Year: 1868


stitutional Amendment, as well as the Constitution
of Georgia, which is in the following words-almost
identical with those of the recently adopted section
OF the United States Constitution;


SEC. a All persons born or naturalzed, in the United
States and resident in this state are hereby GecaIeu
forced which shall anrdge the privileges or immunlues
of citizens of United states of this state or deny
of its laws And it shall be the duty OF the General
Assembly, by appropriate ieg,'iaon TO pIqfet oVg35 35
immuntes guaranteed in this section


But said these men who wrest the Constitution 80
their own destruction, that instrument 1t is true
cOnfers the rights of citizenship upon the negro Dnt
does not confer upon him the right to hold once
elective or other, Yet the only condition for holdlhg
office demanded by the ordinance of the convention
nnder which the members Of this Legislature, "mte
and black. Republican and Democrat were eject co.
Il that those elected shall be "lOyal citizens" The
elected colOred Republicans fulfill this condition
the Democrats who turned them out do not The
Convention intended to cheat the negro say the
Democrats else it would have made some explicit
declaration of the negroes title to Office, II this
were true it would be a two-edged argument for the
Constitution nowhere confers upon the Whte man
the right hold office but it is not true-there was
in the Convention which framed the Constitution OF
Georgia very emphatic declaration on tins point
On the 18th of February last. Mr. Waddell, Demo



yention:


"whe men only shall be eligible 70 any office OF trust
honor. profit employment whether muhlelPalii JW
dcia or pouca in this State, and White men only shall
serve on jures."


Mark how promptly and efcctually the Convention
crushed this bad egg! When the resolution was put
upon its passage it got only 70 votes Tor IL TO IVo
against it, The Convention considered that in con
ferring upon the cOored man the rights of citizen
it conferred upon him all the rights OF citizen III
would not stulty itself by declaring positively that
this or that man. equals in civil political rights as
1t had already declared all citizens TO be- should or
should not hold Office or obtain employment II he
could II could not be made TO understand why
free American citizen made so by the supreme law
of the land should not be much q citizen in Geor-
eia as in Massachusetts, and when he had the right
10 serve the people as an officer IN one State he
should not have it in the other.


But the motto of the Democracy everywhere IL
that power may override Constitutions and law
whenever they stand in the way


"The good old rule, the ancient plan,


That he IN ay take who has the power,


And he may keep VINO cam


The colored men had not the power 10 Keep
their seats. though their right was unqueStionable


bave not time to detail further the particulars OF
this Rebel victory, but will, in my next give more
PARTICULARS 1t is sufficient TO say now That the
Democrats are by no means so iubiant as they





dark cloud in the horizon; perhaps the news from
Vermont throws something of damper over their
foy and the Republicans cast down and despair
ing They deserve some Christening for the dlssen-
s,ons which they have suffered 10 pervade ther
ranks and to which in great degree their disaster
is owing


coon CONDUCT OF THE COLoRED REPREsENTA-


TiyEs-NEGRO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF


THE NEGROES-THE CONSEQUENCES OF TIE


OUTRAGE-ATTEMPT TO TAKE AWAY FROM


THE GOVERNOR CONTROL OF THE sIAIE


1oAD~IvPEA ACHMENT-EMBA STU


ALTON OF THE COVER NOR-MR AkEkhANo


sPFECH-GEN. HILL GOING NORTH


IFRoM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT


ATLANTA, Sept. s. 1868.
I,n,v last had no opportunity to dllate upon the
..iullaule conduct OF the expelled coored Represen-
tatiyes in the irving circumstances in which they
were placed. 1t would have been hard for similar
number of the white to have forbOrne some
threats or more manifestations of revengeful feel
ing Their conduct was in accordance with the
decorOus and modest demeanOr they have maintained
since they have sat in this Legislature. The most
violent threat they made was-we will now 90
home and work for Grant and Colfax. 1t would
have been good lesson for those of you at the North
who are grieving under the idea that the South
down-trodden and oppressed, is groanng under
negro supremacy if they could have seen the repre-
sentatves of the dominant and supreme black race
shamefuy elected from their rightful positions in
the Legislature by few of the aforesaid down
trodden and oppressed whites. If they could have
tyranny and violence committed ia almost eV0iJ
county of the State by the aforesaid dOwn-trodden
upon the aforesaid supreme race, think they would
change their opinions somewhat, and conclude the
boot was on the other leg" as TO negro supremacy.
The coored members were permitted to occupy an
hour each in making speeches in their own defense
if there is such o thing defense III case
which is predetermined and prejudged Many of
them ayailed themselves of the privilege, and de-
mOnstrated TO the satisfaction OF everybody but
those who had resolved they should be condemned,
that they were intorlOpers upon that h0Or, but
were citizens and entitled to every right and priyl-
lepe of the citizen, and among them that OF repre-
sentng whatever constituency might choose to elect
them wish some of your squeamish Republicans
at the North who are so cOntemptuOus toward the
negro could have heard those speeches. Most OF
them would have done honor TO any Legislative AS
sembly Some Of them were cOuched III rnde and
ungrammatical language but all made some effect
i've points. " You laugh at my ignorance" said one
old black man, who had learned 10 read and write
since the war ended "tcOald yOu hare been any
more learned than 1 an II for 81 years yOG WGe
not permitted 10 OWn spellRgbO0k WithOut running
the risk Of the lash" Many of the appeals were emil
nently pathetic and all the addresses contained pas
sages of eoquence and argument which surprised
even those who had thought they knew the and
bis mental capacity thoroughly. Fred Douglass and
John NJ Langston are not the only orators of their
race Ii is not too broad assertion to say that
there were not 20 white in that Legislature who
could have made % such speeches. There is not one