The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-03-26
The Cause OF Southern Riots.

Southern riots are mainly attributable
TO the feeling on the part of the white
men OF the old slave States that they
are necessarily superior to the negroes,
and that the negroes are therefore
bound to treat them with systematic
Difference and submission. The ne
groes, being free, and invest d with
ample political rights and privileges,
very naturally do not feel disposed to
tako this view of the question, whence
it comes that the whites in haste and
evaporation fall upon them and scourge
and kill them 1t will be better, we
are assured, as time passes and this
rooted sentiment OF superiority is modi-
fed by the progress OF events, but it is
unreasonable to expect the former
masters to yield their inbred habits of
thought in an easy and prompt manner.
We must be satisfied TO wait, the phil
osophers keep telling us, until the DOM
ineering and wallowing instincts OF these
people can have a fair chance to expend
their force and be replaced by some
thing more civilized and considerate.
Let us see. how long has it been since
slavery was abolished? Some twenty
years, if You will think about it; and
still the whites are apparently ready at
a moments notice, rs demonstrated in
Virginia and Mississippi, to load their
guns and 90 to shooting the negroes on
the slightest provocation, particularly
about election time. II, after twenty
years, scenes like those of Danville and
in the Copiah locality are possible and
logical, and not TO be wondered at, about
how long will it take TO reduce things
to condition of safety and decency
where slavery once existed? Must we
indulge the chivalric and sensitive ex-
slave owners in outrage and massacre
to a limit which shall depend only upon
their pleasurep There Is feeling in
the minds of people who look at such
matters practically that twenty years is
reasonable period for such processes
to be prolonged, and that it Is time the
former masters were sufficiently famil-
iarized with the fact of emancipation to
be content with some mider fashion ol
! vindicating their superiority. This may
not be n philosophical view. but it Is
manifestly common-sense one, and en-.
titled to respectful attention.
The Democratic witnesses In the Dan
vile case all solemnly declare that the
"insolence' OF the negroes was the
cause OF the riot. This ''insolence"
, consisted, as far as vet shown, in "call.
ing the conservative party hard names" I"
and in exercising the prerogative OF
standing in the public streets when the
, whites desired them TO move on. "The
negroes would not 90 away one wit
ness says, land soon shooting began. q"
| II, after twenty years, the superior race
, OF the South is not so far rocOnciled TO
the idea of negro freedom and citizen.
ship that it can consent to let the col.
ored people utter an opinion of polit.
ical party, or tolerate the presence Of
such persons In the street when an
election is imminent, it will require al
least a century, we should say, to bring
, about the serene and harmonious state
Of affairs which the philosophers say we
must wait for patiently. There is Q
feeling abroad, we repeat, that enough
r time has been given the ex-slaye-holder,
to adapt Themselves TO the fact that the
negroes are human beings, citizens and
voters, like themselves, and that the
shotgun ought TO be eliminated from
. Southern politics without any further
: delav.
But is it quite true, after all. that
| Southern riots are principally chargea
BILE to this white hatred Of the negro be.
: cause the negro was once Il slave? Il
has not always happened. We believe,
= that the victims Of Bourbon violence in
/ these cases we're colored men. In fire.
quent instances white men have beer
| butchered TO make a Democratic holi
, day. There is a case now under inves
= tigation in which man Of unquestion
: able Caucasian lineage was shot dowT
at the polls just as he was casting hi
3 vote-an assassination Of ths most de
Y liberate and atrocious character W,
: refer, OF course, to the case OF Matthews
Q in Mississippi; and that Is only on,
/ among many such. 1t can not b,
Q claimed. surely, that such murders a,
=. these were instigated by the "insolence'
of persons who were formerly sub ect :,
the overseer's lash. II is certainly no
1 necessary to kill white men on accoun
D of bitterness felt toward the negroes
7 There must be deeper reason, there
1 fore. for much Of the bloodsbed whicl
: Is connected with the efforts of th,
/ Southern Bourbons TO accommodate them
Q selves to the results Of the war for tn
D preservation OF the Union.
+ There Is now and then paper tina
7 strikes keynote upon this question
and unconsciously discloses the methoI
0 Of the madness that seems so hard {,
| control and overcome. Here Is th,
I Meridian Miss Mercury, for instance
paper Of recognized soundness as
Democratic organ, which declares with
out concealment or evasion: "rhe hon
est truth Is. there is no great love o
|, the United States Government among
the more respectable and intelligen
classes Of Southern people. The ruling
classes have discussed II, and only liar
|, or fools will admit that il is satislactor,
! or lovable, or that they do love It," W,
suspect that this Is really the moving
cause Of great deal OF the rioting
There Is no genuine loyalty in thos
: quick bosoms that so throb and heav
over the alleged ''insolence" o
: the colored population. The thin,
they can no. make up their mind
to accept Is the calling fact that the,
are obliged TO live under Gov
, ernment which they fought so hard an,