Homer guardian., 1889-09-20
The Curse Of the South and
Of the Negro.

u
atlons that are to follow ours will
accept the abolition of slavery as
a legitimate evolution Of a Chris
tian civilization which is simply
recorded in the Thirteenth Amend
ment of the Federal Constitution.
But the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments, in so far as they
have imposed negro suffrage upon
the country, have been, and still
are, 9 curse to the South for
which they wore intended as a
scourge, and also to the negro
race, which they pretended to
bless.
These amendments originated
in q purpose to humiliate and
punish, with a punishment more
bitter than death, the people of
the States that had been in re-
bellion;' what more honest sup
pert they had, was based upon an
utter ignorance Of the character
OF the negro and his capabilities
for moral and mental deyelop
ment.
Can laws, thus founed IN tho
darkest ignorance Of the social
elements which they are to affect,
and ina savage and inexorable
purpose OF the conquerer to wreak
ruin and vengeance upon his de-
feated foes, ever prove q blessing
to any country? Can such laws,
in the end, when the passions OF
civil strife have burned to ashes
and cinders, when civil order has
succeeded TO revolution and blood,
and trade and industry are strug.
CLING in q forward march, prove
other than what wo have denounc-
ed them to be, curse, to all con.
cerned-to those who enacted
them as we'll as to those they were
invented te scourge3,
Enlightened and Christian |
statesmanship demands that the |
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend |
menss shall be abrogated. All |
that 10 valuable in the form er and |
We concede that all that Is in 1t,
other than what bears upon suf..
frags, Is just, may be preserved in
= new draft Of the amendment.
The fifteenth is a blot upon the
craftsmanship Of the North, a
reproach to the magnanimity of
the country, 4 living threat to the
civilization Of the South, and the
cause Of constantly recurring race
conflicts, in which the deludetl and
gnorant negrois, always has been,
and always will be the victim,
'hough always the aggression; and
'he best interest OF beth races
'equire that it shall be blotted out
# the Constitution.
We do not propose the abroga.
ion OF these two amendmets, as
las been charged In some quarters,
Ii the interests OF the Democratic
'arty. Simply as a politiesl
rganization, with no higher aim.
han party success, and tho poss- /
ssion OF the fruits of party sue I
ess, the Southern Democratic =
At least, might wisely oppose Q
ny such step; and we really be- y
eve that, when the abrogation of u
lese amendments, or the more t
ldieal proposition to have the a
ederal government disfranchise &
ls neyre outright, becomes an S
question, the strongest t,
to it will come from the n
orking and offlce,holding leaders
the Democratic party in the d
,uth. a
BsYond all question, their inter- 81
t. will lie in the defeat Of any 81
|ch measure, and the mainten- n
ICE Of the negro in precisely the tt
'litleal position in which the H
'publlean party, IN the folly Of
J wrath and the madness Of its Of
ngeance, has placed him. And y.
! q very simple reason. Those BE-
ates, in which the negroes are Dc
the largestmIority, are amongst rs
. most reliably Democratic in or
} Union: and those parishes in ab
uislana, and the counties IN our an
ter Southern States, which are K,
. very blacklist. return. with faw !