The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-22


HON. LOCKE CRAIG.
trembling hands that the shackles
might be struck off and had the conso-
Iation to know that he never struck a
dastardly blow for his freedom Ras,
Gals may mislead him. The vie and the
INSCRIPTIONS may appeal to his rceju-
dice and arouse his passion, but the
Southern people and the people Of
North Carolina are determined that jus
tice shall be done to this weak and
supplemented people But justice and
not a maudlin sentimentality will con
troll the action of the Southern people.
If we approach the solution of this
question in a spirit of human sympathy
and broad craftsmanship and are let
alone by foolish and vicious intermed-
dlers, the problem will be solved TO the
best interests of all the people, white and
black.
Thirty years of experience has demon
strated that the negro cannot exercise
the elective franchise. This great pow
er was given to him in the heat of pas
sion engendered by war. 1t was con-
ferred upon him against the judgment Of
the wisdom of the world. The Fit
teenth Amendment to the Constitution
of the United States is admitted by the
wise and patriotic citizens Of all sections
to be a lamentable failure. Mr.. Blaine,
the greatest statesman Of the Repu5li-
can party since Abraham Lincoln, said
that the Republican party never would
have conferred this right upon the ne
gro. and never intended to do SO, ex
cept for the stubborn attitude of the
people of the South. The negro was
not prepared for the exercise of this
right. He had never known anything
except the life of willing seryitude. BY
the power of the bayonet he became a
ruler. He went from the cotton fields
into the State capital and within twelve
months from the time when he was a
slave he was debating laws for twelve
commonwealth. Ruin and the coun-
try's disgrace was the necessary conse-
quence. This great power in the hands
of the negro was manipulated by the
shrewd, INSCRIPTIONS, vile politicians
who were willing to excite his passions
against his old masters that they might
plumber the State. After thirty years.
experience the negro is as unfit to gov
ern as he was in 1867 He has learned
to be worse than the old.
The proposed amendment to the Con-
stitution DISTINGUISHES the negro. 1t
| will rob him Of his power in North Caro-
! lima. We are told by some of the OPP
ponents of the amendment that it will
| also disfranchise large number of
white people. 1t will not disfranchise a
single white man unless that man
sweaFs that he is a negro, or the lineal
| descendant of the negro. This is not
unjust to the negro. 1t would be UNI
| just to the white man to take from him
this great right that he has inherited
from his remotest ancestors, and which
he has always exercised wisely and well.
The Barons who made King John sign
the great charter of English liberty could
| neither read nor write. Manhood is the
test and the highest test Of the right to
vote The linea descendants of the
men of 1776 and Of 1866 pass that
qualif and you cannot take it from
themeif You would If in North Caro-
| lima there Were ten negroes to one white
man they could not take it from them,
| for above the laws of man stand the
! laws Of God, and not all the Federal
| bayoncts, and not all the embattled ar
mics of tae world can make the black
man the rnler of the white man. North
| Carolina belongs 10 white men. This
great State, with her majestic noun
| tains, her wide eXpanse of fertile fields,
| her exhaustless resources, is his. 1t was
| bought by the blood of his fathers, and
he and his descendants will make and
| administer her laws The Anglo Saxon
| ALWAYS was and always will be his own
ruler. 1t is the race that came forth
| from the impenetrable forests of Ger
many to conquer, and civilize and rule
| the earth They were unconquered by
the legions of Caesar. 1t was this blood
| that courSed in the veins of Cromwell
and the soldiers of the Covenant when
they drove in headlong rout the armies
of the aliens. 1t was this blood that
conquered Napoleon. that transformed
| The wilderness of the West into the
greatest republic of all time.
This amendment is not in the interest
Of the Democratic party. The South is
| Democratic in spite of the negro vote.
She was Democratic in the darkest day
of her adversely and desolation. When
this great class of ignorance was led by
| scalIawags and protected by Federal
bayonets Her white people will always
move in solid phalanx when threatened
| with rnin. destruction and humiliation
| by the rule Of AN ignorant and ire
sponsible people. We wish to remove
| from our land this great danger that has
| lowered over it ever since the war. We
wish that peace may exist between the