Recently there appeared in the New Bern Journal a series of articles asserting and giving proofs of the claim, that the U.S. Constitution would not be violated by inserting in to the iligibily-to-office¹ clause of our amended state constitution the provision that office-holding be limited strictly to the white race

I doubt not that you already know this, and at any rate I know that you or any member of the commission who is bound in law could quickly make an investigation enough to become satisfied on this point. but the articles give the proof in available form without the trouble of any research, unless [divided] any [way], and in a form to get it before any member of the commission whether lawyer or not

MyI am now [sending] you and the members of the commission one copy each of the Journals supplement containing all these articles together on one sheet which render them easier to [preserve] and refer to. If they prove of a little assistance to the commission in its efforts towards working out the best results attainable I shall feel amply repaid for any trouble and expense I have gone to in the matter. The hope that it may help a little towards this end is the only cause of my presenting the matter to the distinguished and able gentlemen into whose hands the work has been committed with much justifiable confidence