The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1875-09-09
DEFERRED MATTER.
The Georgia Insurrection. "

The Georgia Instruction.
The Philadelphia Times claims to be an in
dependent paper. It's editor, Col. Mcclure,
was the head and front of the Liberal Repub-
lean movement in Pennsylvania, in 1872, and
since then has considered it a pare of his daily
duty to denounce the administration of Presi-
dent Grant without stint or discrimination
The following views Of the Georgia ''insurrec-
tion,'' taken from the Times, are significant,
coming from that paper Unprecedented minds
which have become informed as to the real
facts of this '.insurrection'' are convinced that
tentions of the negroes-that all the letters
and papers purporting to have come from lead
ing negroes, developing. a plan and purpose Of
murder and rapine, We're forgeries, and that it
was but q plot of the leaders Of the Democratic
party to proven. the organization Of the ne
groes into compact party for political purpo-
SeS. uf
The truth is, throughout the Cotton States,
the negroes have very little show for justice
and right under the law. They are not recog-
nized as citizens, and if it were not for the eff
feet it WOULD have at the North, very few of
them would be allowed to exercise franchise.
There is no question that large numbers OF ne
groes are kept from voting, for fear Of person
al violence. In Alabama, they think nothing
OF killing negro for the most trivial offense,
and the perpetrator Of the crime invariably
goes unwhipt of justice. A man who shoots
two or three negroes is regarded as a HERO
The enmity even to white Republicans is so
great that it is not polite at least to declare
your indemnity with the Republican party
On a recent visit to that State, we happened to
enter into conversation with a prominent bus
ness man Of Montgomery, during which it be-
came necessary for us to defend the Republic
can party and the administration. After we
had closed the interview, md were leaving the
city, gentleman remarked that he was glad
we had shown the independence we had, but
that he could not have done so. We asked for
his reason, and the response was: "Oh, Repub-
licans are not respected here y
The people there make no concealments
abent their purpose to control the elections.
and what we saw and heard sufficiently eX-
planned why Alabama, With Republican reg
istered majority of 1000 OF Is, 900, was carried
by the Democrats by about that number. 1t
was accomplished by threats and brute force,
frightening the negroes from the polls.
In the trial Of the s'insurrcction'' cases now
going on at Sandersville, Ca, before Judge
Herscliell V. johnson, the Judge clearly indi-
Gated the temper Of the people in his charge to
the Grand Jury. He advised them to ignore
the fact that the accused are negroes, had been
slaves, and that they ought to be fairly deals
with. Had the sentiments Of the people been
impartial, there could have been no necess ty
for the precaution.
The truth is, the whole affair was gotten up
for party purposes and to prevent a coEcentra-
ton OF the negro vote in the interest of the
Republican party, and that is the secret Of the
forged letters, the arrests and the trial now in
progress.
The Times, although sympathzing with the
Democratic party, is compelled to severely
criticse the movement against the negroes. 1t
says:
Any attempt on the part of the white people
OF Georgia to prove that the negroes OF that
State had recently engaged in an enormous
plot OF assassination will only react against
themselves. In the first place the negro, as he
is found at the far South, is too cowardly to en-
gage in revolution, and too ignorant to organ
ize a conspiracy; and i'll the second place he is
so largely outnunbered in Georgia, and the
laws there Lear SO heavily against him, that he
would not dare lift his finger against the whites.
The trouble in the State named, we are very
much afraid, arises from the fact that the Dem
ocratc party there, since its accession to pow
er, has been reactionary in its legislation, and
has violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the
constitutional amendments. Certainly poll
tax has been levied which practically disfran-
chises the blacks, and would deprive large
percentage of the whites of the suffrage if it
were enforced against them; while a special
jury law, enacted by Democratic Legislature,
presents all etfectual barrier to the entry Of a
negro into the jury box. The common school
system OF the State, organized by Republican
Legislature, has also been destroyed and a code
erected, under which thousands Of tile freedmen
have refused to live: and has driven large
number Of the laborers OF the State to seek
other fields beyond the Mississippi. The Ku-
klux have been unmasked and the bloody rag
bleached; but there is a sentiment all over the
country-more powerful now than ever before
which insists upon fair play for all parties. If
the Georgans are wise they will heed it.