Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-02-22

LA r EDhOA AL i
Republican party may therefore be
traced directly to the political wrong
and oppression embodied in what are
called the DEMONSTRATION measures. "
To show that no such feeling existed
prior to the introduction of those mea-
sures, need only refer to the fact, that
at the election of members of Con-
gress, held in the Southern States in Oc.
tober, 1865, the people took the matter
into their own hands, and an almost
unanimous delegation of old-line Union
Wings, who had steadily opposed seces-
sion, was chosen. OF the nine men,
bers elected by Virginia, eight were old
Wings, and the ninth was q Douglas
Democrat, who was elected because
there were two old line Whig candidates
running against him, and he succeeded
in gaining his election by a plurality
vote. The other Southern States follow
ed the example of Virginia. There could
have been no more distinct overture, by
the South to the North, of reconcilia-
tion and peace than was thus offered
And know, personally. (for I was one
of those chosen by Virginia,) that the
gentlemen thus selected met in WASH
ington with q determination to throw
aside every thing like sectional and par
tisan feeling, and to use their best efforts
to revive sentiment of mutual good
will The olive branch, however, was
rudely rejected, and we we're not allow
ed to take our seats. This, naturally,
created good deal of indignation
among the Southern people, who saw in
this act Of exclusion of members, who
possessed every qualification for MEM
bership then prescribed by the Consti.
tuition" not only contemptuous dis
regard of the mandates of that instru-
ment, but the indication of a purpose to
do gross wrong to those who were seek
ing to promote the best interests of the
country.
Then followed the "Freedmen's Bu-
reau" with all its enormities. The ad-
ministration of the affairs of this Bureau
was committed to the hands of set of
unscrupulous adventures, male and fe-
male, whose principal object seemed to
be to offend and exasperate the South
ern people. AS an illustration of the
truth of this statement, need only re-
fer to the fact, that one ofthe first steps
of the Bureau, in my city, was to seize
upon the elegant court house in the GEN.
tire of the city, for the purposes of nes
gro school. My law office being near to
the courthouse, and, during the warm
weather, the windows being raised, I
had an opportunity of seeing and hear
ing the kind of instruction which was
given to the crowds of little negroes, of
both sexes, who assembled there daily.
The most prominent feature in it was
to teach the pupils to sing, at The top of
their voices, songs of the most inf1am-
matory, offensive and insulting charac-
ter to the Southern people.
Next followed, under the disguise Of
securing to the negroes their civil rights,
the attempt to coerce the Southern peo-
pie to adopt system of "mixed public
schools" and, as far as possible, to en-
force social equality between the two
races, by compelling them to sit at the
same tables in hotels, to intermingle in
places of public amusements, to worship
side by side in the same churches. and
to be buried in the same cemeteries.
Finally, negroes were made eligible to
every public position of honor and trust;
and, destitute, as they were, of property,
education, and intelligence, they were
invested with the elective franchise,
while every white citizen who had ever
held any public Office, either State OF
Federal, was disfranchised.
When the war closed, and the emanci.
patton of the negro race became an &C
complished fact, every sensible man
foresaw, that, as necessary. legitimate,
and, may add, proper. consequence,
they must at no distant day be invested
%I u;c <e n sxysI II.
er freemen. But the Southern people
could not but regard it as an outrage, not
only on themselves, but upon every
principle of free institution, that a body
of $50, 900 ignorant and uneducated ne
barbarism, should Immediately, and
| training, be injected, as new, and, in
many States, a controlling. element, in.
to our political system.
Nor was this sentiment confined to
the Southern people. The late Senator
| Morton, of Indiana, in addressing
the Senate of the United States
while this subject was pending before
that body, used the following memora
BILE words: "The immediate transfer of
more than half million from the bonds
of slavery, with all the ignorance anG
degradation upon them which the slav-
ery of generations in Southern fields has
produced, would be declaration to tht
world, that the exercise of American
suffrage involves no intellectual or mora
qualifications; and that there is no diff
| ference between an American freeman
and an American slave which may moi
be unmade by mere act of Congress.
Had the wise counsel contained in
this passage prevailed, the country
would have heard nothing of a "Solid
South :" many evils, which now oppress
it, would have been avoided, and others
which threaten us in the near future,
would have been efectually guarded a.
gainst. But, unfortunately, passion
usurped the place of reason, and thes'
measures, promoted more by malevol
ence than craftsmanship, were hurried
through Congress.
| And here let me pause moment tt
disabuse the Northern mind of certain
errors which, If am to judge from th'
utterances of the Northern press, hav,
taken strong hold of it. The first is tina
the Southern people are hostile to tn
negro race. The second, that their op
/ position to negro suffrage springs from
| that hostility to the negro race.
Both these assumptions are destitute
of all foundation in truth. The re
lations between the two races, wher
undisturbed by extraneous influences
are of the kindest character. Negro
women were our nurses in childhood
negro boys were our playmates in our
youthful sports and negroes of all age
were our faithful servants and friends
under all circumstances. This wa
strikingly illustrated by their fidelit.
to their misters and mistresses, during
the war. AS race, they are kind affec
tionate and confiding, and grateful 70
favors. They now constitute the grea
mass of our domestic servants and o
our agricultural laborers. They are il
our households and in our fields; an
constitute the best peasantry to be foun
in any country. They are gradually
improving in their circumstances, an(
in intelligence and, although, from tn
childlike simplicity of their character
|some are improvident and spend a
they earn, large numbers are. buyin
lands and town lots, and erecting hou
ses for their families. have, mysel
sold lots, both in town and country,
number, on long credits, SO as to ems
le them to pay for them out of thei