hods, he contended, were
corrupting the morals of the people of the State and should be
discontinued; but the ascendency of the Democratic party must be
maintained at any cost. The George plan, he urged, would accomplish this
result, because if the negroes were disfranchised according to the forms
of law, there would be no occasion to suppress his vote by violence
because he would have no vote to suppress; and there would be no
occasion to commit fraud in the count or perjury in the returns.

Notwithstanding this frank speech, which was intended to arouse the
fears of the members of the Convention from a party standpoint, the
defeat of the Christman substitute was by no means an assured fact. But
the advocates of the George plan,--the "understanding clause,"--were
both desperate and determined. Contrary to public expectation two
Republicans, Geo. B. Melchoir and I.T. Montgomery, had been elected to
the Convention from Bolivar County. But their seats were contested, and
it was assumed that their Democratic contestants would be seated. Still,
pending the final disposition of the case, the two Republicans were the
sitting members. Montgomery was colored and Melchoir was white. But the
George faction needed those two votes. No one suspected, however, that
they would get them in any other way than by seating the contestants.
The advocates and supporters of the Christman substitute were,
therefore, very much surprised and disappointed when they learned that
Mr. Montgomery, the only colored member of the Convention, intended to
make a speech in favor of the adoption of the George plan, and vote for
it; which he did. Why this man, who had the reputation of being honest
and honorable, and who in point of intelligence was considerably above
the average of his race, should have thus acted and voted has always
been an inexplicable mystery. It is difficult to believe that he was
willing to pay such a price for the retention of his seat in the
Convention, still it is a fact that the contest was never called and
Montgomery and his colleague were allowed to retain their seats.

The adoption of the George plan was thus assured, but not without a
desperate fight. The opponents of that scheme made a brave, though
unsuccessful, fight against it. But it was soon made plain to the
advocates of the George plan that what they had succeeded in forcing
through the Convention would be defeated by the people at the
ballot-box. In fact, a storm of