Year: 1868

guarantees to all men "equal civil and politi
cal rights and public privileges The imme
diate design OF this was to secure to the ne
groes free access to all hotels, railroad cars
and other public places. It is probable thai
1t may be claimed under it that a negro child
cannot be excluded from any of the public
schools, and that the Legislature mustrequire
each and every one of these schools to be open
to all without distinction Of color.


CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS.


The State is divided into eight congressional
districts, and it is claimed that it will be en-.
titled to ninth representative. or the eight
districts the negroes have five, the whites
three. The ninth member Is 10 be elected by
the State 1T large.


THE BALLOT.


We have not space to more than refer to the
abolition of the valued and time e-honored sys-
tenn OF uira rocs voting in Virginia, and the
substitution for it Of the secret ballot, which
was ever peculiarly repugnant to the frank
and manly genius of the people of this State.


CONCLUSION.


Such is the Constitution submitted to you
fellow citizens, for your ratification and such
the instrument bitterly denominated q mea-
sure of reconstruction and of restoration tc
the Union. The Constitution of Georgia
which happens to be before us-objectionable
as it Is to southern people-provides for uni
versal negro suffrage, but it differs from the
Cons titution offered to TIE people of Virginia
in several important respects. Not one human
being is disfranchised not one questionable
oath is required the existing county organi-
Zation of the State was left untouched NO
person is allowed to vote until he shall have
paid all the taxes assessed against him; and
the General Assembly is required to provide
by law for the selection of upright and in
telligent' persons to serve as jurors.


1t now devolves upon the white people of
Virginia to pass upon this instrument. BY
the registration of last year, from which some
$4,000 whites were excluded by disfranchise-
ment, the whites had q ma ority in the State
of over $4,000. This majority, under the new
registration which will take place, may be in :
creased to more than $4,000. 1t can be in
creased 5000 in the Valley alone.


1t is the opinion of the Conservative mem
bers of the Convention that the white people
Of Virginia should act in this matter without
divisions. We contemplate the fact of the
entire black population consolidated against
us, enrolled in one compact, oath bound or
gan iZation, acting with the precision and dis
cipline of an army. By the apportonment of
representation in the Convention they were
entitled to majority in that body, which
was increased by the inactivity of the whites,
who were heartless and dispirited. This ma
jority has framed a negro Constitution, con-
trived to secure and perpetGate not only their
ascendency, but their absolute control of the
State For they aim at perpetsating their
power. Ayowing the most radical and eX-
treme opinions with regard to the rights of
the people, and the right of the ma jority of
the people, of whatever race or color, TO rule,
they have not only, by disfranchisement and
test oaths, attempted to stille the white ma io-
rity, and the voice of all the whites, in this
State, but they put in their Constitution two
provisions designed to keep the power in their
hands. One OF these is the test oath which is
required of the members elected TO any future
constitutional convention; the other is a pro-
viso that no amendment or revision of the Con-
eli ucI,br tod n do hjpb
shall deny or in any way impair the right Of
suffrage, or any civil or political right rs con-
ferred by this Constitution, except for causes
which apply equally TO all persons and
classes without distinction" They deny The
right of the people to change their Coustitu-
tion, and are legislating for posterity TO the
remotest generation.


The whites are absolutely goaded to exer.
ton, and have no choice but to arise and de-
fend their existence rs race. The only uues-
tion is as to the method of making this oppo
siton. 1t appears to us, and such is certainly
the opinion of nine tenths of the white peo-
pie of the State, that our true course lies in Il
positive rejection of the Constitution submit
ted. Such being the case, if there are q few
who would have preferred q mere passive re-
we trust that, for the sake of una
nimity, they will lend their hearty co opera
tion to the plan which has been resolved on
It is only by concerted and united action that
full expression can be given TO the sentiments





few thousand voters from the polls might give
some color to the averment that n portion of
the whites were favorable to the Constitution.
1t is, therefore, the deliberate judgment Of
those who unite in this paper that it should
be regarded as settled that all who propose to
act with the White Mans Party in Virginia
shall register and r0te, and that no one should
feel at liberty, whatever his private opinions
as to the propriety of some other course, TO
break those ranks which should neither waver
=, -,


1t has been said that Congress, If we defeat
1t, will put this Constitution on us. Then let
Congress be the author of this great wrong
and let not Virginia, under any menace OF
weakly be tempted to offer no resist
ance to her ravisher. The adoption of the
Constitution by the people of the State and
the imposition OF IL on them by the Republi-
can party of the North are two very different
things, and may be followed by very different
results. An acquiescence on our part in negro
suffrage is surely not the way to arouse the
northern mind against it, Nor does it seem TO
us possible that so monstrous Il government
can ever be effectually fastened on US, if the
white people of the State will maintain firm,
determined, and unfaltering attitude.


1t is proper, however, TO remark that it Is
by no means certain, nor do zoe think it
probable, that Congress will impose this
Constitution on us, if we shall reject it.
The instrument is very different in its charac-
ter from that contemplated by the acts of
Congress. These did not profess more than
the purpose to provide for protection TO the
negro; but the Constitution framed leaves it
necessary to provide for the protection of the
white man. 1t has been suggested that the
political party in possession of the Federal
Government, preparatory to the President tial
election, are anxious to have the southern
States in the Union but were it admissible
to entertain the hypothesis that party conside
rations would influence Congress in this mat
ter, Virginia might well be an exception to the
southern States in general, as her vote would
be cast against the party in question
Ut the Presidential election, and, indeed, must [
be, if the whites will only take care TO regis
ter, as we can command white majority of
thirty-fiv thousand.


1t is our duty, then, to acttogether; to avoid
all divisions; to disregard all cavilling objec-
tions; and to vote down the proposed Consti-
tuition. To say of such 4 Constitution that it
would be insupportable is language too feeble.
To say Gf it could be maintained twenty
years. thati it would lead TO absolute Social
death is too obvious to need establishment.
1t is an inundation, cataclysm, whose black
billows would submerge, even in that short
time, every monument of civilization, and
leave the white race in hopeless degradation.
Judge Snead, of Accomac, one Of the ablest
of his party, q consistent Union man during
the war, elected to the Convention as q Radi-
cal, and acting with his party for three months
of the session of the body, was compelled, at
the last moment, to declare that the Constitu-
tion established negro supremacy, and that,
in favor of negro suffrage, he had no
left but to vote against IL ut the
polls II is 4 strange spectacle that large
portion of the American people, however en-
bittered by the antagonisms of civil war,
should be willing to see members Of the same
family pass, even temporarily, under such 4
yoke. 1t is one of the noticeable incidents OF
the age that, in what claims to be the most
enlightened country of Christendom, q frenzy
like this crusade for negro suffrage-so resem-
bling the delirium of the French revolution
should take possession of the public mind. To
us at the South, the absolute indifference with
which the people OF the North contemplate
the application now being made OF this system
at the South is matter of astonishment.


That the negroes OF the South can establish
themselves in any permanent supremacy over
I tha 1uhites we do not. however. acceut for Z