Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-03-06
THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.

The vi III hkUh % DAt&l1e
The Civil Rights iniquity, as was
generally anticipated, has become
law, and as we have no sufficient COM
mand Of language to express our IN
dignation 1t the studied insult to the
South, nor our contempt for the infa
NOUS traitors who have offered it, all
we can hope to do, is to aid in averting
the disastrous consequences contemp
lated by the originators of the damna-
bic atrocity. The sole object of the
law is to create discord between the
races of the South, in order to make
that discord a pretext for establishing
a military despotism over both sec
tons, with Grant as supreme ruler over
once free people Toavert this fear
full catastrophe and as the last hope Of
expiring liberty, we counsel the whites
of the South. to forbear in the future.
as they have foTborne in the past,
keeping constantly in view the preg-
nant fact, that every outburst of pas
sion, every act of violence will be in
strict conformity with Radical wishes
and their programme, of which the
civil rights bill is simply a feature.
Their scheme is to establish a military
dcspotism, and they rely upon south
ern whites to give them pretext for
forwarding the scheme Therefore We
say that there is the highest wisdom
and patriotism in continued iorbear-
ance and patient endurance.
To the colored people, we would say,
in all candor and sincerity, that they
had better let we'll enough alone. They
have all the rights enjoyed by the
whites under the laws of the country
and it will be the sheerest folly in
them, to incur all the evils that may
result from mutual i'll will, for the
poor privilege of thrusting themselves
into places where they are not wanted,
and to incur expenses for which they
will receive no equivalent. There are
among them, conceited and reckless
individuals who will push themselves
forward, regardless of consequences,
but even they will soon find their
presumption will not pay, whilst its eff
tects will be most disastrous TO the
whole race. The Freedman's bank
and the bounty thieves ought to have
convinced them that the only use the
Radicals have for colored men is to
secure their votes, rob them of their
hard ealnings, use them as tools to
prolong Radical rule, to impOverish
the whites of the South and prevent
them from giving profitable employ
ment to colored laborers. This bill
gives them no right to intrude into
private circles, it gives them no social
SsSNdtlou anu IilClC diC uOuS VI luCu
who can afford to pay the costs Of
sleeping cars, hotel dinners and dress
circles in theaters. Outside of these
costly privileges, they are just where
theywere before the bill was passed, and
those who presume upon these privil-
eyes will do so from bad motives, and
will surely reap their reward. The
southern whites are the only friends
they have, and when that friendship Is
forfeited by presumption, they will
look in vain to northern Radicals for
sympathy, and the darkies who rely
upon the civil rights billto make them
white, refined and intellectual-fit as
sociates of the most accomplished cir
cles, will find themselves confronted
with difficulties not easily overcome.
The law does not give them entry
into private boarding houses, and no
tells so conducted, will be closed to
them, and when the price of sleeping
cars is placed above their reach, they
too, will be closed against them. And
when the door-keeperS Of the places
of entertainment, demand ten dollars
for ticket, or assure them there are
no more tickets for sale-the seats be-
ing all taken, what will be their RENE
dy? Can they prove in court that
their color, or previous condition, ex
cluded them from the places into which
they demanded admittance? They
may annoy the whites, but the
consequences will fall upon their own
heads and those Of their race who will
be sacraficed by the needless few who
seek to crafty impulses that spring
from an inordinate desire TO rise above
the condition which nature and ma
lures God has assigned them. Do the
colored gentry in the North frequent
theaters, hire sleeping cars and eat
hotel dinners? Not a bit of it, and
they surely ought not to expect more
consideration and respect from peo-
pie against whom they have voted and
worked since the close of the war.
The law excludes them from white
schools. why did the Radicals exclude
them? Because they do not believe
in social equality, nor desire the cleva-
ton of the negro.
SHOULD the bavonet bill become a