Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1883-11-29
The Virginia Performance.

1t suits people who do not care to de-
fend or even publish the facts connected
with the Virginia outrage, to denouuct
Malone, and some of them are compar-
ing him to Butler. of Massachusetts, as
if they considered that sufficient To cover
up all the sins of the Bourbons, and tC
atone for the innocent blood shed by the
conspirators in their contest against
personal liberty, a free ballot and an
honest count.
1t required brave man to attack po
litically the Bourbons. Perhaps Ma
hone, who Is unquestionably- brave. was
also somewhat unscrupulous; but the
country is called upon to judge the man
and his followers, not by what his Oppo'
nents say, but by what he did and the
methods that were used to overthrow
him. Let Malone be measured by this
standard.
Feplenished the Treasury, that had
been depleted by Bourbon extravaganza
He re-estaflisbed schools, that the Bour-
bons had destroyed. He sought to place
a school house on every hill and in eve
ry valley, and at the rate he was pro-
crossing IN this work, in the course OF
another DECADE schoolhouses would nave
been as numerous in Virginia. as they
are in Ohio, and the traveller could not
get beyond the sound of the bell that
calls children to study. The colored
people, who were Disseminated against
under Bourbon rule, were treated equal
ly under Malone rule. 1t is said by
many, and even a Boston paper reports
it, that negroes are not fit to vote, be-
cause they are ignorant. In slavery
they were prohibited from learning, and
in freedom the means of education are
withheld. They are trodden down and
then cursed because they are down, and
by men too who are responsible fol
their ignorance and are determined they
shall not rise in the scale of civilization
Malone undertook to give the coloreC
people fair chance; to see that theil
freedom WAS not mere sham, anC
that their rights under the laws to Z
free ballot were not denied. The color
ed people had education enough anC
sense enough to discover that the party
that sought to do them justice was The
party that deserved their support, an(
tney naturally hecked to the STANDARD
of the leader who gave them free
schools, and broke down the whipping
post and the poll-taX, and all other i'm
pediments erected for the purpose o.
keeping men who have a right to vOtt
away from the ballot-box. Are the col
ored people of Virginia to be condemn
ed for that? Let those who would con
denim them put themselves in thei
place. The fact is, no class of white
men in the North would bear th,
wrongs inflicted upon the colored citi
zens of Virginia. If the outrages prac-
ticed there were undertaken in MasSa
chusetts, or Ohio, or any other Northern
State, it would not be necessary, fol thu
purpose of intimidation, to get up /;
sham riot, as was done at Danville
There would be real riots, and blooC
would be freely shed, and the worl
would not be confined to one side.
The Danville riot was the result of /;
plot to intimidate the colored people anC
drive them from the polls Throughout
the State. In the face of the testimony
before the public it is net worth Will,
] to deny the plot. Pains were taken tC
have exaggerated reports of that occur
renee spI Iead throughout the State, anC
without the aid of mail or telegraph il
was spread in places far and near imme
diately upon its occurrence. Then how
absurd to charge the disturbance upoT
the colored people, when it is known
that only colored people were killed
Two white men were wounded, but tina
was the result of accident, and the shot!
were fired by white men. But the plo
was successful. The colOred people
were frightened, and white men VIII,
belonged to the Malone party were in
timidated, and in that way the Bourbon:
carried the State. Soon this party will
again be in control, and soon again col
ored schools will be discontinued. anC
the colored people will be reduced to {
state of slavery, differing only in de
gree from that which prevailed before
they were made free, and not much bet
ter than that of actual bondage At any
rate the negro vote will not be counted
in Virginia unless it is cast on the side
of the Bourbon party Constitution and
laws will be brushed aside rs so much
trash. With free ballot and an honest
couHt the Bourbons would have been
defeated at the late election, and the
Electoral vote of Virginia would be cast
next year for the Republican candidate
for the Presidency. TO prevent the lat,
ter the shotgun was used, and murders
as cold-blooded as they were infamous
were committed at Danville, and reign
of terror was inaugurated throughout
the State. Without the aid of the Bour-
bons of Virginia and Mississippi, the
cause of the Democratic party would Ee