The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-20

wills, 10 qualify himself Tor suffrage, ana
at the same time put on the educational
armor that will be his strength and sup
port in the struggle to improve his posi-
ton and win his way in life.
And side by side with that march to
the front will be found those from
abroad eager TO share in the Jew pros
perity and capital will be glad to seek
the shelter of laws made for the common
good; no longer shifted by every whim
of the evil spirits who direct the huge
make weight of a vote that represents
no opinion, no reason, no conscience, no
intelligent will but solely blind power
mistakenly misplaced in the delicate
wheels of our political life.
Unable to meet the issue in fair debate,
the opponents of this safeguard against
tyranny from a political boss or the an
archy of an ignorant mob, maddened at
the prospect of Judgment upon their be-
trayal of the people for a mess of pot
tage. have dared to leave argument to
resore to threats.
In the effort to eXtort from our fears
what cannot be won from our judgment,
we are told that Congress is to be invoked,
that if need be, the military arm is to
inc bciio' pei maps w ASPNON '"S
injury and outrage which exists today in
the bull-pen of Idaho. That, at least, is
the reasonable Inference behind the
cloudy rhetoric that talks of driving
from the State it's free-born citizens.
AS to the threats of Federal influence,
there is no good man who loves his peo-
pie and his State, and who sees our duty
in this crisis, who will not fling back the
taunt of scorn, and in the words Of Alex
.ander Stephens, of immortal memory, re-
ply:
Il am afraid of nothing on earth, or
above the earth, or under the earth but
to do wrong. The path of duty | shall
endeavor to travel, fearing no evil and
dreading no consequences. | would rather
be defeated in a good cause than to
triumph in a bad one | would not give
fig for man who would shrink from the
discharge of duty for fear of defeat.
We will not split hairs with the officers
of the black battalion of 1896. All to-
gether, in line, leaving all other things
aside for the Amendment and the SUI
premc welfare Of the people.
At the last we are told that the Su
preme court will treat the Amendment as
a nullity, and the struggle will have
been in vain.
But behind the Supreme court is "A
power that is greater than monarch
upon the throne. It envelopes men by an
Irresistible influence, it enters their men,
tai constitution as the very atmosphere
of thought That is the power of righte-
GUS public opinion. Like gravitation, it
sweeps each fact to it's own place, in the
realm of action The Chinese may not
direct the affairs Of society in the Pacific
coast or the Indian in the West, or even
the native Hawaiian in his own island;
so the hour has come when we may chal-
lenge mankind as against negro rule, in
any form.
Perhaps no man ever studied the instu-
tutions of this country with closer APP
probation, or keener insight into the
dangers that beset this effort of man after
elf-government than Montesquieu, and
his dictum remains unassailable:
The chief end of all States should be
the security to each member Of the COM
munity of all those absolute rights which
are vested in them by the immutable
laws of nature. -
True, and in this hour. we fall back
upon those laws of nature" TO reach
that security. in whose absence trade lam
cuisines institutions suffer society is dis
organized capital takes wings. crime is
rampant. the weak are trampled upon
the home is outraged, the freedom of the
citizens invaded property confiscated and
society with all it's interests set upon an
inclined plane whose bottom is chaos
The Democratic party since its earliest
history has been conspicuous, as the
champion CT civil as we'll of religious
liberty; the defender of the weak as
against the strong. 1t has always insist
ing upon the widest freedom of opinion,
and the fullest expression of thought. Its
fullest expression of thought nv:s g.. 8
leaders largely constitute the influential
members of society in every walk Of life
and in every avOcation. The rank and
file of the party are largely the States
best citizens. and can be safely trusted,
to meet the grave issue that has been
forced upon the party until final judg-
ment shall be pronounced in favor of
White Supremacy. | appeal to the sover-
eigns of State where the sparks of civil
liberty was born, whose patriotic fore
fathers. many months before Jefferson
wrote the immortal Declaration Of In
uepoHueHCS, lCuIulSdItu Il Jill vi
Rights that embodied the same principles,
and that gave to history Guilford Court
House. that guaranteed the results at
Yorktown.
| speak in behalf Of a commonwealth
which in the COS counted voting popula-
tion of only 10000, yet when the cry
went out that Southern homes and South
ern liberties were threatened, placed 1875
600 of her brave sons, fully panopfed for
war, upon the battlefield.
And 10000 of these devoted North Caro-
linians. either sleep the dreamess sleep
Of death in a hero soldiers grave or
manned and wounded live among US to-
day, witnesses Of what valor can endure.
! appeal to the sovereigns of such "a
State with such record.
l speak to the glorious remnant of an
army that stretched from Bethel to APP
pomattoX, writing such pages with it's
blood as astonish the Muse of History
as she hastens to preserve them as the
tidal record of human heroism.
They who gave to the world the most
magnificent example Of patient endurance
and sublime sacrifice for principle known
to the ages, will not fail the mother State
which they have glorified forever.
Nor will North Carolina tarnish her