Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-06-10
THE DANVILLE RIOT.

Iue OluVllic TlOI luVeSLiRdtioH WAS suuu!G-
ted to the Senate yesterday.
The minority report contends that even
if all the facts asserted in the resolution un-
der which the committee acted were true.
Congress had no constitutional authority to
interfere. The election referred to was
purely matter of State concern, nor was it
charged that the offences were committed
by authority of any State law, or by the aid
or neglect Of any officer of the State of Fir-
ginia.
but it is indirectly said" continues the
report by the committee, that they pro-
pose no interference by actual Legislation
further than by investigation to expose to
public condemnation the action Of the riot
ers in Danville, and it is also intimated That
should the people Of Nlississi ppi not vote
for the candidates Of the republican party
in the pending Presidential election, then
the committee recommend a further inves-
tigat1on of the whole people Of those States,
with view to depriving them Of represent
alton in Congress under section OF the
fourteenth amendment. The latter the mi
norily regard simply as IL partisan threat in
itself strongly interfering with The free cN-
ert:ise of The right of suffrage, which it is
believed the manly people against whom il
SD richly merits. and the former would seem
to be simply q proposition TO shift the eN-
pellse of printing Il campaign document
from the pockets Of the republican national
executive committee on TO the public treas
ury"
A decent respect for the opinions OF man.
kind, the report asserts, should have i'm
PEELED the republicans Ia conduct the nvcS
LEGATION with fairness, and set forth lis re
sus with judicial importantly. 4 glance ut
the najurlty report would satisfy every just
| mind That this had not been done. The en-
! animation was conducted with all the sharp
ness, the ri"ur, the shutting OF OF uuiavor;t-
bile testimony, The !e.ding-up 10 and sulic-
latiun OF that which was favorable, which
usually characteriZes the trial Of il criminal
case in the Hastings Court.
The people of Danvile were all The way
through treated rs though they were on
trial, with republican Senators acting as
prosecutors. Things were assumed to be-
true OH the rambling statements Of ignorant
negroes, though disprovcd by dozens of
witnesses Of greater intelligence, both white
and black.
The report here describes the riot from
| the Standp point of the minority as purely
local affair, not tho result Of Il conspiracy
1t enters at length into the history OF The
lawlessness Of mobs in Northern cities,
dweils upon crimes of violence at the North,
alludes to the Cincinnati riots, the Tewks-
bury almshouse investigation in MaSsachu-
seIls, the killing of inollensivc negroes in
New York and other Northern States, and
suggests that an investigation into these
matters would he us proper subject OF
congressional inquiry us the investigation
of the killing of four negroes in Danville.
| They iusist that the testimony taken by
the committee shows that many of the
negroes engaged in the riot were armed and
ilourished their weapons threatenngly, and
that after the whites fired in the air to scare
them away they fired back rs they retreat
ed. They also deny that there was any
evidence TO show that the whites fired
upon women and children, as asserted
in the report of the majority. They
say that Colonel Sims was more TO
blame for the bloodshed in DanviIIe than
any other man, and they condemn the ma
jority for refusing to hear the testimony OF
citizens Of Danvileas to his character. They
crticise the report OF the majority rs "still
more unfair, more partisan and disingenll-
Gus" even than the examination Of witness.
es, and say ave challenge all st.minded
men to examine it, confident il they do that
they will conclude that the committee did
not want the real facts, but were searching
for material for political campaign"
Referring to the charge that The demo-
cratic party of Virginia sought to disfran-
chise the negroes Of that State by the impo-
sition of the capitation tax and by other
methods, they enter a general denial, and
then enter upon an elaborate exhibition OF
the methods by which the right Of suffrage
is abridged at the North. They point to
Massachusetts, where, they say, under the
law forbidding the right ofsullrage to illit-
crate persons and paupers who arc unable
to pay certain taxes, 144 500 persons are
disfranchised for ignorance or poverty; to,
Rhode Island, where, they say, the restric
tons on suffrage are still worse, not more
than 10 per cent, they assert, ofadult males
being entitled TO vote, the remainder being
DISTINGUISHED not only for crime, but for ig-
norance, poverty or foreign birth; and to
the District of Columbia, where they say
the republican party has abolished the right
of suffrage altogether, and where 900
persons are governed as satrapy. Under
the very shadow Of the dome oil the Capitol
of & great republic, the corner. stone ofwhich
is the suIliage of the governed, say the mi
nority. thai great first principle is denied
|
cause 33 per cent. ofthe population is COM
posed Of negroes, who could WELD the bal
ance of power in popular elections"
The report denies that the race issue was raised
by the whites in Virginia. and claims that it is al
ways raised by the colorcd voters, who band to-
gethcr politically against the whites. 1t asserts
that the general treatment of negroes in the South
is better and more kindly than it is in the North
| They say on this point: Through all the North
no blacks will he seen engaged in auy hut mental
labor, unlcss it he that they have establishments
| of their own. IN the South ynu will fluid them
| occupying offices of every character municipal
county, State and national, in the Legislatures
| and in the magistracy. In the North you
| will find none in the legislatures and
| next To none in elective offices. What he
| came of one whom the Governor of Massachusetts
| attempted /" pnt upon the bench? How many
| have ever come to the Congress of the United
| States from Northern constituencies? How many
coored p0stmastcrs have been appointed in North
| crn towns and cities? How many colorcd men
| are clerks i'll the departments in this city? How
many have ever been rendered positions in the