The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-06-11
GENERAL COWLES,
FOR AMENDMENT
Its Adoption Would be Better
for Both Races.
POLITICAL CONDITIONS
RESULTANT FROM THE EN-
FRANCHISEMENT OF THE
NEGRO.
NO NEGROES APPOINTED IN THE NORTH
But Negro Appointees Foisted on The Sou'h to
Hold Northern Negro Vote. The Only
Way Republican Party Can
be Regenerated.

be Regenerated.
The following letter from General An
drew ID. Cowles, of Statesville, to Or.
Solomon Angle, member of the Re
publican executive commute OF lrede!i
county, will be read with great interest
throughout the State.
DR.. Solomon Angle, Member County
Republican Committee, Houstonyille,
y. c.:
My Dear Sir: beg leave to acknowl-
edge your esteemed favor of the 10th
inst, and thank you for the invitation
to visit you. i have>given the proposed
amendment to the constitution consid-
GRAFTON, and have discussed the ques-
ton fully with ex-senator A. Z. Sharpe,
who you know us good Repubhcan
and sensible man. We shall not OPP
pose the meas sure at the polls, DellevlmS
tlpat its ratification will lead to a soiu
ton of the race question and ultimately
prove a blessing to the State OF Nonth
Carolina. The educated colored man IS
not affected, and the deprivation of the
right to vote by the illiterate will slim
ulate the ignorant negro to quarry
himself by going to school or getting
others to teach him to read and write
at home.
WORST BLUNDER OF THE NINE
TENTH CENIU RI.
The fifteenth amendment to the Fed
eral constitution was the worst blunder
of the nineteenth century, and had
President Lincoln lived it would not
have been adopted. His wisdom and
love of the chivalrous South would have
dictated an educational qualification or
limitation of age, treating the newly
emancipated freeman as minor III law
and providing twenty-one years or
more before exercising his right to vote.
The dark and bloody days of recon
struction would have been turned into
an era of congratulation that the ancu-
bus of slavery had passed away, leav-
ing the South better off than IL we had
been conauerors. There would have
heen no feeling entertained OF attempt
cd humiliation on the part Of the North
by making late slaves the equals OF
their late masters, and the negroes
without the irilescent dream of office
ever before them, and ever eludlng,
world have concentrated their talehts
wholly in the direction of Improving
their condition. Education received,
property amassed and happiness Sc
cured world have been their portion,
and in every progressive step OF linear
existence they would have had only TO
reach out to find white mans mana
ready to lead them, protect and deIehd
them. instead of to smite. In Gods own
good time the negro, after Years ol
nreparation, may have been caileu 10
participation in the government Oh tne
country. You only have to recur TO the
forcihle s,1ppression of the negro vote
in some of the Southern States as PROOF
of premature REIMBURSEMENT.
CuRSEs ALL: BENEFITS NONE.
1t is seldom that measure curseS
every one and benefits 10 one, put suci
is the history of the flfteentn anieilu-
mept The North, flushed with Vic.oas'
resolved to perpetuate the power ol tno
Republican party with tins serviie .o.e
me southern States were re-distrlcteo
and ON the Increased citizenship about
40 new districts were added, securing
an eouaa number of congressman ana
electoral votes. Up to 1876 Thus plan
worked Since then it has been boom-
erany. A lonely Congressman here ana
there and not "a single electoral vote IS
the result of the fifteenth amendment
ON the fortunes of the Republ1can
Marty. Had there been no fifteenth
amendment there would have been no
massacre at Hamburg-lno murder at
Copiah: no slaughter at Meridian;
Postmaster Baker would not have been
q victim of the assassin; John w.
Stephens would not have furnished a
theme for "A Fools Errand' and the
Ku Kmx Khan would never have ex-
listed. Had this veritable box OF Fan
dora remained unopened, injustice TO
the negro would have met swift PUNISH
ment by our courts, prejudice would
have hung its head in shame IN our
TEMPLES of Justice, and backed by pub
lie sentiment. the colored mans rights
would have been protected. so say.
the North suffered, the South suffered
and the greatest sufferer of all was he
whom it was expected to benefit.
THE WHITE MANS DIVINE
RIGHT TO RULE.
The white mans boast of superiority
is not idle or ina ginpry. Centuries of
unfettered opportunity have endowed
him with the divine right to rule. Tie
has given the world its literature and
vented the telegraph and girdled the
world-almost annihilating time; he in
vented the steam engine and almost
annfhilated distance; the printing press
to accomplish universal education and
preserve in enduring form the treasures
of the mind. The loom, the sewing ma
chine, the reaper, the electric light,
transforming night to day, are the
products of his brain. Up to this time
God has never chosen the negro to lead
any great movement. make a discovery
invent anything, contribute to litera-
ture. perpetuate himself in song or
story and if he were hlotted out of ex-
istence the world would scarcely miss
him i'm its onward march of achieve
ment, nor long remember that he once
lived. 1t would not remember. except
the civil war was waged over him and
the country deluged in blood; nor care