TEXAS. 



729 



5. Did you in 1862 or in 1864 register yourself as 

 an alien, or did you obtain protection papers from 

 representatives of any foreign power ? 



In case any of the preceding questions are answered 

 " Yes," or should you know they should be so an- 

 swered, it would be proper to ask the following : 



6. Were you in the Confederate service, military, 

 naval, or civil, or did you give aid and comfort to 

 those engaged in hostility to the United States ? 



If answered " Yes," or if you know it to be so, they 

 must not be registered. 



On the llth of January, General Hancock 

 issued an order expressing his dissent from the 

 construction given to the disqualifying clauses 

 of the reconstruction acts in these memoranda, 

 and informing the registrars in Texas that they 

 were to be regarded as of no effect as instruc- 

 tions to them, but that the members of the 

 Board were to "look to the laws, and to the 

 laws alone, for the rules which are to govern 

 them in the discharge of the delicate and im- 

 portant duties imposed upon them." In case 

 any questions arose as to the right of persons 

 to be registered, the applicants, he said, should 

 have a right to appeal from the decision of the 

 Board, and a full statement of the facts should 

 then be forwarded to the military headquar- 

 ters. Such appeals were, in fact, made ; and 

 in a number of instances the decision of the 

 registrars was reversed. 



The whole number of white citizens in the 

 State who would have been entitled to vote 

 under the old laws is said to be about 80,000 ; 

 the number registered under the operation of 

 the reconstruction acts was 56,678. The num- 

 ber of colored persons registered was 47,581, 

 making the whole number of registered voters 

 104,259. 



Before the election took place, which was 

 ordered for the 14th and 15th of February, a 

 Conservative Convention was held at Houston, 

 which 'occupied three days in its deliberations, 

 and put forth a platform, the leading features 

 of which were opposition to negro suffrage and 

 to the congressional plan of reconstruction. 

 The following were among the resolutions 

 adopted : 



Resolved. That the question of African equality 

 rises far above all questions of party, and is vital to 

 the future interests of this State, as subordinate to 

 that, we cheerfully^ concur with all parties who are 

 opposed to the Africanization of the State. 



Resolved, That believing it to be the determination 

 of the Radical party to create a convention, and yet 

 desiring to express our opposition to the Africaniza- 

 tion of Texas, we recommend the people of the State, 

 entitled to register, to do so and vote against a con- 

 vention, and to guard against the contingency of its 

 being successfully carried ; to vote at the same time 

 for the election of delegates to the convention on the 

 basis of creating a constitution without negro suffrage, 

 and asking Congress to accept the same, believing 

 that we should only be recognized as in the Union 

 on a footing of equality with the other States, and 

 that the Northern people will demand no more. 



Resolved, That while we are unalterably opposed 

 to negro supremacy, we are in favor of securing to 

 them the full protection of all their rights of person 

 and of property, under just laws bearing equally on all. 



The whole vote given on the question of 

 holding a convention, so far as authentic re- 



turns have been made, was 54,388 : for the 

 convention, 43,142 ; against a convention, 11,- 

 246 ; majority in favor, 30,896. 



The delegates chosen to frame a constitution 

 for the State of Texas met in convention on 

 the 1st of June, in pursuance of a military or- 

 der issued on the 5th of May, by General Bu- 

 chanan, who was at that time holding tempo- 

 rary command of the Fifth Military District 

 prior to the arrival of General Rousseau, 

 who had been appointed to succeed Hancock. 

 The convention consisted of ninety members, 

 nine of whom were negroes, and but eight or 

 nine of the whites were adherents of the 

 Democratic party. The body was, however, 

 nearly equally divided into a party inclined to 

 moderate action, headed by A. J. Hamilton, a 

 former Provisional Governor of the State, and 

 a party led by his brother, Morgan Hamilton, 

 whose temper prompted extreme radical meas- 

 ures. General E. J. Davis was chosen to pre- 

 side over the deliberations of the convention. 

 Provisional Governor Pease submitted a mes- 

 sage, suggesting some of the measures which 

 he deemed it important for the convention to 

 adopt; among other things he recommended 

 that they declare null and void ab initio the 

 act of secession and all laws repugnant to the 

 Constitution and laws of the United States, and 

 repeal all laws making any discrimination 

 against persons on account of color, race, or 

 previous condition. The first part of this rec- 

 ommendation introduced into the convention 

 a question which led to a long and heated de- 

 bate, and was finally settled by a close vote re- 

 jecting the proposition on which the discus- 

 sion was based, to declare null and void all 

 acts of any "body or assemblage of persons or 

 men in Texas calling themselves a convention 

 or Legislature, and not having the sanction of 

 the Congress of the United States." This was 

 called, throughout the discussion on the sub- 

 ject, the ab initio question. Propositions were 

 made both for further disfranchisement and 

 for the removal of disabilities, but nothing of 

 importance was done on either of these sub- 

 jects. The subject of dividing the State was 

 brought up, but met with general disfavor. 



The Governor, in his message at the opening 

 of the convention, had declared that crime was 

 never so prevalent in Texas as at that moment ; 

 and a few days later a military order was is- 

 sued by General Reynolds, of the District of 

 Texas, which declared that reliable information, 

 received at the headquarters, showed that in 

 many counties " organized bands of lawless 

 men" were committing murders and other- 

 wise violating the laws and disturbing the 

 peace of the country. This subject was taken 

 up in the Constitutional Convention, and a 

 special Committee on Crime and Lawlessness 

 was appointed to investigate the matter and 

 report for the information of the delegates. 

 Their report was submitted on the 30th day of 

 June, and stated that about 900 homicides had 

 been committed in the State since the close of 



