Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-12-10

OF tnem GOgetner IN one homogeneous mass.
| If the inferior obtains the ascendency over
the other, it will govern with reference only
| to its own interests-for it will recognize no
common interest-and create such tyran-
| ny as this continent has never witnessed =
Already the negroes are influenced by pro-
| misses of confscation and plumber They are
taught to regard as an enemy every white
| man who has any respect for the rights of
his own race. If this continues, it must be-
| come worse and worse, until all order will
be subverted, all industry cease. and the fer
tile fields of the South grow up into a will
derness. Of all the dangers which our ma
ton has yet encountered, none are equal to
| those which must result from the success of
| the effort now making to Africanize the half
| of our country.
[ would not put considerations of money
in competition with justice and right. But
the expenses incident to 'reconstructon"
under the system adopted by Congress ag-
gravate what | regard as the intrinsic wrong
of the measure itself. 1t has cost uncounted
millions already, and if persisted in will add
largely to the weight of taxation, already too
oppressive to be borne without just com
plaint, and may finally reduce the Treasury
of the nation to a condition of bankruptcy
We must not delude ourselves It will re-
quire strong standing army, and probably
more than two hundred millions of dollars
per annum, to maintain the supremacy of
negro governments after they are establish
ed. The sum thus thrown away would, il
properly used, form sinking fund large e.
n0uNh IN tho al i L. 1o.o
than fifteen years. 1t is vain to hope that
negroes will maintain their ascendency them
selves. Without military power they are
wholly incapable of holding in subjection the
white people of the South
Isubmit to the judgment of Congress wheth-
er the public credit may not be injuriously
affected by system of measures like this
With our debt, and the vast private inter-
ests which are complicated with it, we can
not be too cautious of a policy which might,
by possibility, impair the confidence of the
world in our Government. That confidence
can only be retained by carefully inculcating
the principles Of justice and honor on the
popular mind, and by the most scrupulous
fidelity to all our engagements of every SORT
Any serious breach of the organic law, per-
sisted in for considerable time, cannot but
create fears for the stability of our institu-
tions Habitual violation of prescribed rules
which we bind ourselves to observe, must
domoralize the people. Our only standard of
civil duty being set at naught, the sheet-an-
chor of our political morality is lost, the
public conscience swings from its moorings,
and Yields to every impulse Of passion and
interest If we repudiate the Constitution,
we will not be expected to care much for
mere pecuniary obligations. The violation
of such pledge as we made on the 22d day
Of July, 1861, will assuredly diminish the
market value of our other promises. Be-
sides, if we now acknowledge that the ma
tional debt was created, not to hold the
States in the Union, as the taxpayers were
led to suppose, but to expel them from it
and hand them over to be governed BY ne
grocs, the moral duty to pay it may seem
much less clear. [ say it may seen, so for
| do not admit that this or any other argu-
ment in favor of Reputation can be enter
tanned as sound but it's influence on some
classes Of minds may well be apprehended.
The financial honor Of a great commercial
nation, largely indebted, and with a re-
publican form of government administered
by agents of the popular choice, is thing
Of such delicate texture, and the destruction
of it would be followed by such unspeakable
calamity, that every true patriot must desire
to avoid whatever might expose it to the
slightest danger.
The great interests of the country re-
quire immediate relief from these enactments.
Business in the South is paralyzed by
sense of general insecurity, by the terror of
confscation, and the dread Of negro suprem-
acy. The Southern trade, from which the
North would have derived so great profit
under government of law, still langulshes,
and can never be revived until it ceases to
be fettered by the arbitrary power which
makes all its operations unsafe. That rich
country-the richest in natural resources
the world ever saws worse than lost If 1t
be not soon placed under the protection OF
free Constitution Instead of being, as it
ought to be, source Of wealth and power,
it will become all intolerable burden upon
the rest Of the nation.
Another reason for retracing our steps
will doubtless be seen by Congress in the
late manifestations Of public opinion upon
this subject. We live in country where
the popular will always enforces obedience
to itself, sooner or later. 1t is vain to think
of opposing it with anything short of legal
authority, backed by overwhelming force
It cannot have escaped your attention that
from the day on which Congress fairly and
formally presented the proposition to govern
the Southern States by military force, with
a view to the ultimate establishment Of ne
gro supremacy, every expression ofthe gen
eral sentiment has been more or less adverse
to it. The affections Of this generation can
not be detached from the institutions of their
ancestors Their determination to preserve
the inheritance of free government in their
own hands, and transmit it undivided and
unimpaired to their own posterity, is too
strong to be successfully opposed. Every
weaker passion will disappear before that
love of liberty and law for which the Amer
ican People are distinguished above all
others in the world.
How far the duty of the President, "to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitu-
tion," requires him to go in opposing an un-
constitutional act of Congress, is very
serious and important question, on which L
have deliberated much, and felt extremely
anxious to reach a proper conclusion.
Where an act has been passed according to
the forms of the Constitution by the su-
preme Legislative authority, and is regularly
enrolled among the public statutes of the
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