Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-07-30
The White Man Bora to Rule the Black.

Mr. Phelps, in his speech accepting the
Democratic nomination for Governor, de-
clared that the fact that the colored Repub-
leans of the South do not assert the control
which their numerical majority should give
them in their States, was evidence enough
in fact he said that it was ''the strongest
possible eyidence"-that they never were,
are not, and never will be, fit to govern
themselves and their communities The
white man, Mr. Phelps believes, was born to
rule the black, and the colored man is flying
in the face of Providence when he ventures
TO exercise his rights as voter, or refuses
to acquiesce in the "shot gun policy" which
gives enormous and often substantially unan-
imous Democratic majorities, in States and
districts where there are large majorities of
Republican voters The idea is not altogether
a new one. Ii was the idea of the old slave
holder and is the idea of the modern Ku-
klux and ''White-liner." 1t was promulgated
by Mr.. English, the Democratic candidate
for Vice-President, on the floor of the House
of Representatives, May ., 1860, when he
said: ''The truth is, the free negro, as gen
eral thing, is unfit to govern himself. The
inferior being we find him, the Almighty, for
some wise purpose Gle doeth all things
well,") seems to have designed him.
negro He made him, and it is not in the
power of all the abolitionlsts and Republi-
cans on earth 10 make him anything else.
The Almighty, in other words, made the
white man 10 wallop the negro and the negro
to be wallopcd by the white man. The fact
that he permitted the white man 10 walop
him was proof enough, twenty years ago, 10
the shareholders and their Northern allies,
that the negro's natural condition was that
of servitude The fact that now, when invest
ed with the franchise, he does not exercise it,
in spite of shot-guns and sabre-clubs,is proof
enough 10 Mr. Phelps that his natural condi-
ton is one of peonage,-that he never was
is not, and never will be fit to vote
This evidence strange TO say, does not
satisfy everybody so easily. 1t does not sat
isfy the black man, for one. We remember
that the point was put to a colored man who
was a witness before Congressional Com
mttee, two or three years ago, which was
investigating the intimidation Of colored Re-
publicans in Louisiana or Mississippi. lie
had testified TO the fact that he and other
colored Republicans had received notice lac
companicd sometimes by brutal floggings)
from bands Of night riders, that they must
not vote the Republican ticket, and that they
obeyed. \ Democrat On the committee
c.oss-qucstioned the witness 'lIow many
negroes are there TO a white man in your
district" 1.-TWO or three" was the
reply The negroes are all Republi-
cans, YOU say 2" Yes sir" Would you
believe it, if were TO tell you that in some
other State where the Democrats are three
times as many as the Republicans, the Re-
publicans order the Democrats away from
the polls, and the Democrats obey the Or
der ?" That might depend on circam-
s.ances," said the witness. Il am one man,
and you of the committee are seven. Give
me a sevcn-shooter while you have no wea-
pons, and would not I've afraid to order you
all out OF this room; and guess you would
60"
The reply hit the nail on the head. The
colored man is naturally Of peaceable ma
ture; he cndurcs more oppression without
resistance than the lrishman, or the average
Anglo-Saxon. But the fact does not prove
6, 6. I;s Luu
been held down through long years of scrvi-
tude. lie has been bred to take his orders
from the white man; and he docs not AT
once and easily shake OF the old habit of
subservicnce. Moreover the white man is
armed, and skilled in the use Of revolver and
SHOTGUN while the black man is weaponlcss.
That under these circumstances the colOrcd
man docs not assert the power his numeri-
cal strength should give him is MT proof that
he is unfit for the ballot.
The argument from the ignorance Of the
colorcd masses, which Mr.. Phelps did moi
bring up, has more weight; but the trouble
with that is that it is not applied impartially
by the Democratic orators and papers. With
them ignorance is IA disqualification in a
black man but not in white man Thee
are hundreds Of thousands of white Demo
Gratis at the North who exercise The
franchise no move intclligcntly thni
the freedmen. There is the large class
of poor whites" the Crackers, OF The
South, fully as ignorant rs the blacks, and,
us a rule, more shifllcss and degraded. No
body hears that they are unfit to rule. They
vote as freely as the most cultivated South
rons, because they vote the Democratic
ticket. Mr.. Phelps must not believe that
Vermoniers will accept his conclusion that
the poor white is born to rule, and the pool
colored man born to be ruled, because one Is
Democrat and the other Republican, and
because the owners Of the rcvolvers and
shot-guns have decided that one shall vote
and the other Shall not and if he will g,
and deliver his speech. filed with thinly GOV
ere | hatred Of the African and opposition t.
the best r.. ulis If tie war, 30 tcrry schco
district in Nrrl,uu;. # win ;.ii il.r;e t!r
sand votes to the Repubi.c4n majority IL
Co,tor,b,v