The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-06-11

NASHVILLE, Tenn. MAY 2S.-'The Nash
vile Banner. one of the representative pa
pers of the Liberal Conservative element
of the State, publishes the following dOu-
ble-leaded editorial tomorrow morning !:
Without partiality or prejudice, partisan
or personal, let us briefly point out the ire
parable damage to result from the passage of
the Civil-rights bill before Congress. First,
it of very necessity OverthrOwS the common
school system of the State. The proposed
law is in direct conflict with the Constitution
of Tennessee, and the laws enacted thereun-
der for the establishment of common schools.
The State Superintendent of Education is
bound by a solemn oath to obey the law un-
der which he was appointed; and when the
law of Congress prevents him from so doing.
the result will inevitably be the closing OF
every common school in the State. There is
no other alternative. This may as well be
understood first as last, with the upshOt, let
it be borne in mind, where hardShips will
mainly rest. The colored children of the
State now having equal educational advanta-
ges with the whites, furnished almost entire
" by taxes of the white citizens, will simply
be turned adrift by the enactment of the bill,
having their only hope of education given up,
perhaps forever. Under the existing regime,
the cOlOred children are afforded the ampleSt
opportunity of education and culture. Un-
ucE lllt DIOlOStu law Vi OOn0ItSS. llltN lOSt
every practical and solid advantage in gain of
a mere political phantom. No matter in what
light the question can be viewed, the cOlOred
people will be losers, if Congress persists in
this foolish legislation. The enactment of
the bill in question absolutely establishes a
White Mans party and Black Mans party,
not only in Tennessee, but in every State in
the South. One of the most prominent and
influential Republicans in the State asserts
uneuuivocalv that nine hundred and ninety
nine Republicans out of every thousand in
Tennessee are emphatically opposed to the
measure. They can't fail to recognize the
encouraging strides of negroes under the
existing beneficial laws, nor can they
fail to foresee that the proposed change
must be destructive to the interests of
the very class sought to be elevated at
the expense of law, order and custom.
White Republicans are scarce in the State rs
il is, but the proposed law would completely
unfasten them from their political mOOrings,
leaving the African element, with its social
hobby, powerlesS, against odds of numbers,
wealth and organization. Under such condI-
tions of what avail can be a thousand aTbitra-
ry laws of Congress, enacted in violation of
the instincts and aspirations of human nature
itself? The Republican majority in Congress
NAV be pushing this measure with reference
to political supremacy, but graver bunder
never was committed, carrying with 1t, As 1t
certainly will. the overthrow of that party in
the South, and, ,at the same time, a permanent
injury of the African race. The third enact
ment of this Civil-rights bill pOrtends the
gravest consequences in the way of engender-
ing bad blood and melting to clash of races.
1t is all very well for staid Northern states
men, viewing the Southern situation from
afar, to talk in glittering generalities of equal
rights and social equality, but that does not
remove the natural feeling of race isolation
in social sense, which is universal among
the whites of the South, and which no arbi-
trary legislation can ever remove. You can't
change human nature by the congressional
law, and the sooner the national lawmakers
understand this the better for the black race
as well as the white race. To force this OBJ
uoXiOus legal yoke on unwilling neckS, as
much as disturbances and blOOdshed will be
deprecated, it will be in the nature of IN im-
possibility to avert them. Even the passage
of the bill in anticipation has produced such
a whirlwind of Indignation as cannot be al
laved for many day. There should be no
excuse for lawlessness and crime, no matter
what prOvOcati0n, but in the name Of Justice
and peace we earnestly ask Congress not TO
let loose the dogs of war and force a condition
of things dreaded by every law-abiding man
in the State. We are sure we speak the sem
timents of ninety-nine out of every hundred
white men in the State, and probably the more
intelligent of the negroes, when we say that
a more disastrous measure. as affecting the
interests of the white and black in Tennessee,
could not be enacted than the passage of the
Civil-rights bill now pending in the House."