Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-04-28


cept for causes which apply equally to all pei
sons and classes without distinction. They den
the right of the people to change their constitu
ton, and are legislating for posterity to the re
motest generation. -
| The whites are absolutely goaded to exertion
and have no choice but to arise and defend thei
existence as race The only question is as tt
the method of making this opposition 1t ap
pears to u.s. and such is certainly the opinion O
nine -tenths of the white peop,e of the State
that our true course lies In positive rejection
| OF the constitution submitted. Such being the
| case, if there are few v no would have prefer,
| red mere passive resistance, we trust that, fol
the sake of funanimity, they will lend their hearty
co cooperation to the plan which has been resolv-
ed on. 1t is only by concerted and united ac-
ton that full expression can be given to the
sentiments OF the white people; while the alb
sence of few thousand voters from the polls
might give some color to the aerment that a
portion of the whites were faysx able to the con-
sutuuon. 1t is, therefore, tAc deliberate judg-
ment of those who unite in this paper that it
should be regarded as settled that all who pro-
pose to act with the white mans party in Vir-
should feel at liberty, whatever his private opin-
ions as to the propriety Of some other course,
to break those ranks which should neither waver
nor present gap in this great emergency
1t has been said that Congress, if we defeat
it, will put this constitution on us. Then let
Congress be the author of this great wrong !;
and let not Virginia, under any menace of VIC.
lence, weakly be tempted to offer no resistance
to her ravisher. The adoption of the constitu-
tion by the people of the State and the imposi-
ton of it on them by the Republican party of
the North are two very different things, and
may be followed by very different results An
acqulescence on our part In negro suffrage is
surely not the way to arouse the Northern mind
against it. Nor does it seem to us possible that
so monstrous government can ever be effectu-
ally fastened on us if the white people of the
State will maintain firm, determined and un-
faltering attitude.
1t is proper, however, to remark that it is by
no means certain, nor do we think it probable
that Congress will impose this constitution on
us if we shall reject it. The instrument is very
different in its character from that contemplated
by the acts of Congress. These did not profess
more than the purpose to provide for protection
to the negro but the constitution framed leaves
it necessary to provide for the protection of the
white man. 1t has been suggested that the po-
lltlcal party in possession of the Federal Gov
ernment, preparatory to the Presidential elec-
ton, are anxious to have the Southern States
in the Union but were it admissible to enter
tain the hypothesis that party considerations
would influence Congress in this matter Vir-
glnla might well be an exception to the South
ern States in general, as her vote would prob
ably be cast against the party in question at the
Presidential election, and, indeed, must be, if
the whites will only take care to register, as we
can command white majority of thirty-five
thousand.
1t is our duty, then, to act together; to avoid
all divisions; to disregard all caviing objections
and to vote down the proposed constitution
To say of such constitution that it would be
insupportable is language too feeble To say
(f it could be maintained twenty years. that it
would lead to absolute social death is too obvi-
GUS to need establishment 1t is an inunda-
ton, a cataclysm, whose black pillows would
submerge, even in that short time, every monu-
ment of civilization, and leave the white race in
hopeless degradation. Judge Snead, of Acco-
mac--one of the ablest of his party, consist
ent Union man during the war, elected to the
convention as a Radical, and acting with his
party for three months of the session of the
body-was compelled, at the last moment, to
declare that the constitution established negro
supremacy and that, although in favor of ne
gro suffrage, he had no alternative left but to
vote against it at the polls. 1t is strange
spectacle that large portion of the American
people, however embittered by the antagonisms
of civil war, should be willing to see members
of the same family pass, even temporarily, un-
der such yoke. 1t is one of the noticeable in
cidents of the age that, in what claims to be the
most enlightened country Of Christendom, a
frenzy like this crusade for negro suffrage-so
resembling the delirium of the French revolu-
tion-should take possession of the public mind
To us at the South, the absolute Indifference
with which the people of the North contemplate
the application now being made of this system
at the South is a matter of astonishment
That the negroes of the South can establish
themselves In any permanent supremacy over
the whites we do not, however, accept for mo-
ment. If it shall be the pleasure of Congress,
as it has the power to do, to put upon US con-
stitution which they have invited us freely to
pass upon-a constitution giving the negroes
tenfold the power they have in Jamaica-we
shall interpret it as the decree of God for a
sharp and decisive settlement of the controversy
between the white and black races on this con-
tinent. 1t will fearfully embarrass, but it will
not destroy, the white race Of the South. The
white race of the South cannot be destroyed
When the negroes are put over US, then, at
least, we shall put forth our strength. We
shall offer such inducements to white immigra-
ton that these sparsely settled States must
rapidly fill up. The negro will be overwhelmed
with numbers, and it will be too late to make
any terms. It is perfectly evident that Provi-
dence designs the territory of the United States
as theatre of great white empire, whose
power and whose civilization shall exert con-
trolling influence in the history of the future
That the three or four millions of blacks here
can interpose any barrier to the realization of
this destiny is plainly chimerical The only
question is, shall the changes which impend in
the South be gradual or violent? With peace
between the races, the whites of the South
might be saved from much that awaits them
under the Radical programme; and the blacks,
while remitted to their proper position in society,
would be saved from rapid extinction as a race.
The settled and determinate antagonism of the
races (which will be inaugurated at once by such
a constitution as this) precipitates Immediately
the beginning of the end. Virginia, racked to
the utmost capacity Of endurance, will be the
first to throw to the surface the disease which
has so long preyed upon her vitals and though
for some years the pitiable victim Of disgust
ing eruption, will ultimately be restored to health
to vigor, and untainted blood.
In protesting against the establishment OF
negro supremacy we plead for both races; for
the whites, that they may be spared, depressed
as they now are the utter prostratlon OF further
violent changes in their social system; for the
blacks, that, in the name Of humanity, they
shall be allowed a fair opportunity to save, or
least to delay, the doom of their race.
In conclusion, making no hypocritical profes-
sions we affirm in sincerity and in truth that
the people of this State desire to be restored to
the Union, and cherish no purpose of disloyalty
to the Government that they long for the re.
establishment of kindly relations between all the
oft ho trU md thotf how ,torfo