The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-04-26
The Negro Vote.

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different STANDPOINT We are compelled
sometimes totiffer from it in its argu-
ments and Conclusions, but no one can
reasonably ohestion its honesty and SINGER
ity and the patriotic motives which govern
it's course We are prepared to accept,
thereforehs the utterance of q good in
tention Ne following: ''We would like to
see tbirt or forty thousand negroes vote
the Degocratic ticket this year and next
and tbfeafter in Virginia. We accept I
this ahonest and sincere, not because our
coterporary wishes it for partizan. advan-
| taeejb Out for the reason that it might |
| contribute to conservative methods and |
ratbnal conclusions in considering and |
acng upon matters of public interest.
! 1'he wish of our contemporary might now |
Re a realized fact, had it not been for
The course of those who now constitute the |
democratic party in the past. In 1869, |
(the negro voters of Virginia aided the !
white voters in defeating the two obnox- |
ious clauses in the Constitution as adopted
by the Convention of 1861. They aided !
in the election of Gilbert c. Walker Gov
ernor upon what was considered liberal
platform and upon pledges to observe all
the conditions of the amendments to the
National Constitution and the State Con-
stitution as they affected the rights OF
persons. They then made the advance
to the white voters. But for the negro
voters of Virginia, the DISTINGUISHING
clauses of the constitution of 1869 would
have been incorporated into the funda-
mental law of the State, and the Conser-
vative or True Republican, party would
| have been defeated. How was this adj
vance met No sooner had the True
Republican party been Installed in power,
than it changed its name to that OF the
Conservative party, and commenced plot
| ting to impose Acknowledgement upon
those who rescued them from this ban.
! concentrating the plot in the connection
and adoption of the amendments of 1876.
| which placed price upon the ballot and re-
viyedthe whipping-post as further means
| of taking from the negro the rights the
constitution gave him. This was not only
| a violation of good faith with the negro,
| who had so faithfully served the Conserya-
| tive party in 1863, hut it was in defiance
| of the amendments to the National Con-
stitution and the Constitution Of the
| State.
| The people of Virginia in 1850 declared
| for IL free ballot and the adjustment Of
stripes us Il mode of punishment for petty
| offenses. The Constitution of 1859 contained
| no other restriction on the ballot than that
Of age. felony and idiocy. The laws Of the
State made no provision for the erection OF
the whipping-post and the infiction Of
l stripes. And it was under this constitution
that the Conservative party came intopower
| through the assistance of the negro voters
OF the Commonwealth. But, as its lead
ers thought to make it a white mans
| government and not government of and
| for all tie citizens OF the State, it became
necessary to disfranchise the negro by
| placing the prepayment of the capitation-
| tax restriction on the ballot, and to i'm
| pose stripes for trivial, and sometimes
| trlmped up offences, and providing that
such punishment should operate against
the right to vote.
| But for this class of legislation and this
ingratitude to the negro, there would to-
day, i'll all probability, be thirty OF forty
Thousand negroes voting with the Demo-
| cratic party. But when this disposition
was manifested by the party that the ne
| gro had elevated to power, it was natural
| that his resentment should be excited, and
| that he should vote against thee continu-
ance in power of n political force that
| had been so false to its pledges and
so untrue to its obligations. The me-
gro has shown his conservative tendencies
as conspicuously since his freedom as dur
ing slavery when he stood by and protect
ed and provided for the wives and children
of Confederate soldiers when they were
| fighting to perpetuate his bondage. Had
the Conservative party been truly c0nser-
vative and had it observed the conditions
under which it was placed in power-liyed
| square up to the commands OF the Consti-
tuition of the Nation and State, it is not
| improbable that to-day there would exist
more OF less division among colored vo-
tiers, as well as larger proportion of the
| white people voting the way the negro now
votes-for the Republican party, as the
only truly conservative party the State or
Nation has known for the past twenty
years.
| Let the Democratic party of Virginia
and the South cease its warfare upon the
rights OF the negro-let it cease its insid-
uous hostility to the public schools
only means the negro has for improvement
and advancelnent-let it deal with him as
a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS soul and mind to en-
| tighten and expand, a moral and intellec-
tual being to be elevated and fitted for the
better uses of life-snd it may then con-
| sistently appeal to him for his support at
the ballot-boX. But SO long as that party
manfests Il disposition to abridge and cir
cumscribe guaranteed rights. to mock him
with his freedom, by depriying him OF the
rights of a freeman, it will be natural for
the negro to vote against it. Let it be
courageous enough to live mp to the laws
! to grapple with the laws conditions and
! it will then he in position to, in reason,
ask for the support of the negro voter. But
so long as its power is used to embarrass
and restrict the enjoyment Of his rights,
and only acknowledge them when they are
| whipped into it. which has been the case
in every instance, it cannot be expected
| that the negro will do anything else than
what he has been doing-vOting solidly
against 1.-THE most conservative vote
that can be given, in the present division
of parties-for the only radical party in
this country now the Democratic party
radical in its Bourbonism and its craving
after fossils and lava beds.
Were all the Democratic journals in
Virginia and the South like the lnder-Ap-
peal. there would be some hope of its wish
reaching u consummation. But so long as
race preiudices and mercenary partizanism
rule and control in the Democratic party,
it may be expected that not only the solid
negro vote. but the votes of the liberal
| minded and law-abiding of the white peo-
pie will be arrayed against and overpower
it. That has been the history i'll Virginia,
and that will he eventually the result in