Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-02-22
FRIDAY MORNING, FEB'Y %, 1889.
HARD TO LEARN.

have been TWO SlSdlt1C elIfdncn1Se
ments of peoples. One, the serfs of Russia
about twenty-six years ago; and the other
the slaves in the United States, a year OF
two after. The first was of white men and
of black men and went into general effect as
soon as the United States could command
the territory in which they lived. A COM
parison of the after-lives of these two
emancipated peoples up to this date shows
a balance of safety, comfort, and freedom
largely in favor of the American blacks. In
Russia. the serfs to whom were given grants
of land have pretty well been depleted of al
their land-hOlding, thousands of them have
been exiled for life to Siberia for petty often
ces. and thousands have been shot down by
the military guards for reasons so petty as
to deserve the name of wanton brutality
The progress of the two peoples, as with al
emancipated peoples, has been slow, painful
and surrounded. with difficulties; but nc
one who reads Remnants contemporary his
tory Of the Siberian exile of to-day, vii
arrive at any other conclusion THAI
that the freed black man of America
has had an immense advantage oyel
the freed white man OF Russia. 1T is
very true that one government is an au-
tocracy and the other u republic, but the
troubles Of the serfs have not come out OF
the form of government so much as out OF
the hatred borne them by those who were
attached to the patriarchal form of govern
ment under which they were held as slaves.
Taken in the broad and far reaching light of
past history, we presume that no entranch-
Used people on the globe ever had SO peace
full, so unobstructed a path as the black
man of America. Citizenship, even with
those that are born free, is a matter of slow
growth and is carefully guarded by law-so
carefully that q man may be born white, a
millionaire, and with the Intellectual reach
of Il Jefferson and Hamilton, and yet is not
allowed the right of citizenship till he has
attained the age of twenty. one years. This
point in the political economy of the Repub-
lie seems very hard to be learned by the
black American of to-day, whether he was
born free OF slave, and whether he be ignOr-
ant OF intelligent. 1t was well Illustrated at
Indianapolis last week when delegation of
Southern black men visited Gen. Harrison
headed by EX-AIinIster to Hayti John NJ.
IIangston, a Negro of education, and intel
ligence. They went to ask Gen. Harrison, in
the language of MI. Langston, ''to appoint
an Attorney General who will exert and put
HILL ~ al low
every Southern State, instead of allowing
Democratic mob law and ballot box out
RACES to disfranchlse the colored voter. In
return we will promise to the Republican
party the electoral vote of every Southern
State" A day OF two after, in speech in
Springfield, Mass, made to a meeting OF
colored citizens, Mr.. Langston named the
man ''to put in motion L. S. Election
laws''-it was Gen. j. B. Foraker OF Ohio
Now, that seems to be about the idea of the
most ignorant as well as the most intelli-
gent Negro about the,yote of their race at
the South. If it is so guarded by the ma
tional government as to be freely cast and
counted, it will do what ? Give the Nation
an intelligent vote? Try to fit itself to
cast an intelligent vote? Vote with more
understanding of the economic and other
great questions which concern the govern
ment ? Elect purer and ADLER man to par
ticipate in the legislation of the country
Does it make any promise to the country at
large at all? Not one. They simply ''prom-
Use to the Republican party the electoral
vote of every Southern State" A promise
in effect to give over the deciding weight
in the government of this great country to
the most ignorant Of it's people, the most
uncivilized of its inhabitants, and the most
intensely prejudiced of its voters. This
startling proposition runs Oh a parallel line
with handing over the State governments in
which this class of voters preponderates. 1t
has been said that the Southern States are
now wrestling with the most trying problem
ever committed to a people, in the shape OF
the enfranchised-s lave-citizen. 1t will not
be so many years before this whole Nation
will be wrestling with the same problem,
and its existence isgiving the best minds of
the country both North and South, serious
and anxious thought.
But the Negro has no anxiety about it.
From the college graduate down to the ig-
essay of government as il it were a holiday
task Being checked, he at once looks to
the common resort IF his gTade-force. fol
remedy. He thinks in 80 Republican
Administration can do anything it pleas
es towards helping him, just as he thought
i'll "a Democratic Administration coul6
do anything it pleased towards harmins
him. Unfamiliar with the history of what
has been done, OF attempted to be done. fol-
him by the Republican party when in pow
Ell. as also what has been left undOne. he
still clings to the old idea of troops" HI
does not know that Gen. Grant exhausted
every effort While President to put the Re
publican party Oh top in the South, includ
ing the use of troops, and only desiste(
when he sent his memorable telegram il
1877 to the commandment in Louisiana that
public opinion would no longer support
it." He does not know that President
Hayes quietly gave up the job and left thu
Republican party in the Southern States tt
stand Oh it's own bottom-a bottom that
proved so msupporting that the party sool
sunk out of sight. He does not know that
President Garfield never contemplated inter
ference, and that his successor, President
Arthur, except by trading Offices in Virgin
ia, made no attempt to help it. lie does
not know the decisions Of the Republican
United States Court that have swept away
the Civil Rights Bill and all kindred meas