The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-03-14
Correspondence Of the Richmond Dispatch.
Judge Rives.

Su~SC
Under the above caption / find in your
paper Of March 9th an editorial explana-
tory of the position of Judge Rives upon
the question of the forthcoming Constltu-
ton of Virginia; in which you say that
g he is not in favor Of negro rule. II the
Convention shall attempt to disfranchlse
enough whites to throw the State into the
hands of the negroes, he will $50 we I'M
derstood him to say vote against the rati-
fication Of the Constitution" You also
add that Judge Rives is opposed TO
the election Of judges, magistrates,
sheriffs, clerks, and other officers, by inc
people. May be permitted to inquire II
Judge Rives will oppose and vote against
the Constitution if it shall contain pro-
vision giving the election Of those officers
TO the people2 If he will not, what does
his opposition to "negro rule" amount to !?
Does he not know that constitution
giving the election Of State and county Of
fcers to the people, accompanied with ne
gro suffrage, will fall like dcath-pall
upon the white population Of the State
wherever the negro is in the preponder-
ance, and that the natural and inevitable
result of it's operation will be efectually
to destroy the rights Of persons and OF
property of the white man, and to blast
the hopes most cherished Of the white
mans heart? Does he not know that in
many of the counties Of the East las is the
case in Mecklenburg) the negroes are band
ed together and bound by the obligations Of
an oath that they will not, under
any circumstances, vote for any man
for Office who has ever owned slave or
4hn snofifpfinn IF clavnrv
And can he not see that the effect of this
is Individually to place q large portion of
the State under that "negro rule to
which he avows himself opposed? Of what
avail would it be to white population
thus Inundated and degraded, trodden
under foot of their former slaves and Of
white men Of meaner spirits who may be
disposed, for power and pelf, to renounce
their allegiance to their own race and
blood, that white man, perchancc, may
fill the gubernatorial office of the State or
sit upon the Supreme Court bench? Let
q constitution for Virginia such as Judge
Rives would suggest be adopted, and
though Peirpoint may still sit as
chief magistrate Of the Commonwealth
at Richmond, and Rives upon the
Supreme Court bench Of the State,
yet Eastern Virginia will be destroyed,
and wither as though it were swept by
wrath Divine. Our white people-men,
women, and childrcn-would be COM
PEELED to fee from the roof that shell
ters them to seek an asylum, if need
be, in our mountain wildS, and to
ask the bread of Charity rather than be
subjected to the humiliation, degradation,
shame, wrong, and outrage, which would
inevitably overtake them here. May God,
in his mercy, save us from such fate! In
conclusion, have to say that I shall not
undertake to impugn the motives of Judge
Rives, but l am persuaded that when the
history of the present struggle in Virginia
shall be written, the name OF the humblest
citizen who now battles in the ranks OF
white men for the ascendancy Of his own
race and blood will be found to occupy q
far higher and more honored position than
the Judge who has come down from the
Supreme Court bench Of the State to take
counsel with and to identify himself with
the party in the State represented by the
mongrel convention now sitting at Rich
mond, MECKLENBURG.