MISSOURI. 



521 





polir\ i',. i- restoring the rights of citizenship to 

 iUt'raiK -liisod men of the State. At a 

 county convention in the latter part of Sop- 

 tcmlicr tlio following resolutions wore adopt- 

 ed : 



Jletolrtd That we arc in favor of the enfranchise- 

 ment of all persona who are now disfranchised on 

 account of participation i" ''if lute rcl>rllin ; that wo 

 i dm Hon. J. W. McClurg as one of the ciirlir.st 

 and most consistent advocates of such cnlruiiehi.sc- 

 .in.l fully indorse the sentiments expressed by 

 him upon this subject in his lost annual message to 

 the General Assembly of this State. 



Jfaoleed, That as soon as such enfranchisement is 

 I, ami in view of the fuct that our State con- 

 stitution was framed at a time when the flames of 

 a civil discord were raging in the land, and adopted 

 at a time when stern necessity rendered it inex- 

 pedient for the whole people to participate in its 

 ratification, we are in favor of the Legislature call- 

 ing a constitutional convention to frame a constitu- 

 tion, upon the adoption of which all the people can 

 vote. 



Governor McClurg, too, wrote tlio following 

 in reply to a question which is recited in the 

 letter itself: 



STATE or MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPART'T, I 

 CITV OF JEFFERSON, October 27, 1870. | 



I>KAK FRIEND : I thank you very much for your 

 kind and considerate letter, ana expression of pcr- 

 soual regard. You say : " I would like to know if 

 you are in favor of removing the test-oaths and all 

 the disabilities of what aro'caLed the rebels and rebel 

 sympathizers?" 



I have ever been in favor of their removal when 

 " public safety " would iustify. In my last message 

 I expressed myself on the suoject. I will send you 

 a copy of that message. I then, January, 1870, was 

 in favor of their removal by the mode already then 

 provided in the constitution; that is, through the 

 Legislature. It will be seen that I then made no 

 objection to the removal of disabilities, but preferred 

 a certain mode. To that extent I was opposed to the 



E resent amendments prior to the meeting of our 

 tate Convention to nominate a State ticket. It was 

 reasonable for me to presume the delegates to that 

 convention would express the prevailing feeling of 

 the people. That convention approved the action of 

 the Legislature in submitting the amendments, and 

 left all voters free to vote their sentiments. I could 

 no longer contend that my way was better than the 

 one provided by the Legislature, and I have made 

 no opposition, either publicly or privately, to the 

 amendments, feeling that, if a majority of the voters 

 favor their adoption, the time of " safety to the State " 

 has arrived. I therefore authorized Senator Drake, 

 Colonel Stover, and General Johnson, and others, to 

 say for me that I was and am making no opposition. 

 Very truly and respectfully, 



Your obedient servant, 



J. W. McCLTJRG. 



In spite of all the opposition that could be 

 rallied against theni, and the advantages wliidi 

 the radicals may have derived from having the 

 administration of the State on their side, with 

 the execution of the registration law in their 

 hands, the Liberal (Brown) party was trium- 

 phant at the election which occurred on the 8th 

 of November. The official returns furnish the 

 following figures: Total vote for Governor, 

 166,625; for Brown, 104,771; for Mct'lm-, 

 62,854; Brown's majority, 41,917. The other 

 candidates of the same party were chosen by 

 large majorities. 



The Congressmen chosen at the same elec- 

 tion were as follows: First <li-tri<t, Kran>tiis 

 Wills, Democrat; second district, (i. A. Fin- 

 kelnburg, Liberal Republican; third district, 

 J. K. McCormick, Democrat; fourth district, 

 C. E. Havens, Ka.li.al; fifth district, S. A. 

 Burdutt, Radical; sixth district, Abram Co- 

 niiii^o. Democrat; seventh dintrict, J. C. Pur- 

 Uadical; eighth district, James G. Bluir, 

 Liberal Republican; ninth district, Andrew 

 King, Democrat four Democrats, two Liberal 

 K<-|'iil.liran8, and three Radicals. 



The election effected a complete change in 

 the composition of the State Legislature, which 

 is now controlled by the Liberal Republicans, 

 or " bolters." This is regarded as insuring an 

 entire revision of the State constitution. The 

 amendments proposed by the last Legislature 

 were adopted by large majorities. The whole 

 vote on the suffrage amendment was 183,984, 

 of which 117,518, or a majority of 101,052, 

 were in favor of its ratification; 129,522 were 

 cast on the amendment relating to qualifica- 

 tion for office, of which 112,705 were for its 

 adoption, and 16,727 against it, or a majority 

 of 106,068 in its favor. 



In a speech made at St. Louis after the elec- 

 tion, in response to a serenade, Colonel Brown 

 acknowledges that his success was due in a 

 great measure to the support given him by the 

 Democrats. The following are his words: 



Now, I have to say to you without any hesitation 

 that I have to thank the Democratic party of the 

 State of Missouri for the cordial support tnat they 

 have given me in that position, and I say further- 

 more that no party has ever shown more perfect 

 command of sell, more perfect disregard of past tra- 

 ditions, more perfect devotion to the patriotic wel- 

 fare of the common country than has the Democratic 

 party in the last election in this State of Missouri. I 

 can say to you frankly, my fellow-citizens, that I am 

 the last man in this nation to disregard the obliga- 

 tions under which I stand, and that in this election I 

 recognize that my obligations are in the largest 

 measure due to the Democratic party of the State of 

 Missouri. Now. my friends, let me tell you another 

 thing. I recognize the fact that the Democratic party 

 of the State or Missouri has done this thing it has 

 elevated itself upon a higher platform than it ever 

 occupied before ; it has gone for the rights of all 

 men, and, in so doing, it has made an initiative of the 

 future that will go through all the States of this Union. 

 It has cut itself loose from the formulas and the 

 obstructions of the past, and it has made a platform 

 upon which the young men of this nation can stand, 

 a platform where they can stand disembarrassed ot 

 all the antecedents that have gone before them-^dis- 

 embarrassed of all that retinue of party machinery 

 that has kept them down heretofore, ana where they 

 can move forward in the spirit and in the light of a 

 pure Democracy, advancing to the conquest of tlio 

 future. Fellow-citizens, so far ns this question con- 

 cerns our own State, I desire to eay to you that I 

 recognize thib as the triumph of new ideas ; that I 

 recognize this as the initiation of a reconstruction of 

 our State from its bottom upward ; that I recognize 

 it as the initiative of a now convention to reorganize 



which has been taught by this election to the nation 

 at large will be received and accepted, and that the 

 national Representatives who have been sent from 



