
$ purpose.
= Perhaps the most fruitful method
It to consider the amendment, in tn
S little time of my trespass on your at
e tention, will be to glance at some o
lIlC tll IllLClllcf vi SIIllo III al
ments, which are used by its apollo
gists. | do not mean by arguments
the howl of 'Niggers! Niggers! Mig
gers. which we hear in season an
out of season from some among it
supporters. AS | said on a previou
occasion, there are in Maryland eel
" toif N, hon. Of YNnnfNIn n fayU Z
~ them estimable and we'll meaning
" who were threatened by their nurse
e in early chill dhood with terrible bi
- black man that ran away wit
" naughty boys, and who have neve
- recovered from their childish frigh
When this DOGGY is conjured up
their Imagination, they become bin
and deaf to everything else; it is
waste of breath to appeal to thei
- conscience, their patriotism, thei
humanity or their common sense; tn
worst among them are then cases ft
80 the Sheppard asylum; those not s
~ far gone can only be let alone unit
"a JllC SclllC anu llColll hlO' al o.
mosphere of our orderly freedOl
~ abates their fever and enables thel
- once more to see things as they ar
J., But we have been furnished wit
some sophistries in advocacy Of tn
amendment which are worthy of di
an section. For example, we are told
of is unfair and uncharitable to assum
pc in advance of experience, that office
of registration will forget their du
and their oaths and abuse the art
trary powers placed in their hand
In Maryland we assume nothing {
this subject; we apply only the lie
sons of painful experience to n
torious and undisputed facts. 1t
both fair and charitable to guard II
told gold from reputed thief, to clio
wine cellar to scandalous drum
Il ard, to deprive confessed homici
IL of deadly weapon.
- Let us remember that but stone
"a throw from where l stand day al