The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-04-20
NO. 90.

ted 70 their proper position in society, would be
saved from rapid extinction as q race. Theset-
tied and determinate antagonism Of the races
(Which will be inaugurated at once by such q
institution as this) precipitatss Immediately
| the beginning of the end. Virginia, racked TO
the utmost capacity of endurance, will be the
first 10 throw 10 the surface the disease which
has so long preyed upon her vitals, and though
| for some years the pitiable victim Of q dis
gusting eruption, will ultimately be restored
| TO health, TO rigor, and un ntainted blood.
| In protesting against the establishment of
| negro supremacy we plead for both races for
| the whites, that they may be spared, depre3s-
ed as they now are, the utter proslration Of fur
! ther 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 pro-
fessions,, we affirm in sincerity and In truth
| that the people of this State desire TO be re-
| stored to the Union, and cherish no purpose
| OF disloyalty to the Government; that they
| long for the re.estabishment OF kindly rela-
tions between all the sections of tkecountry !;
| and that they entertain no other feelings or
purposes than those of kindness and benevo-
| lence towards the negroes.
| The negroes behaved we'll during the war |;
| and we can trace all Of the disorder and Grim
inal misconduct into which they have fallen
| since to the pernicious teachings Of those
| white adventures who are using this igno-
| rant and credulous race for their own selfish
|
| with the negro, the whites of Virginia would
| honestly endeayor to afford the amplest pro.
lection to his rights of person and property,
| and to make every provision for his intellec-
| tual and moral culture. But when it Is pro.
posed-for the palpably base purpose Of ag-
grandizing party-to deliver over the pro-
perty, the social order, the liberties of the
whites, to the vindictive and liceHtious rule Of
| the negro, every instinct of duty, every senti-
ment that can animate a man to exertion,
4 ~ lie M fhn nNfyhi Of tpto 70
pudiate and resist such unparalleled oppres.
| sion.
Every northern State which has voted on
| the subject since the close of the war has re-
jected negro suffrage. Ohio, on direct issue,
no later than last fall, did so by majority ex-
| ceeding fifty thousand. Kansas, Minnesota,
| and Connecticut, had previously done the
same thing. The late Constitutional Conven-
| ton of New York deliberately recoiled from
| deciding the question. And Michigan,
hitherto so overwhelmingly Republican, has
just voted down her new Constitution by q
majority Of thirty thousand because it ad-
mitted the negro to the polls. The census
shows that there were only some 80, 900 negroes
in Ohio in 1860. There could have been only
about 1000 negro voters in that State, had
they been enfranchised-this in q community
where the white vote is nearly SOC, ,000-an inap.
preciable influence. In Michigan there are
only about 500 male negroes twenty.one years
of age. The white voters number more than
l65 900 And yet this State, where RepubIi-
can Governor was elected in 1866 by q majo-
rity of 29,03S, refuses by some 1000 majority
10 let 800 negroes yote.
The proposition in Virginia is to let 100, 900
vote, to make them all eligible to office, to
give them Il majotity of twenty one on joint
ballot in the Legislature, to give them the
local control in the counties and towns, to ex-
clude q large number of the whites from the
polls, to render nine hundred and ninety nine
white men in every thousand ineligible to the
Legislature or any State or county office, and
10 lay the taxes Qt may be so stately exclu-
svely on the whites! Is it necessary to say
morc2 Can injustice take any grosser shape
than that? Was ever people summoned TO
resistance by so peremptory a calf
1t is difficult to realize the situation which we
have reached in the South The mind is stupe.
fled aJ the initiation Of negro domination. II
is {; waking nightmare, whose horrible shadow
cannot be pierced by the struggling faculties
a spell that neither the senses nor the reason
can dissolve. The only escape from such 4
fact IS that which the'stout and the resolute
alWl"s discover from The storms and floods Of
an unpropitous fortune. Resolved TO swim,
they breast the tempestuous waves with
heroic hearts and sinewy arms, unterrified
and undiscouraged, confident, that If but true
to themselves, they were not born to be drown
ed. In such 4 spirit, should the white people
of Virginia buffet with the rude surges that
break over them in this moment of adversely;
in such spirit should they beat down the
heaYing bosom of the dark flood in which they
struggle; in such spirit should they wrestle
with the swift and swollen current of this
revolutionary period, which has submerged
all the ancient landmarks, has subverted
the foundations of the Federal Government
has swept away the sentiment OF consu-
tutional liberty ut the North, and is now
raging like bowling waste Of waters over the
lately fair and lovely vistas Of the South.
CHARLES L. DUNCAN, of Scott.
ADOLPHUS w. HARRIS, of Nelson. /
]. w. BROADUS, of Amherst.
J. g. SOUTHALL, sot Albemarle.
J. NJ. FRENCH, of Bland.
JOSEPH A. WADDELL, ofsAugusta.
POWELL HARRISON, OF Augusta.
HUGH II. LEE, of Roanoke.
WILLIAM NJ. LAUGHLIN, of Rock
bridge.
LEWIS LINKENHOKER, of Botetourt
JOSEPH T. CAMPBELL. Of Washington.
EUSTACE GIBSON, of Giles.
J.C. GIBSON. of Rappahannock.
p, N. BURKELEY, of Loudoun.
FRED. g. 5. HUNTER, of King George.
G.. r. COWAN, of Russell.
M. +. ROBERTSON, of Franklin.
JAMES GIBBONEY, of Wythe.
J. II. THOMPSON, Of Smyth.
= GEORGE +. PLASTER, of Loudoun.
JOHN l.. MARYE, JR., of Spotsylyania.
Il. TAYLOR SCOTT, of Fauquier.
B. +. LEWIS, of Prince William.
JOSEPH MAYSE, of Bath.
MOSES WALTON, of Shenandoah.
NORVAL WILSON, of Frederick.
JOHN j. GRAVATT,.6f Caroline.
GEORGE w. RUST, Of Page.
J. NICK. KENNERLY.
Without endorsing all of the views presented
in the foregoing address, l fully concur in the
concession arrived at: that the Constitution TO
be submitted TO the people Of Virginia for
their ratification or rejection will not secure
the ends OF good government, aud ought TO be
rejected. VIM. l.. OWEN.
The Canvass.