The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-15
IT WAS REVOLUTION
THE CHANGE AT WILMINGTON NOT
WORE OF a MON
The People EAerci~ed their supreme
Right of Self Preservation Against
transferable Condition. Imposed by
the Law-Edisoriai Comments on thc
Sftuatton I'm that Town


~ $40 " a. 's~ @
possible consequences, the tutelage OF
almost unknown. heterogeneous mon
grel, Malay races and possible compli-
cations with European powers. are not
the gravest subjects the people OF this
country will have TO face in the ear
future. There is an element OF dan
| ger in our institutions 2s they are now
| framed. little thought of by the peo-
pie OF the northern sections, but of the
deepest, ever-present import 10 the
| people OF the south, which must be
met IL time not far distant, and which
may we'll excite apprehension in the
minds Of statesman and common peo-
pie alike. Occasionally this deep
seated evil appears on the surface in
the form of some bloody collision like
that al Wilmington yesterday, sug-
costing ne direst possibilities and
bringing forcibly to consciousness the
mistakes of our statesmen and of the
people of nearly a generation &
Yesterday, in the loyal and highly
cultured city of Wilmington, North
Carolina, a bloody illustration Of he
! evils of negro acknowledgements and the
| possibilities of negro domination in
| the south were illustrated. An armed
| collision over the control of the NUM-
cipal government resulted In the Kill
| ing of nine negroes, h wOunding or
three whites, the revolutionary wrest-
, ing of the city offices from the colored
| men, and their assumption by the
whites. 1t is easy for the imagination
to see these occurrences spread all over
| the south wherever the cOlOred man
| is dominant, and one-half Of the coun-
try practically in civil war, and the
| most cruel and ruthless species CT in
| ternicine strife-a war between races.
| How this more than possible evil
| looming up in the near future can be
| avoided is the gravest problem before
the country today.
1t requires no argument to prove that
! a White man will not consent to be
ruled by a negro. Right or wrong has
nothing to do with the question at all.
The fact exists. So deeply seated is
the antagonistic feeling or prejudice
if such it may be called, that it be-
comes a part Of the mental and moral
constitution of the white race of this
&. SouIlIl Ii ~
OF the olden time abolitionists of the
land were really no exception. Their
hearts bled and their sympathies were
! excited over the wrongs inflicted by
the sum of all villainies. But none of
them was ever found so far advanced
as to invite a future in which all of the
civil offices of a locality should be filled
by black men. Under the conditions
! existing in the south, where the ne
groes, as at Wilmington, are in the
majority, jlst this condition of affairs
exists. The negroes act as a body.
They do lot vote as citizens but as
negroes. Their only party is the black
| party. It is all very we'll to say that
that is their right under the constitu-
ton and the laws. They may be ad-
mitted. Constitutions and laws are
not always right. They are often I'M
~endurable. When that is SO and no
other redress is possible men appeal
to another right, as sacred as any
other human right, the right Of revo-
luton. If they fail they take the con
! sequences, knowing beforehand what
they would be. If they succeed they
are not rebels or revolutionists, but
the principles they establish by force
become thereby constitutional rights
and are such before the act of fOrmu-
lation.
The Ieople of the south will not sub
nit to De governed by negroes. Be
before shey will yield thereto they Will
do on z large scale what the white
people of Wilmington did yesterday
on a small ~one-they will appeal to
arms. The men wh2>1eok down theft
shotg1ns and cleared the negroes out
of office yesterday were not a mob Of
~pluguglies. They were men of prop
erty, intelligence. culture. What they
have endured from the rule OF the
blacks may be imagined from the ma
ture of the remedy they applied. They
simply informed their fellow citizens
Of more favored localities thai they
preferred death to a continuance Of the
situation. Clergymen. lawyers, bank
ars, merchants, when acting under
such circumstances, are not a mob
Ehey are re~volutionists asserting a
sacred and recognized right. Black
tyranny las no especial privileges
aver that Of a lighter color.
The error that has led to this state
of affairs was the enfranchisemen,
OF the negro IN the nrSt instance. FOR
this no one man and no n party was
entirely responsible. There were deep
~ thinking and patriotic democrats
who voted for il. believing that this
was therOad ont Of a national difficulty
and that the gift Of the ballot would
work the wondrOus transformation
and cnange the cOlOred barbarian into
a civilized citizen. Mea Of al parties
! and Individuals of nom made the mis-
take Of beginning at 1l1e top 70 build
downward. 1t was like putting {
weapon in the hands OF a savage. Tia,
dos not always york Il benefccnce
! The negro was made a fuff-fcdgd cit.
izen before he knew the meaning o.
the term. The experience Of years La
demonstrated the error. Instead o
fessenIng the evil has increased. Tha
1t must be ended even at the expens
OF revolution is the opinion Of thos,