The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-06-16
TIC Present Strife.

or,en war upon the whltes, pTopoSeu 70
,,;Srranchisa all Of them who were disquall'
6edunder the fourteenth amendment, and tt
disoualify nearly all by applying the test.
oath to all office-holdcrs. WELLS declared
these measures indispensable to protect the
Radicals. He opposed even new reglstra'
ton, saving that 25, 600 white men had ialieo
to register, and that if they were permitted
70 register il would be death-blow to the
Republican party of Virginia. lie most in
dustriously pressed these views upon Cor
c~rcss until the close of the session. Ther
fearing longer to oppose the wcll-knowl
views Of General GRANT, he made mos
inconsistent, ungraceful. and insincere con
fessjon of conversion to the cXpediency o.
striking ont of the constitution the test
oath and acknowledgements.
But. i'm no speech has he urged his
followers so to vote or to conform to Gene
raj GRANTS views. He tells them every
where to vote us they please. We douh'
whether there is man in the Common
wealth who does not feel convinced that
WELLS would prefer greatly the adoption OF
the IJspERwoop constitution rs it is to the
constitution eXpurgatcd. 1t is Impossible
that he could have changed both in views
and arguments in the short interval between
his argument before the Reconstruction
Committee and the publication of his GAR
LAND letter, and nobody, not even Mr..
CHANDLER, can believe that he has changed
at all, save in profession. Indeed, CHASD-
LER knows this.
The organ which represents him here has
kept I'D an inccssant war upon the whites
pronouncing them rebcllious and untrust-
worthy-putting negroes before them
urging negroes rs more tit to fill responsible
stations in the Observation-Disclosures even
felon rs fit-accusng the whites of cruel
ties to blacks when they were slaves, ana
imbuing the colored people with the bitter
est prcudices against their late masters ana
white people generally.
These arguments were enforced on the
stump by such-wretchcs Is PORTER and CUR
IT'S, and all of that genus, who infiamcd the
minds of the negroes with the idea that they
were martyrs, and entitled to the property
and the land, and should live out ofthe pens
and granaries Of the whites.
A division upon line Of color OF course
followed this-a division perious to society,
injurious to the industry and prosperity of
the country, and ruinous alike to white and
black.
If the blacks were naturally arraycd. in
hostility to the whites, what could be en-
pcctcd of the whites Could they, the mas
cir Il intn h
ordination to the inferior? For they could,
under the circumstances, affiliate with them
politically on no other terms. The blacks
were the prescribing race-thc whites those
they prescribed. The whites could only
join them as voters and taxpayers, while
the blacks, in consequence OF white disfran-
chisement and disqialitications, must be-
come the governing class The suggestion
that this were barely possible is great ca
lumny against as noble people as ever
lived on earth.
And yet the INSCRIPTIONS and base de-
tenders of the war on the whites affect to
regard the whites us culpable for the acna-
ton of races! Wells shutiles between
them-teiing the whites he is against pro-
scribing them, and telling the negroes to 60
ahead with their prescriptions and his
organs to 60 on with their disparagement Of
the whites and their accusations against
them. .
Thus the WELLS party has summoned TO
its aid all the dishonest agencies, all the fell
spirits that disturb the peace and prosperity
of society. Thus would they, for the graft
flying of the sordid passion for office and Off
cial perquisites and chances for stealing,
plunge the country into anarchy and ruin.
And who are they that are thus to be propi-
tiated at such cost? A few strangers, of
whose previous history we know nothing,
and whose conduct since they have been i'll
Virginia has been altogether discreditable.
TO these, we are sorry to say, are to be
added some persons who were born in Vir-
ginia. They propose to join the men who
are OBTAINING their own people-to war on
the side of those who desired to disqualiiy
all Nirginians and to make them mere
beasts of burthen for strangers and negroes.
The statement of their attitude is sufficient.
No man can add anything to increase its
lamcntable and disreputable character. To
be abused, spit upon, put beneath the ne.
gro. and then own fellowship with those
who thus insult you, is degradation to
which we trust to see it proved few men
born in Virginia will submit.