Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-09-05
THE DUTY OF THE SOUTH.

In an address to a large and intelligent
audience, at dinner given for the benefit
of Washington Henry College, Gen. Fl.
A. WISE, among other things, spoke Of
our duties in the present crisis as follows:
Next to our duty to God and our coun-
try is the duty we owe to ourselves.
We are called to defend the dignity and
status of our white race Of men in the scale
of being wherein we are placed by God -
Not that we need to attempt the impiety
of upholding the designs Of Deity The
Omniscient and Omnipotent will take care
of His own Providence, and those who re-
bel against His DEGREES will ''kick against
the pricks." But God has given US the
power, and imposed upon us the duty, Of
guarding ourselves, and this power we are
called upon now to exert with all our might
There is now bold and ayowed attempt
going far beyond the emancipation of the
blacks and the guardianship of freedmen.
TO subject the white to the domination Of
the black race in the South, and to make
slaves of free men as well as freedmen Of
slaves; to make white t5'eemen the subjects
of black freedmen, in order to create bal
ance of power to perpetuate the amalgama-
ted and consolidated despotism Of new
and mongrel repubIicanism.
The white race must now, then, look to
its safety and defence.
There is no defence in swearing, and in
the mere expediency and policy of party
organization and operations The great
fundamental truths are at stake, and God,
and God alone, can solve and save them.
We must rely on truth, on the Constitu-
ton, On the force Of moral pooecr: and on
the caste Of achite people, Norris and South.
If negro equality and domination can be
forced On US, it can and must be forced up
on the whites Of the Northern States This
they may have the power to prevent. But
the example is too hideous to permit that
to be dictated to us which they would not
tolerate for themselves. IF they are Nor
them they are still whites, and they will
never sacrifice the laws of nature and of
natures Cos to any political prejudice, to
any vengeance of war, or to any Moloch
of tyranny, black, white or mulatto! Let
us, then, rely on an appeal to Cesar-to
the sovereign white masses Of the North
Shall Virginia be made Jamaica or San
Domingo? Is Guido or Solouque to DOM
nate over her? Are her lands and tenn
pies and groves to be dedicated to the
Congo race? They are cheaper and fairer
for the countless immigrants than the
Western wilds. Here is nothing for the
logwood axe to do; the fields are cleared,
the roads are opened, the habitations are
built, the springs and wells of sweet wa
tiers are cleared and dug, and the proprie-
tors must sell at sacrifice. Shall this
inheritance not be open to New England,
the Middle States, and the host of white
foreigners, Irish, Germans, Swedes, of all
Europe who seek asylums in America p
1t will not be open to their choice if they
are to be under the domination of the black
race. and we will be obliged to leave these
lands. We must then appeal to the white
race at home, and to the white immigrants
of every cline to rally to US in this war Of
races. This is not to invade the rights Of
negroes. They deserve our sympathies
and our gratitude, but their freedmanshir
is not freedom, and they are in danger Of
being slaves to many masters.
They are in the sudden dance of liberty
that state of liberty they are now in is
better defined state of license
They are licensed to labor or be idle
They are licensed to side with good or bad
men, and they are separated most cruelty
to them from the best of the white men
the class of gentlemen who were ever
thought worthy to fill the State and Fedora
offices, and who ever were and are still the
best friends Of the black race, in its proper
place of subordinaton.
! They are now licensed to vote, and are