Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-03-07
STAUNTON. y
FRIDAY MORNING. MAR. 7, 1884,
JOHN s. WISE.S KITCHEN CON
SITTUENCY.

The Hon. John S. Wise now represent
ing the Hon. John E. Massey in the
House of Representatives, is man born
to trouble as the sparks are to fly upwards.
He signalized his entrance into the COali-
ton by letter stigmatiZing the majority
of the white members of the Republican
party in Virginia, who for years had
borne the brunt of the battle, as ''apos-
tates for the price of their apostasy,"
and now having succeeded in alternating
the sympathy of that class he makes a
speech at Washington illustrating the po-
sition of his (negro) constituents by citing
the white 'sriff-raff and wharf-rats''of New
of Z ork, and whose representative men
1.-THE colored members of the legislature)
he accords interviews.to sin my Kitchen"
We may safely infer that if there are any
other classes Of political friends still pos
sessed by Mr.. Wise, not much time will
eapse before he will estrange them. A man
who offends the officers and then insults
the rank and file, may as well be looking
around for an army elsewhere. The Con-
gresham who sits by John Sherman daily
instigating prosecution of his own ma
tive State. and assisting in making the
case look blacklist for her, will hardly eX-
pect to raise any new army of political
friends among the intelligent masses of
Virginia whose prosperity in life is insep.
arably connected with the welfare of the
Commonwealth. The fiasco of John Sher-
man in the Danville riot investigation has
hardly been more grotesque than that of
John S, Wise in his attempted explana-
ton to the world of how the Negro is re-
garded in Virginia. Whether justly or
unjustly, Mr.. Wise explained to the Re-
publicans at the North precisely the light
the coIored man is looked upon in Vir-
ginia by the politicians of both parties.
Neither Republicans, with the fewest
exceptions, nor Democrats, with no excep.
ton. regard the Negro as fitted to take
part in the government Of the State. 1t
is but justice to the Republican party to
say that while they conducted campaigns
as party in this State, there was little if
anything of the infammatory appeals to
the ambition of the colored people that,
later, came into vogue with the Coalition.
It has been puzzle at the North to un-
derstand how speeches addressed to mixed
audiences on the arithmetical question of
REIMBURSEMENT could possibly be called in
flammatory, and how a party whose poll
tical issue was readjustment could have
stirred up the hearts of the black peo-
pie in Virginia to such degree as to
bring on riot and bloodshed. To those
who live on the ground the result is the
most natural thing in the world. To cater
to the colored vote the Coalition orators
adroitly represented the debt question as
struggle between the People and some
imaginary ruling class who, for want OF
another name, they called "Bourbons >
Now, when you appeal to a white voter.
however illiterate he may be, to cooperate
against oppression in any form, he would
know that you mean he shall 60 to the
ballot-box and vote against such measures
as the oppressor, real or imaginary,
proposes; and if defeated this time he will
go again to the ballot-box in the same in
terest next time. If you warn white
voter that his liberties are being infringed
and that he must resist, he at once
comprehends that bis resistance is to be
made by the ballot-box. He has ever
been a free man, and ne knows that no
mower on earth can abridge his liberty Or
deprive him of It. If you talk to him OF
'shurlipg down the oppressor, he arranges
to hurl him down with plenty of tickets
at the polls, plenty of wagons to carry
voters, close watching of the lists t.
prevent illegal voting. and an industrious
'whooping up of the voters of his own
side But to the ignorant ex-slave all
that public speaker says is taken literal
ly. There are few intelligent exceptions
to this, but those intelligent exceptions
do not, as a rule, form valuable leaveI
to the mass. They are oftener than not,
local politicians. who have themselves
been slaves and bear bitter remembrances
of slavery as every free man would, ano
instead of their influence being conserva-
tive it is oftener the other way. With this
literal understanding black audience Is
easily moved to uncomfortable excite
ment. Speak TO them of Bourbon oppres-
sors. and they see only the white men who
once owned them and to whom they Lear
no good will. Speak to them of preserving
their liberties, and their minds at once
revert to the old and hated days of slavery
and possibility of their being returned
to it, a fear that has never left their un-
enlightened minds. Describe to them a
party that will not only preserve, but give
them more liberty, and they translate it
into more social as well as legal privileges.
Describe to them the imaginary blue
blonded aristocracy of Virginia who seek
to regain power in the State. and they see
the rations and the whip of the planta-
ton. With the Coalition. as we have said.
came that sort of haranguing on the hus-
tings that aroused the race hatred and
race fears of the blacks. 1t is hard mat
ter for the residents of the always free
States to understand how easily a race
once slaves can be aroused to pitch of
frenzy. Another thing that they find hard
to underestimate lis how, if the black man is
the cause of SO much uneasiness when
aroused, and is always the aggressor. it
comes about that he always suffers most
in collision. That also would be clear
if they lived among them. The black man
has the least possible amount of judgment
that any race can have, and he has in ad-
dition more boldness than courage. He
seems to have no idea of the results of what
he NAV do At the NOyembnr election in
this town, an occurrence took place which
we'll illustrates how riots may be brought
about The public mind had been for