thus hampered, it received
216,987 votes, or nearly forty-five per cent of all the votes cast
in the State. This result shows great progress in public sentiment
since the adoption of the constitution of 1851, and inspires the
friends of equal political rights with a confident hope that in
1871, when the opportunity is given to the people, by the
provisions of the constitution, to call a constitutional
convention, the organic law of the State will be so amended as to
secure in Ohio to all the governed an equal voice in the
government.

But whatever reasonable doubts may be entertained as to the
probable action of the people of Ohio on the question of an
extension of the right of suffrage when a new State constitution
shall be formed, I submit with confidence that nothing has occurred
which warrants the opinion that the ratification by the last
General Assembly of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of
the United States was not in accordance with the deliberate and
settled convictions of the people. That amendment was, after the
amplest discussion upon an issue distinctly presented, sanctioned
by a large majority of the people. If any fact exists which
justifies the belief that they now wish that the resolution should
be repealed, by which the assent of Ohio was given to that
important amendment, it has not been brought to the attention of
the public. Omitting all reference to other valuable provisions, it
may be safely said that the section which secures among all the
States of the Union equal representation in the House of
Representatives and in the electoral colleges in proportion to the
voting population, is deemed of vital importance by the people of
Ohio. Without now raising the grave question as to the right of a
State to withdraw its assent, which has been constitutionally given
to a proposed amendment of the Federal constitution, I respectfully
suggest that the attempt which is now making to withdraw the assent
of Ohio to the fourteenth amendment to the Federal constitution be
postponed until the people shall again have an opportunity to give
expression to their will. In my judgment, Ohio will never consent
that the whites of the South, a large majority of whom were lately
in rebellion, shall exercise in the government of the N