The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-07-25
Ghe dhessewm.
THE AMENDMENT MUST BE
ADOPTED.

0uGSLlOus IL . LA6AA q yNdk W LAC
election. If the campaign begins now
it will be a very long and tiresome one.
The chairman Of the state democratic
committee is very properly and wisely
distributing important arguments from
his W. pen and from other men OF
legal ability and information. They
should be read by the people. They
will enable the voters to better UNDER
stand the great and important issue.
The northern people do not fully un-
derstand the true conditions in the
south. We have said, and repeat it
here, that if the conditions around New
England were identical with those in
the south that they would not only have
all manner of restrictions upon the bal
lot, but IL no remedy lay in that direc-
ton that they would be as hot for Sc
cession and notification as ever South
Carolina was and for the best of cause.
1t is to be regretted that the leading
men and newspapers all through the
north do not stop their fanatical cru
sades against the south because of it's
course in dealing with negro suffrage,
and plainly and candidly admit that the
Nation. made a prodigious mistake
when it clothed the negroes with such
supreme powers, and advocate another
amendment, or a repeal Of the amend
ments that the evil may be cured by
either strong tests, or by a repeal OF the
right to vote. Some states in the mean
time that suffer most from the very
dangerous and unjust right bestowed,
have taken the matter in hand, and
regulating their domestic affairs to suit
Observation-Disclosures the examples
set by northern states-they have found
remedies for the time being.
The Boston Herald is more extern
sively circulated than any newspaper in
New England. 1t is either indepen-
dent in politics or quasi independent.
In a copy sent to this office some time
ago, it said this of the course of those
southern states that have sought to re-
lieve themselves of a great, unmitigat-
ed curse:
"They have availed themselves OF
the privileges which their state form
Of government afforded to attain this
end, and in the case of Mississippi,
which took the initial step in the
49, IIn;+oI, C+otoa ot.nroroo
court has decided that they have done
their work effectively. Providing the
constitution of other southern states,
therefore, are modelled carefully upon
the constitution Of Mississippi, it is
practicable for them to exclude the ne
groes from the suffrage to the extent OF
preventing them from being able, in
their present state of intelligence, to
take possession of a state government,
even though they be a majority in its
people"
+: The Herald sees relief now in the
course pursued in Mississippi. 1t
makes a statement that we hope is fully
justified by public sentiment in the
north, but we have not seen signs pre-
dSlls SuCh q USdNASoSNAO
The Herald says this:
"The political aspect of the race
problem in the south bids fair to be
solved, as far as is operates in our day.,
in this way. A feature about it is that
there is a prospect that it will be solv-
ed with general acquiescence. There
was a time, and that not far back in
the past, when such a proposition
would have been earnestly resented and
resisted by the republican party, and a
national issue in politics would have
been invoked on the subject. But the
republicans appear to have learned that
nothing can be gained for the negroes
by such action, and, what is more i'm
portant to them, that nothing can be
gained for themselves"
If the north shall agree to it, by con-
sent of the republican party, it will be
because that party sees no farther help
possible in the use of the negroes as
electors to keep them in power. The
south will vote against negro control
It is suspicious when so rabid a turn
coat as the New York Sun talks Of "a
great gain to southern politics, and
consequently, to American politics gen.
orally The Sun has been pretended
ly democratic for ten or fifteen years.
In 1896, it Topped, and is now classed
as extreme republican" The milk In
the cocoanut with that t~reacherous
sheet is that by lessening the negro
vote it hopes that the democrats will
lose members of the lower house in
the congress. 1t wants less of southern
intelligence and virtue and honor,
xand more of the class who get into the
senate and house from the north by
corruption and purchase. The Herald
does not share fully in the hopefulness
of the treacherous Sum- 1t says:
1--WE are not so confident as is the
Sun, either, of it's early effect in taking