Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-11-26
From the Richmond Enquirer and Examiner. ]
An Impending Servile War.


1t is very far from our purpose needlessly to
excite the public apprehensions Rest and quiet
are absolutely necessary for the resuSctatlon OF
our impoverished Commonwealth, and we hold
that hand most useful in this exigency which
shall best succeed in pouring oil on the troubled
waves of the commotion around us. Yet we
should be recreant to high public duty, ifthis
day we failed to declare our solemn conviction
that serviie war is impending in the South.
The information which we receive from all parts
of Virginia, from our own correspondence, and
from the columns OF our cotemporarlesinln interior
towns, furnishes positive, emphatic and irrefra-
gable proof that the negroes are everywhere
banded in secret, sworn leagues, which hold al
most continuous sessions daily nightly and hour
y, debating, discussing and preparing for an
open, atrocious and merciless war of violence,
rapine and pilage upon the whites.
Under the instigation of the handful of white
wretches who lead them, the objective point of
the negroes has been all along the possession of
the lands, the houses, and, in general terms, the
property OF their late masters The plan ofthe
Radical Congress to put these negroes into power
as the political masters of the South opened up
way for the attainment of their object under
the forms of law, by ordinances of ''Conven-
ton, Legislatures and such like bodies,
composed of negroes. 1t was intended that the
enactments of these bodies under the names of
should deprive property of their vested
rights and turn their possessions over to the ne
groes under the shadow of numberless pretexts.
The great req action in Northern sentiment, and
the plainly expressed determination of the
Northern people no longer to uphold Congress
in its diabolical undertaking to make political
masters of our late domestic slaves, and thus
degrade white men for the crime of being white,
has only Infatuated the fierce passions of the ne
groes, and they are now preparing to siege by
force what they have hitherto hoped to acquire
without open violence as the fruits of the punt
tive policy which has characterized Congress in
dealing with the white rebels of the South.
This is the philosophy of the present situation.
The bitterness of the negroes now contrasted
with their previous docility and tractabiity,
presents no phenomenon in either the political
or social aspect. 1t is but the effect which fol
lows cause. The seed of hostility between the
races took root in the feculent soil of an avari-
clous greed for the possessions OF other people,
which was implanted in the breasts of the ne.
groes by the miserable wretches who hoped
thereby to serve their own purposes. Such
plants spring up with marvellous fecundity, and,
like all noxious plant, are difficult to eradicate
when they once terminate. 1t was impossible
but that the negroes should continue to entertain
the notions with which their minds had been
filled, and when the reaction in Northern SEN
timent blasted their hopes of the early realiza-
ton of their legislative schemes for the plumber
of their former masters, it would have been
marvel had that circumstance altered their wishes
in the premises. On the contrary, it only Great
ed vengefhl desire to repair that dlsappoint-
ment by the appliances OF violence And ac
cordingly they have proceeded to organize tor
violence.
In their secret political leagues they have
found the ground already broken for their pur-
poses, and in the nightly meetings of these con.
claves they openly discuss their schemes of
violence, and gloat over the feast of rapine and
pillage to which they invite themselves. So far
do they carry these things that they even, as
near Lynchburg, mark out each individual white
man for death, and determine the method of
his destruction or, as in Mecklenburg county,
concert measures for the early seizure of the
white mems possessions and name the day on
which they will occupy the land'; or, as in
this city, make open threats to shed the blood
of white men until the streets shall run knee
deep In blood" or, as IN all parts of the State,
procure arms, ammunition, knives, pixies and
bludgeons, and proceed to organize into COM
panies, regiments and other military forma-
tons.
A pregnant fact connected with these atrocious
proceedings is that the leaders most truculent
and boldest are some of the delegates lately
elected to the Convention soon to assemble in
this city. These men instinctivey perceive that
they must return to the base obscurity from
which they have risen only as the turbid stream
throws up mire and filth, unless they can
make the negroes permanently masters In the
South, and they seek to avert their doom by
these measures of violence.
1t is not necessary here to discuss any further
the causes which have led to the present alarm
ing situation We have only to meet the facts
as they stand. 1t is scarcely worth while either
to predict the result OF these proceedings If they
continue in operation. No-white man can take
any pleasure in the thought that these poor ne
groes are Fastening their own destruction by
their truculent conduct.
History furnishes no example of successful
servile war, and this is not the age in which its
teachings can be disregarded with impunity.-
The first gun fired from negro regiment, the
first drop of white blood spilled in such a con-
test, will unite the white people of America in
the indissoluble bonds Of a common race or col
or. 1t will exemplify in twinkling that blood
is thicker than water, and the people of the
North will rise in solid phalanx, unparalleled,
except when they received the news that Fort
Sumter had been captured
But it is better to prevent crime than to pun
ish it. The atrocious designs of the negroes
would never have been conceived, or if conceiv-
ed, would have been nlpped In the bud, but for
the fact that they know the defenceless condi-
ton of the whites against whom they entertain
these designs The negroes are all armed, and
we'll armed. The whites have scarcely fowl
ing piece among them. This is the secret of
negro turbulence. In view of this we call upon
Gen. Schofeld, in the name the white people
OF Virginia, instantly to take measures for the
public safety. We most solemnly and earnestly
call upon him to garrison the towns and villages
of the State with reliable and well armed troops,
who will be on hand to suppress the first at
tempt at an outbreak. Let him do this with
out moments delay, or it may be too late.
Mr.. REvERDY JOHNSON is said to be in dan
ger of losing the sight of his right eye by means
Of a cataract He lost the sight of his left eve