The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-05-31
The Negro Question.

questions affecting the interests of the
people; knowing that not one single page
of it's history can be referred to as re-
or its honesty, it is seeking now, in the
desperation of it's extremity, to bring
about bitterness between the races, and
arouse all of the old prejudices that, hap
PLY for the well being of the State, were
fast dying out. The party, OF rather the
leaders, have assured us, substantially, that
the main purpose of the Convention soon
to be held in Lynchburg, is to denounce
the negro to array the white man against
the black, and to make the next campaign
upon the lowest, most degraded of politi-
cal planes, for there is no depth beyond
that reached by passion frenzied by false
hood. These leaders know that the SUI
premacy of the Caucasian is in no peril.
They have not the shadow of fear of
NEGRO rule To admit the existence of
such fear, would he worse than humilia-
! ton to any man with one glimmering of
| pride of race. Think Of it. The white
people of Virginia outnumber the black
nearly two to one. The former are the
product of centuries of freedom, civiliza-
| ton and culture. With them abide nine
tenthS of the wealth and intelligence OF
| the State, and the years have not been
many since they were not only masters OF
the situation but absolute owners Of the
slaves. On the other hand those slaves
are just emerging from long, rayless
night of gloom and bondage. They are
starting hundreds OF years behind their
assumed competitors. Deficient i'll nu-
merical strength deficient in wealth de-
| ficient in cultivation deficient III all the
effective weapons Of warfare in the battle
of life, these are the people, we are told,
who are destined to overthrow the State,
and rule, govern and control their former
masters. The assumption would be ridic-
ulous did men pause for one moment to
consider it. Here, for instance, are two
white men. Through their veins flows
the blood of conquerors. For genera
lions they have been the lords of creation.
| They are armed to the teeth. All OF the
appliances which man values most in the
contest with man are theirs. The land is
theirs the money is theirs. To the foe
they oppose the shield of a race hitherto
invincible. They WELD, with the. perfection
| of long practice, the weapons OF thought,
of science. of skill. of intellectual supe-
riority, of courage never before ques-
toned. And what is it that cOnfrOntS
them? The single representative OF a
race whose hands have just been freed
from the shackles Of slavery whose ira
ditions are of bondage upon whom the
light of intellectual development is she'd
ding its first rays, and who enters the field
clothed only in the naked strength which
the God of nature has given him. There
stand the cOmbatants. Two to one
Mark the contrast of conditions. And yet
we are told that the negro is to rout his
adversaries wrest from them the sceptre
of centuries, and bind them captives to
the wheels of his triumphal car. Away
with such nonsense Let men brand the
thought as the terror Of cOwardice, the
cry of the craven, OF the deliberate false
hood of those who would prey upon the
fears of the timid, and arouse all the I'M
worthy passions of a people, in order that
chronic politicians may have place.
But it is said the danger to be appre-
hended is from the solid column of ne
groes, Differed and engineered by degener-
ate whites. The alliance of the two is to
constitute the army of invincibles. The
proposition is so preposterous, that it does
not deserve serious consideration. If it
had been possible to SO band the blacks, it
would have been done long ago. Those
who are now loudest-mouthed in appealing
to the prejudice of race, have tried by
every means, ScrupulouS and interruptions,
to so organize them. Bribery by money
and Office has been offered, and fiattery and
threats employed without stint. Wherev-
er there was the least chance of gaining
their support the Democrats have left no
means unemployed to accomplish that end.
Witness their election of negro officers in
Charlottesville, in Norfolk and elsewhere,
and the INSCRIPTIONS use of money in the
Legislature, and in every political canvass
in Virginia since the war. Witness, too,
every local election. Wherever negroes
are buyable they are bought, and it is only
when they decline to thus barter their
manhood, that denunciation is brought to
bear. The negro may be ignorant. and it
is not surprising i'll view of his history
that such is the case, but he has sense
enough to know and appreciate, and he
| EnnU of hot in,
contest of races, his loses all hope of
success. You never hear them men,
ton such a contest unless it be to depre-
cate it. All they ask as a people is to
be left free to enjoy the benefits which the
law accords them. That party which will
honestly endeayor to secure them those
benefits will receive their support. The
more sensible of the blacks, as well as the
more sensible of the whites, know that
the prosperity of the two races is identi-
cal. They have lived in harmony for gen.
erations, and even under the changed con-
ditions of the last two decades the
same pleasant relations would be main
tanned, were it not for u few miserable
politicians, whose only hope of preferment
is in stirring up strife and drawing atten-
tion from their own deficiencies. The
interests of the employer and employee
the rich and the poor, are always Deepen
dent upon the same general conditions
When community is prosperous it's III
dividual members, of whatever class, feel
the effect of that prosperity, and when a
community is torn by contention and dis
cord the disorder reaches from the highest
to the lowest stratum of society. To re-
move the causes of disagreement and es-
arrangement is the duty of good citizen
ship /; to perpetuate them is to put the
breaks upon progress and advertise to the
world that the past teaches nothing and
the future holds out no hope.
Having failed in their efforts hitherto
to receive the support of the negroes, let
the Democratic party take counsel of the
enemy. Let them try the experiment we
suggest, and we can assure them a far
greater measure of success than has ever
yet crowned their efforts. The recipe is
simple one: Deal with the negro honestly
Grant to him freely and cordially the rights