The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-08-25
Negro Inslbordination.

The news received from the seabor5 planta-
ti9ns of Georgia ard South Carolina i distrcs
sing n the extreme. In these districts the
blacks arc largely il The majority, the number
Of negroes beice vastly greater in proportion to
the wMtes han n the interior, constituting, in
fact, seventy 20 eighty per cent. of the total
population. On tlogr >uh5Ttlinatioa depend the
pcace and prosperitv Of the sections they in
habit Uncontrolled by authority and per
mitted to indulge in the brutal passions which
are so rapidly developed in the negro race
when not kept undgg proper restraint, the blacl.
viii only be toe apc 10 crafty his taste, first
for devastation and destruction. aut afterwards
for BLOOD. Without the supervision and, in
deed, coercion, which is necessary TO force him
10 work, the fertile lo,,lands. which can only
be cultivated by the African race, will soon re-
lapse into swampy wilderness and foul ditch
es, broken dykes and shattered r!ce mills, viii
be all thai is left 10 mark the presence Of once
fertile plantations.
In the rice districts of Sou.h Carolina grea
alarm is felt at the growing nsubordinaoa man
Tested by the negroes: Largely ouinumbered
and almost dafencoles5, the whites have till
now relied f3r protection upon the presence of
the white troops quartered in their midst. The
announcement that these a5e 10 be withjrawn
and that they arc to he replaced by negro troops
has not only created the greatest CONSERVATION
among the white inhabitants, but has not lit
tie astonshed the officers at present On duty.
These latter feel that there is much cause for
alarm. and, regarding the consequences Of their
departure IS serious in the extreme, have aivi-
sed the planters and their friends to prepare
memoria! for presentation 70 General Gilmore,
stating The condition Of the districts in which
they reside, and giving such evidenco as tends
to show that the blacks are ripe for insurrec-
ton They have affixed their own signatures
to this memorial, which has probably by this
time reached It's destination. General Gilmore
however, is not the man who has solo discre-
ton in this matter General Meade commands
the department, and there are still those over
him whose duty it is to see that the lives of
citizens are not useessly held in jeopardy, and
whose aim should be to develop and protect ihe
producing interests OF the various sections of
the country.
The consequences CT an outbreak among the
negroes would be fatal-fatal to the white in
habitants, fatal to the negroes themselves aad
fatal to the local agricultural interests. Though
largely outnumbering the whites or the sea-
board, the negroes are still In a very decided
minority in the South, and while, at the begin
ning Of an outbreak, there might be no force
suticieutsg large to stay their biood- red hands
organized bodies would soon be collected which
would yisit upon them, with terrible retribut,on
the crimes and massacres they might have com-
nttted The whites woGldswreak their venge-
ance upon the negroes, and in destroying them,
would destroy the labor Of the country. CUT
tivation ~ould cease for a long time TO coma,
fields would be barren and the producing pow
er OF the country, which constitutes its chief
and real wealth, would be, in the rice districts
at least, not only checked, but prostrated. It
is no, only the duty, but the manifest interest
of the government, to see that the whites are
projected II their lives at east, if not in their.
property, and that the negroes are kept under
wholesome restraint. So SOON as this is under
stood, 20 soOn as the local authorities are ai-