Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-11-28

on this portentous issue without the sad
dess forebodings? Are these vast powers
safe in the hands of this widely alien and
uncivilized race? I speak otiwith the
prejudice of caste, ST
All the works of Deity find sympathies
with me- / would Tighten the burden of
the oppressed, and help forward the lowly
in the race Of life. But does the well
known history of the American race war
raat the statesman, the Christian, the phi
laathropist in yielding to him the posses.
sion and guardianship of the political, NOR
al, social. and material prosperity andipro-
grsss of great and powerful State /? We
hear OF human equality The inalienable
rights equally belong to all. The right to
the secure enjoyment Of life, liberty, and
property would guarantee to all races
But with the open. spread map Of the
world before US, who wishes the ldusky
empire of the negro to rise and oyershad
ow the fairest portions of the Republic ?
Where are the testimonials of his capacity
for government with which he has orna-
mented the annals of the human race?
Where is the land he has developed and
made to bloom by his Intelligent enterprise
" here is the nation he has crowned with
glory? Where are the cities he has built?
Where is the commerce he has establish
ed? Where are the inventions in behalf Of
industrial Announcements Where arc his
ploughs, reapers, his steamboats,. his rail-
roads. and his talking cables around the
earth :? He challenges the supremacy of
the white race throughout one-third of the
boundaries of the Republic, and the Con-
gress of the United States awards it to him.
Let the negro island of the West Indies
proclaim the fate of the South. Withered,
blighted, and blasted, its resources will
speedily perish. The white man will be
driven North, or remain to grapple in the
most appalling and sanguinary war of
races the world ever saw. The negro, free
to follow his native impulses, will soon ap-
pear the primitive barbarian, as we find
him wherever the sustaining and ciyilizing
influences Of the white man have been
Withdrawn, or have never reached him.
Am told that he has not had an equal
chance with the other race in the grand
career of history and hence the utter blank
| where his achievements should have been
recorded He has had all the earth before
him where to choose from the beginning.
No one has had more All fields Of action,
Of wealth and renown, have been alike
open to him. The same teeming fields
which excited the toll of other races like
( wise invited him to amass agricultural
stores and contribute to the granaries of
the world The rivers and the oceans, the
common highways of the earth, have for
all the ages since creation invited his ships
OF commerce, and invited them in vain
The same continents which other races
nov possess were open for him to discover,
conquer, people, and adorn with Christian
civilization. But no step forward has ne
taken, 10 history has he written. There
lies Africa, to-day, as dark, forbidding.
and dense IN Its barbarism as it was in the
twilight morning Of the world Even the
combined benevolent efforts Of all the
civilized nations have failed to inspire her
| with life OF motion Nor does the expe-
riiaent Of Liberia relieve the sombre night
which there prevails A half Of centu-
~ Of attempted self-government. upheld by
| ali the Christian powers of the earth, has
borne net single fruit, nor developed a
single element Of national greatness Is
the reason OF ell this a mystery in the phi
losophy o. Gods creation Is the Unequal
ity Of races new wonder of the nine
teenth cemtary I? No more than that
He who made the sun in its majestic
strength and splendor made also the lesser
lights which move in their subordinate
spheres through the realms of space. No
| more than that He who made the lion,
made also the creeping mole. No more :
than that He who made the eagle to scale
the blue empyrean, also made the moping
owl to inhabit the darkened grove. While
/ the Saxon, the Celtic, the Teutonic race
have bounded forward on all the great
avenues of human progress, the African,
the Malay, the Monaghan, and allthe va
rious tribes and kindreds which crowd the
suffocated plains of the almest illimited
East have slept through thousands of years
in state of torpid lethargy. To us has
been given dominion and power, because
to our race was given the ten talents. We
have founded empires, and engrafted on
them the science Of free governments. We
wrought out Magma Charsa, achieved the
writ OF habeas corpus. and accomplished
the revolution of l776@ We have carried
the cross into the wilderness, the desert,
and the far off islands of the sea. We have
poured the sunlight of civilization into the
dark parts of the earth, and caused art, lit
erature, and science, to flourish like the
graces in immortal beauty These are
some of the achievements of that race
which Congress says shall give way to tho
rule aEa supremacy of the lowest link in
the chain 81 human being. Does hate in
spire this policy as punishment to the peo-
pie Of the South? Pause, my fellow-citi-
zens. and answer me. Whose country is ]
this /? Who fought to preserve the South
ern States to the Union +? Virginia is
your State and mine The Carolinas are
ours, and all the rest. Our country is not
divided by sections, It is all ours to pro-
tect and save from ruin. Can we permit
our most fertile and productive patrimony