Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1876-06-09
.sssE CONVENTION AND ssEs:
COEOss SIN E-y II AZ n HI 4:
AMEN stsGEyTs SAY,

cip,l, ard was not changed in any
respect by the Convention. The ninth
articl,: relate. to tho aubject OF ednca-
TO aud he. measures ado pied fOi Its
Increase. The first chang made by
the proposed amend nents to this
article calls our attention to the posi-
ton taken by the Convention upon
what is called the "coior line"
Tie second section of the ninth
article reads as follows:
Sec g. The General Assembly as It's
first session under this Constitution,
shall provide by taxation and other
wise for a general and uniform system
Of Public Schools, wherein tuition
shall be free of charge TO all children
of the State between the ages OF SIX
aud twenty-one years.
The amendments now pending be-
fore the people for ratification propose
to add to this section the following
words:
"And the children of the white race
and the children of the colored race
shall be taught in separate pubic
nation made in favor of or to tie pre-
JUDGE OF either race"
These amendments propose also to
add to the fourteenth article OF the
Constitution, relating to miscellaneous
matters, Ii new section, which reads as
follows:
Sec. 7. All marriages between
white person. and a ne gro, or between
a white person and q person Of negro
descent to the third generation IN
elusive, are hereby forever prohibited.
1t will be seen from these amend-
ments, therefore, that the Convention,
controlled as it was by Democrats,
placed itself squarely upon the color
line, and declared in unmistakable
terms that the two races must be kept
separate and distinct. Was this right
or was it wrong? Ought the law to
permit white children and negro chill
dren to sit side by side at school. upon
terms of perfect social equality ?
Ought marriages between whites and
blacks to be permitted blythe law If
SO. let the amendments be voted down,
and let the Candy Constitution remain
az it is. If, however, these things be
shocking to the sentiment and feeling
of the white race, let the amendments
be ratified. There is no hope for any
efficient educational system in North
Carolina---sny public edu cational sys-
TEN, we mean, that will be in REACH OF
the great mass of the white children in
the State-so long as under the organic
law of the State it is possible to force
white children and black children to
associate together upon terms of equal
ity. White men will not send their
boys to school with negro boys. AS
to sending their daughters to such
schools. tue land will run with blood
before they will do it. They cannot
be forced to do so even at the point
of the bayonet. White laen every
where, certainly Southern white men
regard themselves as belonging to a
! race differe Mt from and superior to the
negro race, and so believing they nat
urany find themselves in the ranks of
the Democratic party. The Demo
! cratic party is the white mans PARTY,
and rightly 40 too, for while it SEEKS to
40 no iui1iy to the negro, it is almost
entil ely composed of white men. On
| the other hand, the radical party Is
composed in almost equal degree OF
negroes. "Rirds of feather will flock
! together" 1t Is but natural for white
men to 90 together, as it is natural fer
negroes to do and those who think
themselves upon an equality with the
negroes.
The few white men i'll the Radical
party are obliged to yield to the de
mands for whatever equality their
many negro allies may make upon
them, The CouventioQ that framed
the Candy constitution passed an ordl-
nance under which white man named
Thornton and a negro woman are man
and wife. Radical Governor Hold III
made a negro, named Hood, Assistant
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The last Radical Convention in
this District by formal resolutions de-
ctared itself in favor OF sending chill
dren to school without regard to race
or color. The white delegates to that
Convention ate at the same table at the
same time and from the same
dishes with the negro delegates.
No longer ago than last week the
whole city was witness to the socially
equal occupancy by whites and blacks
of the same carriages while going to
the memorial ceremonies at the Fed
eral Cemetery. In Jones county under
radical rule ge haze the revolving
spectacle of public auGtioas at which
negroes bid off white people. Negro
magistrates aud negro constables, ne
gro legislators, and even negro Con
gressmen. are no rare sights among
negro constituencies.
But it nes.is Nc argument to prove
the practices and the pre.erts: the ten
denotes and the teachings of.the Radi |
cnl party on this question. There is
not Radical newspaper, there will not
be Hadioal candidate or Radical |
speaker in North Carolina who will
dare say that negro men and negro
women are infGrior to white men and
white women save in the matter of |
education--a temporary inferiority be-
cause of white mastership and that may
be overcome by few years study at
school. They gill none of them dare
assert that the negro is not the equal OF
the white man in any respect save in
such matters as grow out of education.
The Eeagpn Of all this is plain; the
small white minority must obey the
large negro majority. That is tie
whole case. but it is no mitigation
tor the conduct of white men who join
u. Ill F,,1 |