Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-03-31

Bot in twenty-three years-that is, ever
since suffrage was conferred on negroes,
by pretended amendment to the Con-
stitutlcn. which has never been ratified,
they have failed TO learn that lesson. In
that time they have been taught. aud
have como to believe, that their interest
is that their votes shall be bought
by and given to the Republicans.
who promise them not only civil
but social equality That being their
present experience, il they could see the
way III which votes were bought for the
victorious party in the so-called free
States. they would conclude that their
interest, like that OF their white allies, is
to let intelligence "go to the Devil, and
sell themselves to the Harrlsons, the
Blaines, the Mortons, the Wanamakers,
the Quays, the Dudleys, the Clarksons,
tho El6inses," and fellows that have
money like huntington and Gould and
| Stanford. Or does General Pryor think
them so superior in honor, honesty, and
patriotism to the white race that they
will forego their aspirations, cease their
venality, reform the ballot, and see "tAat
the State shall be governed by men Of
intelligence"
But perhaps the most remarkable Of
all General Pryor's wild assertions is the
following "Ihe hostility to the Repub-
lican party which has prevailed in the
! South since the war Was not caused by
the conflict OF arms, but by the oppres-
SION and spoliation of the carpet bag
governments inaugurated snd upheld by
the Republican party. But those gov
ernments are now things OF the past.
| The people OF the South are in absolute
control OF their own governments. And
resentment and passion being transient
in their nature will give place readily to
the pressure of material interests.
Now, nobody knows better than General
Pryor-few as well as he--that the hos
tiity to the Republican party is far
older, as the Republican party itself Is,
than "the conflict OF arms J" that it IS
| but a continuation of that sectional
feeling which began, like the stri be-
! tween Esua and Jacob, at the birth OF
Virginia and New England, ran through
our colonial history. through tue Revo-
lutionary war and the Confederacy Of
1918. throueh the Constitution of 1888,
descending in full force to the present
day that "the conflict of arms was
but one instance OF this Ill feeling, "as
| the oppression and spOliation OF the car
/ pet-bag governments" was another (;
and that 1t is the moving cause at this
! time Of the determination OF the Re-
publican party to force negro rule on the
south under the auspices OF "direct
protection" General Pryor knows this !;
and he would not deny it if brought face
to face with the ewsurvlying contempora-
ries Of his letter days: he has written
too much and too strongly on that line.
Since, then, it is impossible that the
reasons assigned by General Pryor can
have caused this change in his views,
the question is, What was his motive /?
And the answer is easy. AS the Dis
pafch lately observes, " northern editors
are incapable of conceiying that there
are two sides to the negro question /;
| their prejudices are incorrlgible. so
are the prejudices of their people, and
the editors are afraid to contradict them.
With a self-suficiency that takes the
place of knowledge and is much more
presuming, they all assume that the So
| lidity of the South is mere wilfulness
and obduracy, and they demand that it
shall be broken. This, they say, can be
easily done if we will treat the negro as
O white man, just erGctW as they re-
fuse 10 treat Cinnamon and Indians.
In that sort of folly the World, the
lob "a
and General Pryor, unable to stem this
tide, but ashamed TO confess his weak
ness, assigns for his conversion the rea-
sons which ignorant newspapers have
put into his mind. III he had acted with
! firmness and told the North what he
| knows that negroes are IN no sense
] white men, and that Harrison if he were
TO employ million OF soldiers to back his
attempt to make them white men would
exterminate the race, ruin the South,
convert this republic into a despotism, and
draw down upon his mean and pharasaic
soul the execration OF mankind; If he
had amplifed these ideas, clothed them
in his splendid rhetoric, and showed
these people the consequences OF their
wicked attempt to destroy liberty, no
might have done some good. At least
he would have escaped the imputation of
surrendering his principles TO the enc
mics of that State which gave him birth
and honor. But he has chosen the other
part and as, to use the phrase OF the
| HerdM, che concesls nothing for the
sake OF old friendships" his contempt
rarles use the like freedom, and speak Of
him as they think he deserves
| am one Of those contemporaries,
who have known him so long and in
such close and sympathetic political re-
| lations that [ have contracted sort OF
regard for him, in spite Of his short
comings. as such L would not have
spoken so plainly but for the presump-
ton. conceit, and heartlessness with
which he turns upon his former asso-
ciates, reads them lecture upon their dis
loyalty and folly. and bases his prediction
of q political aud an economic revolution
in the South upon the presumed selfish
ness of men who have but recently sacri
feed all but honor to their patrietism.
Even then / might not have challenged
him had not the Herald invited COM
ment on his course and held him up to
its own section as a candid, intrepid,
and experienced statesman who had
penetrated the policy of Mr.. Harrison
and predicted its success with prophetic
ken. But since that has been done we
owe it to the few friends We have at the
North to assure them that General
Pryor comes no nearer prophet than
did Gehszi to Elisha.
EpANK O. RTrFFTg