ordinate.

The bill fails to provide in what manner the State of Arkansas is to
signify its acceptance of the "fundamental condition" which Congress
endeavors to make unalterable and irrevocable. Nor does it prescribe the
penalty to be imposed should the people of the State amend or change the
particular portions of the constitution which it is one of the purposes
of the bill to perpetuate, but as to the consequences of such action
leaves them in uncertainty and doubt. When the circumstances under which
this constitution has been brought to the attention of Congress are
considered, it is not unreasonable to suppose that efforts will be made
to modify its provisions, and especially those in respect to which this
measure prohibits any alteration. It is seriously questioned whether the
constitution has been ratified by a majority of the persons who, under
the act of March 2, 1867, and the acts supplementary thereto, were
entitled to registration and to vote upon that issue. Section 10 of
the schedule provides that--

No person disqualified from voting or registering under this
constitution shall vote for candidates for any office, nor shall be
permitted to vote for the ratification or rejection of the constitution
at the polls herein authorized.

Assumed to be in force before its adoption, in disregard of the law of
Congress, the constitution undertakes to impose upon the elector other
and further conditions. The fifth section of the eighth article provides
that "all persons, before registering or voting," must take and
subscribe an oath which, among others, contains the following clause:

That I accept the civil and political equality of all men, and agree
not to attempt to deprive any person or persons, on account of race,
color, or previous condition, of any political or civil right,
privilege, or immunity enjoyed by any other class of men.

It is well known that a very large portion of the electors in all the
States, if not a large majority of all of them, do not believe in or
accept the political equality of Indians, Mongolians, or negroes with
the race to which they belong. If the voters in many of the States of
the North and West were required to take such an oath as a test of their
qualification, there is reason to believe that a majority of them would
remain from the polls rather than comply with its degrading conditions.
How far and to what extent this test oath prevented the registration