1874.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 1451

Upon the first point, the Resolutions upon their face exhibits
two propositions in opposition to its retention.

It is "in contravention of the National Constitution," and
"in opposition to the spirit of the age." That it is in con-
travention of the National Constitution, every one of us knows.
By the fourteenth amendment to that Constitution it is pro-
vided that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by
any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude." By the provisions of our own Constitution, (and
such would be the case undoubtedly, without any such pro-
vision,) the Constitution of the United States is "the supreme
law of the land." There being a conflict of authority, the
National Constitution prevails, and the word "white" in that
of the State is a mere nullity. Again, it is in opposition of the
spirit of the age. The reasons which were supposed to exist
why it was proper at one time to have the word in the Con-
stitution no longer exist. Whilst a large number of the col-
ored people in the State were in a condition of slavery, it may
have been distasteful to many persons to have accorded polit-
ical rights to any of that race, whether unhappily in such
state of slavery or more fortunate in being free. This feeling,
though to be deprecated, was perhaps natural and to he ex-
pected. But to the credit of our State, bo it said, that human
slavery no longer exists within its borders. From the Mason
and Dixon's line to the Potomac, from the Fairfax stone to
the Ocean, ber citizens are free, each to pursue his own true
and substantial happiness, according to the dictates of his own
conscience, and restricted in his actions only by the laws of
the land.

Along with the departure of slavery has departed to a
great extent the feeling which once existed, that the colored
people have no rights which we are bound to respect, and a
new era has sprung up which accords all reasonable political
rights to every citizen of the land.

Then, is not the restriction of the elective franchise to the
white population, in the language of the Resolution, "in op-
position to the spirit of the age?" We are constrained to
believe that if this provision in our Constitution were effect-
ual, the good sense, the liberality, the justice of our people
would have, ere this, stricken it from that document and
placed the seal of condemnation upon it. That it is rendered
inoperative by a provision in a law of higher authority, is no
reason why it should remain a black, glaring blot upon the
organic law of the State; that it is powerless to effect its de-
sign is no reason why it should be passed unnoticed.

The first proposition, that the word is open to censure, I
consider clearly established.