Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-10-17
GENERAL SHERMAN'S WARNING.

Says General Sherman in his monograph
on the ex-slaves at the South: 1.-The negro
is not permitted to vote if the vote disturbs
The judgment of the white majority, and if
it changes the verdict of their former mas
ters it is not counted"
But the old hero of many battles does
not pause here; he does not hesitate TO ex-
press his belief that unless the colored citi-
zen al the South is better secured in his DO
litical rights, we shall have serious trouble
He says:
What is the use of shutting our eyes to a we'll
known fact? We did SO from 1850 to 1860, and
have paid the penalty. The next war may be
avoided by reason and common sense, and if |
can help to avert it, l will feel more honored
than in past victories and triumphs. l say to
the South, let the negro vote, and count his vote
honestly. IL Will not disturb, but on the con-
trary, hasten your prosperity and stability as
people. There is no use of talking to me about
bloody shirts have seen enough of them;
yea, coats and overeoats ensaDguined bv the
hearts blood of the best men who ever lived. |
begged and implored my friends in Louisiana in
1861, not TO arouse the enmity of the sleeping
lion lion OF the North. Ever since the beginning Of
time southern people have been quick to an
ger, but not enduring. The Northern. people,
per contra, are slow to anger, but once aroused
are not easy to allay. The Northern people will
ana yet be counted in the political game against
them: Better meet the question honestly ask
the abrogation of Article XIV. of the Amend
ments to the Constitution of the United States
or allow the negro to vote, and count his vote
Otherwise. so sure as there is God in heaven
you VIII have another war, more cruel than the
last, when the torch and dagger will take the
place OF the muskets of well-ordered battalions
The negro is gaining in experience and intelli-
gence every day, and he has read Byron
heredltary bondsmen, know yet not, who
t,o
blow ?'
There is no nervousness about this; the
old soldier is not man of nerves, he speaks
as one having profound convictions, and
who reasons not from fears but from facts
and knowledge of the situation and the
people involved. From the Democratic
party we have no right 10 expect any differ
ent condition OF things at the South from
that now existing. On the contrary, Den
ocratic victory in 1888 IN ars deeper de-
grsdation for the black man at the South
and still greater repression of his political
rights
The Democratic parry never lifted its
hand to AID the progress of freedom in any
form. IT is one of Its cardinal beliefs that
the uegro citizen must exercise his politi-
cal rights, if at all, in maintaining the
supremacy of those who rule him now.
Il voted and fought against his eman-
cipalion, ard has never recanted the
doctrine that he was born to unwilling
servitude. and thatit is, therefore, the condi-
ton divinely intended for him. 1t voted
and fought against free soil, and free dis
cussion, and it was the one only and un-
compromising foe TO the most henefcent
land legislation ever enacted fer the poor
man-the homestead law. In and out o.
Congress il consistently opposed that great
measure, and on several occasions defeated
1t and similar progressive euac;ments
which won their way finally into the ma
tionai statute books over the protests az d
opposition Of the Democracy, that never
has led in any great moral, political or
economical reform.