Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-09-29
The White Race and the Negroes.
REMARKS OF GENERAL JB GORDON

REMARKS OF GENERAL j. B. GORDON.
In the course of speech delivered in Charles
ton on the 18th inst, General James B. Cor
don, of Georgia representative of Young
South" addressed the colored portion of the
audience as follows:
In the few words [ shall say to you, my
friends, if you will listen to me, | hope to deal
with you candidly and honestly The Radicals
have told you that the Southern people were
your enemies. But, believe me- this is not SO.
We were all opposed to your freedom. Now,
that honest, is mt it? ['Yes, that's So, from
the crowd. And why was this so? LII tell
YOU We did not do this because we were your
enemies, but because we had bought you and
paid for you. [Great laughter You belong
ed to the Northern people once, and some peo-
pie think you belong to them now, in the 10y
al League. 1t was the Northern States that
sent to the shores of Africa and captured and
your labor became Improbable, they sold you
to the Southern people.
The carpet baggers will tell you that the
North brought on the war to free you. Let
me ask why didn't they set you free when they
owned you? You might then have been born
free, and might now have owned the forty acres
which the lying rascals promised you l say
that they did not wage the war to free you, and
no honest soldier who participated in it will say
SO. The idea never was entertained. General
Grant himself at one time threatened to quit
the service ifyou were freed They set you
free because they wanted to use you, not from
any love they bore you. And now they tell
you that We are your enemies. Have we not
been born on the same soil? Are not our inter-
ests identical? Have we not grown up togeth-
err and have not our fathers been buried under
the same sod? Why, then, are we your enc
mics?
You have been told to arm yourselves against
the whites. Cries of mo, no." Well, I
am glad to hear it What would be the result
of arraying the two races? A contest will come,
which will be war Of races; then which race
must triumph? Y GU are in the majority on the
seaboard, and could destroy many people But,
my friends, let me tell you the moment the war
Of races is inaugurated that moment the death
warrant of the black man on this continent is
signed. There are three millions of your race
and forty millions of white men. Now, [ ask
you in all reason which race must 90 down?
| The speaker then alluded to the assertion of
Helper, who said that before the year 1872 no
| black man will have habtation on this CONT
nent. In quoting this the speaker said He
| says so because of speculation Lands are
scarce in the North, they have surplus of la
Dor, and they desire to blot out your race in Or
der that they might come here, take possession
Of the place and cultivate the land. The indi
an once lived where you now live but where is he
now? He couldn't live in peace with the white
men, and he went to war. The few scattering
mounds that are left in the State speak the
result. Now, this is what Helper says must be
your fate, and most singular to relate, large
majority of the Radical members of Congress
are subscribers to his book and are giving it
circulation.
Now I speak plainly Ifyou are disposed
to live in peace with the white people they ex-
tend to you the hand of friendship But if
you attempt to inaugurate war of races you
will be exterminated. The Saxon race was
never created by Almighty God to be ruled by
the African. These are truths We want
peace with you. We cannot live as enemies
One or the other must go down. If you turn
a deaf ear to the Southern man these green
leaves that now clothe the forest will not grow
red with another autumn before they will be
| drenched with your blood and mine