Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-01-02

etter" from my Dear Judge" has
,alled forth, and let them see how the
Hon. John s. Wise of New Xork, ans
wells ''sweet kind letter. when in
sweet kind mood with sweet, very
sweet fee in his pocket, leaving it to-
them to imagine what sort of reply
would have followed letter which
was not sweet and kind, and no fee
involved. He says. Negro suffrage
when conferred was a crime and a
blunder.' The Southern States sol
EMMY covenanted to accept it,"
The negro is not what he was thirty
years ago We, as much as anybody
else, have encouraged in him the aspi-
ration for liberty and the sense of maD-
hood. With those feelings stimulated
and those rights acknowledged by us,
we have seen him rear children, pay his
taxes accumulate property, vote, serve
the State as her soldier and grow up
not only with the pride of citizenship,
but bearing it's burdens along with his
white fellow citizens. Is it manly, Is
it just, is it honest, to seek now to fitch
him out of his rights, to tTample out
his ambitions, to remit him to a servile
position?
Would any white race stand it ? Can
we expect him to remain with US. SO
degraded? Can we afford to lose him
With his place vacant where would we
be? Do we not boast ,hdG ne ls the
best of servants would not our con
dition be pitIable If by a course of mean
tyranny and the denial to him of rights.
which we are pledged by every consid
GRAFTON of honor and of Interest to re-
spect, we drove him from our midst?
No, sir, we could not afford 1t. There
is not pig headed, bourbon, fool,
negro-hater living who, when pressed,
will not admit these truths.
Have not forty seven men ordained
a constitution which they were sol.
mnly pledged to submit to the people
for ratification or rejection? Have
they not, while refusing to take any
oaths themselves, in direct defiance of
the law under which they were assem-
bled, exacted oaths of fealty to their
work, from every Officeholder, great
and small, in the commonwealth. un
der threat of vacating his office unless
he acknowledges their supremacy with
in thirty days from the time they as
serted it
Have they not deliberately, by ordi-
nance, provided for the amendment of
all existing registration laws and the
disfran eeh iisseefnent Of at least two iifths
of the electorate which chose them,
without consulting that electorate as
they promised to do?
I He calls these men 'toOls of conspi-
racy," ''a coterie of Bourbon polite
ians." He then adds:
Is it or not natural that the negroes,
who are wronged by this thing, should
seek in every way in their power, to
obtain redress?
l took their case, knowing full well
the unreasoning and brutal prejudice
my action would excite.
l have undertaken the task of bring
ing these galants to book, and we will
play this game to finish. It may end
in the courts; or it may end in con
gress; or it may end in some other way
but il they think it is ended, or that it
is even fairly begun, they are reckon
ing without their host and woefully
deIuding themselves. 1t is too large .
game to be decided by one throw Of
loaded dice. They are playing for pc
litical power.
But my clients are throng of 100,
600 of Gods creatures.
And the time will come when every
body-friend and opponent-will see
and say. that was right.
The above may tend to give gu
readers some faint idea of how maj
will talk for money how fee of $1,000
will loosen the tongue, inflame tn
imagination and emblazon and gild ;
rental picture pietGEe On the other hand
will be gratifying to many who hav
heretofore felt sorry for the negroe
because they had been duped int
wasting their money in so hopeless ,
cause. and upon so frail an attyrney
to know that Mr.. Wise says his client
are "a throng of 100, OOO," and that
he is correct as to the mum Der. the fe
is only ten cents apiece. Many ne
gro may have attended worse SHOW
for ten cents, though we are in no wis
prepared to admit the fact
There Is one thing more we would
notice, and only one, and that is this
Mr. Wise says:
In spite of all these people say to tn
contrary, love Old Virginia bette
than any spot on earth, and her glOr,
is as dear to me as to any Of her sons
l am heartily ashamed of what ha
been done there. l will break it up
root and branch, if can, as a dut.
which l owe. not only to my clients
but to my native State.
Mr.. Wise may love the State. but hi
actions disprove his words !? He ma
be philanthropfst. If so his phi
anthropy is sporadic. Never was hi
unbounded love for the negro man
tested with noticeable strenuosity unit
be sought their votes, never did it mar
ifest it's elf again in such volume unit
be got their money. If it is that bound
less love for the race which moves hir
} SO deeply, or the great love he beaI
Old Virginia, which causes him to e1
claim, II will break it up root an
branch" be could have shown thes
affections earlier, and in ways whic
would have better convinced Virgin
ians of their sincerity.
How often have we sat and beheld- 2
attorney-his pockets bulgingw,th b
clients money-weep, and, belabor II
noiiei!slEe .,. ssieM5sphere, make dil
9ssse.tIlons, and utter dire maledi
8 tions i'll the event the court or jun
8 should dare to do otherwise than as
t wished. and yet how often have v
! seen the court smile at his efforts. IL
I jury scout his hypocracy, and the a
7 dience guffaw at his tears and gyr
o lions. How often have we seen hi
q all unconscious that be had made
), fool of himself stand amazed at the
q him, unseemly mirth. Many ha
| 4 H.