Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-04-21
THE AnglO-Saxon Let Loose.


ton that 1t claims as the chief characteristic
and ruling passion of the Anglo-SaxOn. The
Spectator says " Deep in the AnglO-SaxOn
,s heart, as in the heart Of every people, save
&c the Arab, which has ever achieved dOmina-
ton, lies the instinct Of masterfulness, the
thought seldom formulated, but never alb
" sent, that he has, by innate right, by priyi-
lege beyond or above all human and most
" divine laws, the prerogative Of sway. Alone
" among mankind, the AnglO-Saxon has never
&" consented TO settle in any land ruled by an
" other law, or administered through another
" language than his own. Spread abroad over
90 the whole world, he settles nowhere where
" he has not dominion, and there is not on
" earth at this moment a group Of five thou
" sand English-Speaking men who obey for
" eign rule. They cannot do it. Sooner or
" later they and the native authority clash, and
" then pickering eternally among themselves,
the naughty inSular people, whose one idea is
to create an England, or a new England, in
" every land, stand back to back as organized
" as an army, and IN their cold determination to
ton" This instinct of dominion, adds {" the
Spectator, causes an impotence Of resistance,
" and regards such resistance, especially in an
" inferior race, as an Insult" After doing all
it could to exasperate the people Of England
against Governor EYRE and the military au-
thorities, and the white inhabitants Of ia
maica, for she manner in which the negro in
surgents we're dealt with" the Spectator
now seeks to palliate their conduct by this
metaphysical and high-soUnding solution. II
was that, and not race-hatred," says &" the
{" Spectator" 1t accounts in the same way for
the cruelties Of the English in India. The point
it now makes against Governor EYRE is, that
he should not have " let loose the dominant
"race upon an inferior people"
This subject has a moral for Americans.-
We, South as well as North, are of the Anglo
Saxon race. We have its characteristics and
instincts, and, most of all, have the instinct.
of domination and the sense Of superiority
over other races. We have had our expert
ences on this continent. The Indians would
neither submit nor assimilate with US, and
where are they The miserable remnants of
their numerous tribes have retired before us to
the haunts of the wild beast, and left US in I'M
disputed possession of their inheritance. The
mixed and native races of this whole continent
equally acknowledge the superiority of the
American of-shoot from the Anglo-Saxon
stock.
If there has been one American character
istic more prominent than all others, It has
been our intolerant aversion to an association
on equal terms with an inferior race. For two
centuries we have been thrown in association
with negroes, and nothing 2,ade that asSOcia-
ton tOlerable but the admission of inferiority
of the latter and his humble submission TO
ourselves. Those English and Northerners who
brought the negroes TO this continent as slaves
defended their conduct on the plea that they
were an inferior race. Nobody ever doubted
it, aud to tell the plain truth, nobody doubts it
now. Tothis day that iRferiOrity is as manifest
10 rational minds as it was when new England
ers first caught poor SANBO in his native woods,
brought him here and sold him in the South.
The prejudice against his color and the sense
nothing but the Negroes sUbmisSivenesS has
saved him. Had he resisted authority and as
sumed equality, putting on airs and joStling
his white superiOrs, of the four or five millions
now in the United States not one-twentieth
would be in existence. The Negroes safety has
been his acknowledgment Of interiOrity, and if
any additional proof that his natural position is
that of inferiority is wanted, We will find it in
the fact that in that position he has, in obedi-
ence to the first law Of nature, most marvel
ously L" increased and multiplied"
In the mind Of every Anglo-SaxOn there is
an instructive consciousness Of his superiority
over the negro race. But great experiment
against nature is now being attempted-that Of
elevating the negro to an equality with the
whites. Will it be submitted 10? We do not
speak with the rancOr Of the politician, but
with the soberness and gravity Of the philoso-
pher when we anSyar-never. Nor do we lin
it this answer 10 the South, but extend it to the
North. What is equality before the law" as
il is called, OF under the Civil Rights bill
Il is that the negro shall vote that he shall be ELI
gible 10 office that he shall be able to contract
marriage with whites that he shall sit beside
them at hotels, in cars and coaches, in churches,
at theatres and concert rooms that he shall,
in fine, be able to do everything that the white
man does and that to deny him these privi-
leges will subject the offender to fine and i'm
prisonment.
We do not threaten or counsel violence in
what we are about to say. We merely assert
the supreme instinct of domination aScribed by
the Spectator to the AnglO-SaxOn; his intoler-
ance of insult from a subordinate race, when
we declare il as our conviction that negro
equality, especially when attempted to be car
ried out as the more insOlent negroes will as
sert it, will not long be endured either at the
North or at the South Collisions will come,
and woe betide the negroes when they do come.
The first open political demonstration at
tempted by the negroes of this city, took place
on the 81 of April. 1t was an experiment
upon the patience of our citizens that would
not have been risked by wise commandant.
The day was m-chOSen it was too soon after
the war had ceased, and was too full Of hazards
of many kinds to have been permitted. For
tunately it passed Oh better than we dared 10
hope, for newly emaneiPated negroes mounted
on horseback, shining with gaudv embeuisb-
ments, armed, in many instances. dopbt,ass
half drunk, and even without liquor. intoxi
Gated with a newborn sense Of equality and
independence, and believing that no matter
what excuses they might commit, in the even,
of collision with the whites, they would b,
protected by the troops they saw drawn up a
if expecting and waiting for a disturbance
We say that negroes, at best but half civilized
and thus situated, cannot be expected to &c
with discretion. But for the judieiOus distri
button, the constant vigilance, untiring acti
witty, and admirable conduct Of Major CLAI
BoRSE's police, our streets would probabl
have been the scenes of riot and blOOdshed
brought on by excited and self-important ne
groes. The authority that permitted that de
monstration to take place, committed not onl,
=. IN