Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-04-03

AUG u . A,
sATuRDAY MORNING. April 3. 1875.
C[TLL RIGXTS.

A friend in the South calls our attention
in a private letter to facts going to show
that the prevailing sentiment in the South
among the conservatives is that the dem
ocrats will elect the next President, and
that the repeal of the civil rights bill will
Immediately follow. An editorial in the
Southern Waterman. published at Athens,
Georgia, says: 1--WE limit its Uhe civil
s'riehts biD existence TO two years, be-
.cause we believe the democratic party
Twill be in power by that time and re-
"peal it," Few will deny that if the dem
ocrats obtain the power in two years the
bill will be repealed. And yet in 1872
they were as much pledged to maintain
the constitutional amendments rendered
necessary by the abolition of slavery, also
equal civil rights for the colored people,
as the republicans We're. The substance
of Mr.. Greeley's platform was that ill-feel-
ing between the North and South in rcla-
ton 10 the war should subside, and that
the emancipated negroes should have the
same civil and political rights in the South
as the whites 4 change has come over
the democratic party since that time.
Now they are the foes OF civil rights. But
A moderate bill has become 4 law in spite
of their opposition. This they will repeal
as soon as they get the power, and until
that time comes they propose in the South
to make it a nullity The journal which
we have quoted above, the Southern
Waterman, tells how that is to be done.
Speaking of the bill it says: osborn as it
sis of its most objectional features, it will
fail of the accomplishment of the evil in
"tended-as, by erasion. our people may
practically nullfy it." How this cra-
sion is to be practised is told in an edito-
rial found in the Richmond Dispatch, COM
menting upon the bin, as follows:
ut will be seen that the bill touches
only, first hotels secondly. public convey
ances thirdly, places OF amusement; and
fourthly, juries more stringent law is
upon the statute-book of New York, but
has never been enforced. Negroes must
be admitted to inns, but they may be
= lodged wherever the landlord chooses,
and if they should dislike their quarters
and sue for damages, they will not be able
to find easily jury that will give them
anything. Besides, there are people to
dispose Of such negroes without calling
upon hotel proprietors to kick them out,
and without any words or understanding
with such proprietors, or ''aiding or incit-
ing" them in any way. Observe, there
can be no offence against the law unless
the party offending either himself denies
some of these advantages, &c, to ne
groes, or else shall laid" or ''incite" some
one else who does 50 deny them. The
landlord won't deny them, and the boys
who kick the darkies won't say word to
the landlord on the subject. They will
not laid" or .'incite" anybody to deny
them, but will simply 'clare de kitchen
Such prosecutions and such suits will not
amount to much. The law will be dead
letter within year
AS to public conveyanccs, negroes al
ready enjoy their facilities as much and
as fully as whites.
AS to places of amusement, we apprc-
bend no trouble. Lester Wallack of New
York, was sued by several negroes of that
city soon after the Civil rights law of New
York was passed, but he answered that he
did not exclude them from his theatre on ac
count of race, color or previous condition
of servitude. The negroes counsel asket
the Judge to make Walack swear to his
answer. Wallack's counsel objected that
to do so would make him inculpate him
self guilty, and no man could be com
PEELED to testify against himself. And SO
the Judge ruled. And there have been no
such suits since, that we have heard of.
The election as to jurors is already Il
dead letter. There can be nobody who
will have the right to prosecute under such
n law. There are six thousand negro
men in Richmond. Which of them will
have this right? No particular one, and
therefore none. Besides, the negroes
could get nothing under this section. The
prosecution is bound to be on the part Of
the Government, and none OF the money
goes to the negroes or any body else. 50
this section is already a nullity here in Viz
gina, where negroes are summoned when
ever they are needed or wanted. There
are seven thousand white men in Rich
mond. Only few dozen of them are
ever summoned at any one court; and OF
course the other six thousand nine hun
dred will have the same right to prosecute
Judge Guigon or Sergeant Cook that the
negroes have. The Judge and Sergeant
can summon only one man in a hundred,
and all that are omitted, white and black,
are on the same footing. Indeed, none of
them know but they may be summoned
the next month or the next year. The law
does not require any particular man, white
or black. to be summoned this month or
this year"
For the next two years the negroes Of
the Southern States will be cheated out of
their rights in every way possible by their
old masters. After that time if the demo
Gratis get the power the evasion will cease,
the civil rights bill will be overthrow,
and measures be taken to again reduce the
colored people to slavery. The temper of
the southern whites will not permit them
to take any halfway course when they
feel themselves in the ascendency,-i that
time comes within the next ten years-and
so let the colored people AMI Ia friends