The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-10-26
Central Land Company Of Buchanan,

nevertheless would result in serious dis
aster to many interests. Prudence, con-
seryatism. and true courage will prevent
il. Cowardce never has and never Will
win a battle nor preserve principle.
TIE RACE QUESTION.
With this preface | propose briefly to de-
fine what | conceive TO be the true POSITION
of the Southern people on the race question.
4 Shareholder myself. the son, grandson,
and great-grandson of a shareholder, rocked
i'm slave-rocked cradle, think had OPP
portunity enough to form an opinion on the
Subject:
First. We freely grant to the negro the
undoubted rights of personal liberty. lie
is as free as we are.
Second We freely grant TO him the UNI
doubted right of personal security. lie
shall be as secure as TO his person as the
best white man in the land.
Third. We freely grant to him the I'M
doubted right to hold private property. AS
90 his property rights, he must stand equal
to the white man.
II was Sir William Blackstone who main
tanned that these three great rights OF per-
sOlal security, personal liberty. and private
property were the main bulwarks oil con-
stitutiOnal liberty, and all these the negro
has with our full and cheerful assent. Now
as to the things which we Will not permit,
| and they are as follows:
Firs.. We will new or permit the inter-
marriage of the whites and the negroes.
Second. We will never permit the two
races to be mingled together in the free
schools. Mixed schools can never exist IN
| the south.
Third. We will never permit the negro to
control the local governments OF any Oi lhe
States during the lives OF the present gen.
Grafton.
SELF EVIDENT PROPOSITIONS.
These three propositions admit of no ar
gument, they are absolute and selfeyident.
| As TO the education of the negro, we are
willing i'm the future as i'll the past, 10
cheerfully and freely aid him In II. Albeit
| the result Of quarter OF century WOrk
| is far from being reassurlng or encouraging.
Still we look upon his education as duty,
| and we are willing to continue vigorous
effort TO promote il. We are under no obll-
cations to the negro and he is under none
TO us. II was the keen eyes of white men
who discovered this country; it was the
| steady arms of white men who cut down
and cleared its original forests. we used
! the negro when we wanted him, and IN re-
mrn cave him a most ample compensation
i'm Christianity, brains and civilization. Tie
made more out of slavery than the white
man did, except the people OF the New
| England states.
They were the gamers over all. They
used the negro as long as it paid to use him.
When it failed to pay they sold him to their
Southern neighbOrs, and put him IN their
rockets, and then turned abolitlOnists.
| This is the truth of history. ] confess TO a
sincere admiration, not of their abOlltiOnlsm
and mawkish philanthropy, but of their
| common sense and the sound business prin-
ciples on which they acted.
The result of II all Is that we are under
10 debt of gratitude TO the negro and he il
| under none to as. y great deal ci eN-
tremelv silly nonsense has been written
about the conduct of the negro during the
war between the States in protecting the
| white people who were compelled 10 re-
main al home. With nearly quarter Of
| A million of men under arms, we could
have swept them from the face of the earth
in forty-eight hours, and they knew it.
IL was the sentiment of fear that made
them true ana not love for their owners. IL
has often ast0nished me to find how wide
this error has spread. We who lived
| through the war know that the statement
here made is true. Sentimental novel
writer's, pandering TO the mawkish senti-
mentality Of TIE New England highly
educated, theosophic Puritan (by the way, a
| very profitable Occupati0n), have thrown
| such glamour over the facts as to hide the
| truth.
know | have, in common with the
| white people of the South, the klndest
| feeling for the negro, and no desire 10
prevent him from lettering his condi-
ton i'm life, and no desire whatever TO
take away any, even the least of mis- rights.
| The investing him, Il semi-savage, with
the absolute rights Of suffrage without any
| property or educational qualifications was
| a most outrageous and m0nstrous crime.
| History has absolutely no parallel 10 1t. II
| cannot be justified by any known principle
| which intelligent men respect II was
| prompted by the deep settled malice Of the
| Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Purtans.
| md there can be no real doubt in the mind
| IF any honest man, that it was prompted by
hatredl for the white men of the South and
not by any love for the negro. 1t has re-
acted upon its authors and increased the
Democratic representation in the South.
At the same time, there is hardly an in
| telligent white man in the Southern States
| VINO would not cheerfully give up this in
creased representation If by so doing an ed
ucatiOnal or some other proper qualification
| could be placed on the suffrage of the
negroes. As the right has been in the main
exercised by them, il has been trayesty
| on common stlist. int Ndob btlh WI tutll
have not the least appreciation OF the true
principles which ought to guide every man
in casing his ballot. Indeed, it is highly
probable that the next day after each cleo
ton the majority could not even tell how
and for whom they had cast their ballots.
We know that this dense mass OF voting
| Ignorance is a standing menace TO the local
self-goyernment OF the Southern white peo-
pie. We know that the negroes are but
mere tools and puppets IN the hands OF de-
signing demagogues. This rendered them
| a very dangerous class OF society, and Is an
unanswerable argument In favor OF the
| solldity and union OF the Southern whites.
| Therefore every time the Republican white
man windsh his horn before our gates. sum-
mOninp his black allies, we are bound TO 90
| forth and fight, and bound 10 conquer. We
know that the restoration OF the Re
publicans to power in the South
would be our ruin. Before closing this
paper, already far too long, II has occurred
| 10 me that IL might not be out OF place 10
allude 10 very common error about the
negro which has been industriously Cir
culated. Ii Is thus Ii is stated that the
negro race is increasing in more rapid
rate of population in the South than the
white man. If this was true II would be an
extremely serious thing, but fair inyesti-
cation has conclusiyely proved TO me that
| il is not true.
! 1t seems 10 be about equal with the bal
ance in favor of the white man. Counting
the aid which the white man has
By immigration, be has an immediate adj
vantage Of the negro. and with the rapid
strides the South is now making in material
prosperity another quarter OF century will
about settle the race question. The limit of
this paper will not permit me TO give the
hat nf
white man IN greater than the negro, but ii
can be relied on as true. III the white men
of the South will in the future, as in the
past, 20 solidly to the polls and vote the
Democratic ticket the prosperity Of our
oOuntry will be assured. The white people
ought 10 bear in mind that time-honored
maxim: ''ln union there Is strength"
CAMM PATTTsoN.
Buckingham county.