The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-21 00:00:00

.11U.NNICUTT,S POLICY.

Unprejudiced men have long foreseen the danger
of a broad separation, political as well as social,
between the black and white races in the Southern
States. That the emancipated millions required
careful guidance when so suddenly called on to
exercise the privileges of freedmen is everywhere
conceded. The Radical party, who have pushed
matters to an extreme, were supposed to be able to
control the negroes. Some thought that their
former masters would influence the race ; others
that they would attach themselves to those to whom
they owe emancipation ; but it is now seen that the
tendency is for the blacks to act in a body as
blacks, with an utter disregard for any other con-
sideration than their own ascendancy. The late elec-
tions show that the negroes understand liberty only
as the elevation of their race at the expense of their
white fellow-citizens, so the line that now separates
the Southern people is the natural one of colour—the
blacks being on one side, the whites on the other.
Out of 10,051 white citizens in Richmond, 51 only
voted with the blacks, and less than 50 blacks
voted with the whites. Yet in that city there are
many Republicans as sound in principle as in any
other of the Union. Many earnest advocates of
negro education, negro emancipation, and negro
suffrage, have been compelled to take the place
marked out for them by nature among the men of
their race, because the blacks have insisted on blow-
ing principle to the winds, and establishing their
party on the simple issue of Black versus White.
This fatal decision is mainly due to a man named
HuNNicurr, who has obtained an influence over
the negroes, which he is using to further his selfish
ends. His object is to combine the negroes into
one body under his control, and he has announced
himself as a candidate for the United States
Senate and for the vice-Presidency as the acknow-
ledged repre3entative of the negro race. A narrow-
minded demagogue such as Mr. HuNxicurr is a
despot of the worst type. To maintain his sway it
is necessary that those on the ticket with himself
should be Creatures of his own. For this reason,
gentlemen like Governor PIERPOINT and FRANKLIN
STEARNS were removed to make way for a JAMES
MORRISSEY. None but the lowest schemers could
act with a person like HUNNICUTT, who openly
preached negro supremacy—the confiscation of the
property of the whites—and the rule of coloured
citizens by the strong arm. Having announced his
atrocious programme, the white inhabitants took
measures in self-defence. Employers were advised
to dismiss negro workmen, and to induce white
labour from the North and from Europe to supply
their places. It is said that a proclamation was
posted in Richmond, offering a reward of $25,000
for HUNNICUTT'S assassination. Addressing a crowd
of his coloured friends, Mr.HUNNIC urr said— " Don't
you know, fellow citizens, that when the assassin's
bullet passes through my brain, or his dagger
touches my heart, more than one white man will
fall upon that day ?" The assemblage responded
" Yes, yes." It is thus he works; not by an ap-
peal to law and justice, but to fear—himself dread-
ing the assassin's knife, hoping to check the hand
of others by showing the consequences that must
result to themselves. A negro guard was posted over
his house, and a Vigilance Committee organised, who
proceeded to serve notices on leading citizens to
withdraw from the State. The coloured people
write to their Northern friends of the dread
of the whites' violence in which they live, and
ask permission to form themselves into a militia.
The whites report to the Government their appre-
hension of a negro insurrection in the South, peti-
tioning for an increase in the military force and the
disarming of the negroes. The whites who voted
with the negroes are under a social ban, and the
negroes who voted with the whites are murdered
by their black brethern. It is marvellous in our
eyes, looking across the broad Atlantic on this spec-
tacle, to see men hurrying blindly to their fate.
The one thing the negroes should have avoided was
to separate into parties marked by colour. To
them a war of races means death—a destruction
hopeless and inevitable. The first step to a war of
races is such a separation. Once taken, the line
will quickly grow into an impassable barrier—and
who can doubt the result ? Can the negroes for a
moment suppose that they will receive Northern aid
in establishing black ascendancy ? —can they for a
moment believe that such an ascendancy could be
established without Northern aid? Absurd as are
such expectations, we fear it is but too true that at
least the latter is held by the coloured citizens of the
South. The blacks have combined to carry out Mr.
HuNNicun's programme, and unless this man be
quickly removed, and the Radical leaders take effi-
cient steps to direct the efforts of the negroes into
other channels, the fate of the race will be sealed,
and the Republican party involved in the gene-
ral ruin. If the dreaded war of races should
arise, it would be due to the action of such men as
HUNNICUTT, calling themselves Radicals, which
action would derive its vitality from the Republican
policy of putting votes into the hands of newly-
enfranchised slaves. Were an armed insurrection
of the blacks to occur, the fate of the Radical party

would be sealed, for the nation would hold them
responsible both for the policy and the manner in
which it was carried out. They have the strongest
incentives to suppress the selfish demagogues that
would use the ignorant blacks—whatever the risks
—to further their own ends. Whatever might be
the fate of the Southern whites, and doubtless they
would have to undergo cruel sufferings, there can
be little doubt as to the speedy end of the blacks
as a political body and of the Republican party.
The North would see in a war of races the failure
of the great civil war for emancipation they under-
took. The grief with which they would reflect on
the life and treasure wasted would gire point to the
enmity with which they would tarn on those who
inaugurated so fatal a policy. The extent of the
danger will probably arouse the Radicals to action
and avert the catastrophe. Negroes cannot be
handled by demagogues as are Irish or German
emigrants, for they belong to another race,
and there
is a deep-seated feeling of prejudice and antipathy
which may quickly be fanned into a consuming fire.
A negro rising would bring down on the woolly head
the full force of UNCLE SAM'S arm, nerved by the
strength of every sinew, for there could be little
doubt or hesitation in the North how such an out-
break should be met. A slave rising against op-
pression—and armed negroes striking for ascend-
ancy to put their black heels on the white necks of
their former masters, are two very different things.
The SUMNERS, the TIIADDEUS STEVENSES, the
WENDELL PHILLIPSES, the BROWNLOWS, and BUT-
LERS would go down before the hurricane of Nor-
thern feeling raised by such an insurrection as the
palms and cocoa nuts before a relentless cyclone.
They might as well reason with the wind as with
Northern sentiment in presence of their white
brethren falling under negro knives. It is not by
closing our eyes that the danger can be averted—
as w€ll shut them while standing on the track before
a coming train. Indeed, there is some safety in the
very magnitude of the danger, for even such things
as HUNNICUTT must quail as...the awful storm ap-
proached. He is playing with edged tools, with
loaded guns, and the first head that will be blown
off if the collision comes—will be his own. At the
same time, we believe, the negroes, under the guid-
ance of honest and unselfish leaders, are both trac-
table and law-abiding, which adds to the responsi-
bility of the Radicals, on whom. will fall the
retribution if they permit them to be deluded to
their ruin. The action of the PRESIDENT, as shown
by the advices through the Royal mail vessel that
arrived yesterday, indicates his dread of the races
coming into armed collision. General GRANT, it
is reported, will shortly issue an order for the dis-
solution of all the military and volunteer organisa-
tions in the South, an order which stands in strik-
ing contrast witn that just issued by Mr. JonNsoN
to restore to their owners all the Fenian arms
seized during the raid on Cahada.—Anglo-American
Times.