The Washington bee. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1884-1922, 1891-02-21

apparitOr of justice ever carried such hor-
ror as thissummonero of the Holy Vehme.
No authority of the open exercise of reg
uar law was ever more fully prevalent
than this scheme and administration of
the Holy Vehme without and against
| law. In these nOn-sufirage states their
! Holy Nehme exercises its authority and
1t has its full play. l have never known
that 1t was denied in general sense, and
IL is confessed openly by the reasons that
were given for its necessity. Thus these
non suffrage states were placed in the
position of secession, not from the union,
but secession from the constitution; not
OF notification of our laws by ordinance
but by absolute prostration of their exc
cutiOn.
Such condition can never last long
No cauistry, no logic, no passion, can ever
defend that relation wherever the power
OF the United States extends, nor can that
community long submit to such regula-
ton of affairs without and against the laws,
the laws Of their own states and the laws
of the United States.
The phrase may seem harsh, yet in every
political view, in every social estimate,
this was a condition of concerted law
breaking" on the part of the community.
Law breakers Oftheir own laws, law-break-
ers of the United States laws, and breakers
and viOlaters of the constitution. No COM
munity can long occupy that position. 1t
may be attempted to be justified in some
extremity, 1t may be prompted by fixed
and limited conditions and the expecta-
ton that the operation may be kept within
that limitation; but it cannot. 1t will
anraal opA cnronH and Eor,a arl f.,,,I
made familiar by the teachings of the
leaders of a community, will find better
instruction in the uniformed mind and
fierce passions of the common people
Thus by necessary operation in human
affairs there comes to be a disregard, a
contempt for peace and Justice From its
exercise on this or that field it extends to
others, and then great statesmen and
benevolent leaders of society, and men
who may feel sOlicitude and distress, find
no power in them to resist this wide
spread, this terrible instruction.
But why do | need to reply upon this
general reasoning? | have expected a
demonstration that that condition could
not last long nor be suffered nor tolerated
by any community. l do not speak of the
white men of the south as any different
from the white men Of the north. | never
have drawn such distinctions. | do not
draw them now. | am willing to say that
if We really wish to appreciate how these
divided races stand in this uncertain con-
dition we might look at it as in our COM
munities, as it has often been suggested
on that side of the chamber it should be
viewed.
Why do l need to rely upon these GEN
eral reflections on human nature? | said
was drawing no distinction; | make no
personal lmputations upon any portion of
the region that l have described of the
white people, nor do l draw any distinc-
ton between what might or would be
done If this distress were TO come upon
the communities of the north. Let us
take the state of Mississippi, where, as |
understand it land the senator from that
STAG, Sitting rear ne, wfii correct me IL +
am wrong, there are about three-ffths of
the population black and two-fifths only
white.
Mr.. Walthall. I am not sure that the
is quite so great rs that.
Mr.. Evarts. That is near enough for my
purpose, as l suppose. Now, let us trans
fer that relation between the races to the
state of New York, where there are $780, !
600 of population. That would give $780, |
600 to the blacks and 100000 to the ,
whites. Let us look at the state of Yer
mont, which has some $50 900 inhabitants |
The same proportion would give 100000 |
blacks and 100000 whites. Now, things, |
great or small, that are seen by the eve, |
make more impression, as the mOralist !
says, than those that are heard by the |
ear, l do not know whether one might |
think that human nature, in whites and |
blacks, would not be pretty much the |
same in the different portions of this |
country. There are some qualities in the |
population that might anchor !
ate the feelings between the two races. |
The are other circumstances at the north |
that might tend to exasperate them.
But that is not the question. The Ques- |
ton is how. in the presence of the fact |
and in the presence of their being por-
ton of the United States and of the con-
stitution and laws of the United States |
and the laws of these states, these commu-
mites would deal with them. l cannot |
perceive how, i'll any such change of the |
relations, the northern people, with
habits and rearing different from the |
habits and rearing of the southern peo-
pie, might deal with this burning ques-
ton. 1t you are to assume that the |
white people as well as the blacks IN this |
transfer of the scene are to have the same
the same views, you have
answered no purpose in drawing a compar-
son. Before l close | shall endeavor to
say, not as a seer or soothsayer, not what
would be done, but how something might
be done.
But | was saying that did not need to
;orroborate my suggestions, that the con-
1ltion of law-breaking could not be per-
in any civilized community, and
now ask attention to very important
statement in the Mississippi convention
hat has lately framed new constitution.
The ferment in that state was exactly
how to get out of tie condition of law
breaking and of a prevalence and spread
ing OF force and fraud, and to get out of
The difficulty, which have suggested, of
seeding from the constitution and pros
rating the laws Of the United States So
The whole state of Mississippi, by it's pub