Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-19

| POOA flCIlnS were Iound ueaQ IN alleys,
In warehouses and under houses, like
poisoned rats that had crawled away to
die; that the negroes fled to the woods. to
the State of North Carolina, to the four
| winds of heaven; these are a few of the
facts of this bloody, wholesale murder.
which was telegraphed far and near by
bourbons as an insolent uprising of the
blacks against the whites.
simultaneously with these occurrences
the crack of the bourbon weapon engaged
in political murder resounded, and the
bourbon knife sunk deep in the counties
! OF Charles City, Halifax, Hanover, Floyd,
! Augusta, Lee, and elsewhere, mingling
with Sabbath day sympathies, from the
bourbon capital, and the race cry was
| shouted with brutal ferocity intense
enough to-make Virginia the rival of any
Southern State in her record of blood
shed and lawlessness.
! These, fellow-citiZens, were the means
resorted to. The effects were all that the
| bulldezers could have hoped for.
| THE SAD CONDITION OF THE NEGROES.
! To me as Yirginian, a former slave
owner, and an eX-Confederate, the sad
| dest feature of this reign of terror is the
suffering it has inflicted upon the negroes
| here. This unfortunate people have had
| tate as black as their skins. They were ori-
| ginally torn from their home and country
!
freed from bondage; both without any
agency OF their own, and nOlo, when they
act on their rights voluntarily accorded
to them, they are shot down like dogs for
party purposes by the benefciaries of
their toll for centuries. Unless such out
RACES be punished, and their perpetrators
| branded as they deserve, we may we'll de-
| spa1r OF the maintenance of State or popu-
lar rights, for both have been violated and
degraded.
The result of these outrages has been to
add the crime of murder to the already
long list Of bourbon otfenses. The respon-
sibilllty for the crime rests upon the lead
ers OF that faction who, by incendIary ap-
peals, in1amed the brutal perpetrators to
| commit these deeds.
REACTION SURE TO COME.
That the reaction will come, and that
swiftly and completely, is not a matter of
doubt. 1t is true that bourbonism has
gained triumph upon campaign of
falsehood and deception, by appeals to
passion, and by a barbarous resolve to
shed as much innocent blood as was ne
cessary to its success. 1t is true that by
fair means and by foul it has procured a
temporary majority. And yet it is equally
true that the majority of our people are
conservative at heart, and abhor false
hood and violence.
GO ON.
Under these circumstances what course
shall Readjusters pursue henceiorth? Is
it true, as asserted by our enemies, that
we are hOpelessly crushed? Are we to
disband, cOwed and demoralized, and
leave the field in the undisputed possess
sion Of the b0urbons? Shall some of us
make terms OF peace and surrender with
our foes, while others retire in sullenness,
Gil nY ON lht1tic fCn
propitious opportunity for reorganization
and resistance?
Fellow citizens Of the Readjuster party,
for myself, and speaking doubtless on be.
half of thousands of Virginians as true
and brave as any of our sons, while de-
ploring as much as any one the disaster
which has overtaken our cause, | am
| thankful for this opportunity to proclaim
now, surrounded by temporary clouds and
| darkness, as boldly and detiantly as when
our cause was bathed in sunshine, that
our hearts are firmly and forever fixed to
the immutable principles of liberty and
| human right, as announced by the lib
eral platform; aud that the fight shall go
| on against the bigOtry and violence of
bOurbOnism as long as it shall please God
to spare our lives for the struggle.
A GULF WHICH SHALL YAwN FOREVER.
In the effort to perpetuate caste. class,
\
fraud, or otherwise, the weak and unpro-
tected in this State the bourbons have
made gulf between themselves and the
Readjuster party which shall yawn for
ever, for they cannot bridge it, and we
will not.
Let the fight proceed. If we are to be
in the minority in the future, it is mi
nority struggling for principles as strong
and holy as when they were backed by
majority, The manhood which sustains
them in defeat proves a sincerity and de-
vOtiOn which in due time must and will
be crowned with triumph. But whether
future triumph come or not, the blessings
we have secured for Virginia are fixed
and indestructible. Our enemies stand
before us.
We know that they are our foes and the
foes of our Commonwealth; that they have
IN the past paralyZed her energies, robbed
her Treasury, defrauded and dWarted her
free schools, strangled her suffrage,
brought national hate upon her. adhered
to no principle, and made terms with any
renegade or prostitute who would aid
them. And that they have at last tri-
umphed by murder and bloOdshed that
have disgraced the State. We know that
we have asked for and given no quarters
i'll the past, that we will accept none, and
promise none now.
ALL OPPOSED TO BOURBONISM SHOULD
MAKE COMMON CAUSE.
We know that with bourbonism before
us we have an enemy to fight, powerful
and dangerous to the interests of the
State. We know that, masquerading in
the stolen livery of Democracy, it is no
true representative of Democracy, either
in principle or personnel, and / believe
the Readjuster party will, when it next
meets in council, unite cordially and
thoroughly with our friends, State and
national, and make common cause with
them against the bOurbons, their aiders,
counsellors and abettors, State and ma
tional, by whatsoever name they may be
designated.
| repeat, therefore, that the struggle
against DourhOnism is to be renewed
forthwith and to the death, and, as your
Chairman, call upon every loyal Read
juster in Virginia to rally to the standard
and reform to fight new battle against
their old bourbon toe IN the national cam
paign of 1884.
Bearing in mind the old watchword of
free ballot and a fair count. we have a
right to demand and expect support from
the State, and if need be, from the Federal
Government, in behalf of the rights of
man, guaranteed by both governments,
and put at stake to procure the ascendency
OF an INSCRIPTIONS party that sticks at
nothing to acquire power,
WILLIAM MALONE, Chairman.
Petersburg, NOU. A. 1888.
The Value of Presence of Mind.
Peck's Sun.
'ERight here in Milwaukee Bav, about
thirty years ago, friend and myself had