Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1876-08-02
From the Richmond (Va.,) Wing.
Those Late Southern Troubles.

Va 'he Oooi~'" PSoPiN '"' J "
peaceably inclined and desire to be
kind and friendly in their intercourse
with and treatment OF the colored
people but, unfortunately, there are
few bad men in every community,
Ignorant and wicked, generally des-
perate in fortune and wholly worthless
in character, who delight in just such
scenes as that recently enacted at
Hamburg, and the misfortune is that
public opinion is not outspoken
enough to discourage these bad men
from such acts against the weak,
while too often the conduct of the ne
groes themselves, set on no doubt by
rascally white men or the evil dis
posed and turbulent Of their own race, is
such as to exasperate an entire COM
munity to such an extent that the des'
perate characters take advantage Of
the momentary excitement to perpe-
trate acts which the people are prompt
to repudiate the next moment, but are
powerless at the time to prevent. This
is the history Of all these negro dis
turLances throughout the South. They
are generally causeless and could be
wholly prevented if the better citi-
zens would set their faces against all
acts of violence and give the evil dis
posed among them to understand that
the peace must be kept, and all men,
regardless of race or condition, pro-
tected in the full enjoyment of all
their rights under the law. 1t is ri
diculous to say that the people can
not keep the peace. We know that
in some of the States the authority is
in the hands of the blacks, and the
white people might with some show
of reason shirk all responsibility but
is that the proper course ? We think
not. 1t is to their own interest not
only in the present, but in the future,
that law and order should prevail, and
as they have all the moral force, all
the wealth that is LETT and all the in
telligence, they ought to be able to so
shape matters that thoy oan control
and keep in check the mere brute ele-
ments Of their society, no matter
whether they be in numerical ma
jority or not. The world at large will
undoubtedly take this view of che mat
ter in considering our conditions, and
will wonder why the yiltuous, moral
and intellectual elements in our socie-
ty cannot direct affairs to suit them.
selves and assume the control of the
ignorant and imbecile herd We can
not avoid this criticism. The white
race is in every respect the strongest
in the South, and to it the country
will look for the maintenance of peace
and good order and for the prevention
of these outbreaks among the lower
orders. We owe it to our Democrat
ic friends at the North, who are doing
all they can for the restoration Of
good government and for the reliet of
this section from the odious rule to
which it has been subjected, that we
do all in our power to strengthen them
and uphold their hands, and we can
best effect this by keeping our roughs
and rowdies down and our fools silent.
We must get rid of these e'Jans terri
bic, either by sending them to bed or
unloading them and repudiatiug all
responsibility for their acts and utter
ances, refusing even to apologize for
or conceal their wicked and ineXcusa-
Bile crimes. We cannot carry the
dead weight of these repeated outra
ges in Mississippi, Louisiana and
South Carolida, and hope to win the
election thus handicapped; and it
were better by far that we should give
up all hope of those States, as we
have of some Others, than that we
should run the risk of losing Northern
States by becoming responsible for
such acts as this recently perpetrated
at Hamburg, and for the silly utteran-
ces Of eross-road papers, whose editors
are never so delighted as when vent
ing their wrath over some imaginary
insult offered them by the Yankees,
by wholesale denunciation OF friend
and toe alike in that section. With
proper means adopted to keep this
rowdyish element in its place and the
practice of a little common sense by
our people and press in their daily
conversation and style Of utterance,
our prospects would improve wonder
fully in the North, and there would
be no fear of our ability to carry a