Year: 1867

White Freemen the Subjects OF Black


Freedmen. "


Ex.Gov Henry a. Wise. Of Va, who
always touches every question he discusses
With flashes OF originality and genius, thus
diseonpes. in recent speech. upon the
great issue Of Black VS.. White. lie says


Next to our duty TO God and our coun-
try is the duty we owe to ourselves. We
ere called TO defend the dignity and status
OF our white race of men in the scale OF be.
ing wherein we are placed by God. Not
that we need to attempt the impiety OF up
holding the designs OF Diety. The -Omnis'
cient and Omnipotcnt will take care Of His
own work in the due times and ways Of
His own Providence, and those who rebel
against His DEGREES will "kick against the
plicks.' But God has given us the power,
and imposed upon us the duty Of guarding
ourselves. and this power we are called
upon now to exert with all our might.
There is now bold and avowed attempt
going far beyond the emancipation of the
blacks and the guardianship of freedmen,
to subject the white TO the domination of
the black race in the South, and to make
slaves of freemen as well as freedmen Of
slaves TO make white freemen the subjects
Of black ireedmen.in order to create bal
ance OF power to perpetuate the amalgam-
ated and consolidated dcspotism of new
and Mongrel rcpublicanism. The white
race must now, then, look to its safety and
defense There is no defense in swearing,
and the mere expediency and policy Of par
ty organization and operations. The great
fundamental truths are at stake, and God,
and God alone, can solve and save them.
We must rely on the truth, on the Consti-
tuition, on tue force of moral power, and on
the caste ofwhite people, North and South.
If negro equality and domination can be
forced upon us, 1t can and must be forced
upon the whites OF the northern States
This they may have the power to prevent.
But the example is too hdeous to permit
that to he dictated to us which they would
not tolerate for themselves. If they are
northern they are still whites, and they will
never sacrifice the laws of nature and Of
natures God to any political prejudice, to
any vengeance of war, or to any Molock of
tyranny, black, white or mulatto! Let u.s.
then, rely on an appeal to Czar-to the
sovereign white masses and races of the
North. Shall Virginia be made u Jamaica
or San Domingo? Is Cudjo or Sou
louque to dominate over her? Are her
lands, and temples, and groves to be dedi
Gated to the Congo race? They are cheap
er and fairer for the countless immigrants
than the western wilds. Here is nothing
for the AK to do, the fields are cleared, the
roads are opened, the habitatons are built,
the springs and wells of sweet water are
cleared and dug, and the proprietors must
sell at sacrifice. Shall this inheritance
not be open to New England, the Middle
States, and the host of white foreigners,
Irish, Germans, Swedes, of all Europe,
who seek asylums in America? 1t will
not be open to their choice if they are to be
under the domination of the black race, and
we will be obliged to leave these lands.
We must then appeal to the white race at
home, and the white immigrants of every
cline to rally to us in this war of races.
This is not to invade the right of the ne
groes. They deserve our sympathies and
our gratitude. but their freedmsnship is
not freedom, and they are in danger of be-
ing slaves to many masters There are in
the sudden dance Of liberty-that state of
liberty they are now in, is better defined
a state Of license. They are licensed to la
Dor or to be idle. They arc licensed to
side with good or bad men, and they are
reparated most cruelty to them from the
best of the white men, the class of gentle
men who were ever thought worthy to fill
the State and Federal offices, and who
ever were, and are still the best friends Of
the black race, in its proper place of subor-
dination, if not slavery, They are now IL
censed to vote, and arc exposed to the
temptations Of idleness, of whisky and OF
the demagoguo. They are naturally lazy
and unsteady at work, and they are likely
TO be the slaves of crime, engendered by
their ideness, dissipation, destitution, and
consequent degradation. They are unfit
for Self-government, and need training as
mere pupils CT liberty and tney are the
severest and most cruel task.masters when
invested with power, and are, therefore,
abhorrsntly unfit to be allowed to dominate
over a distinct and superior race. For
these reasons, it will be most unnatural as
well as unconstitutional for the people Of
our own color and race to permit them to
make us their slaves. and to occupy the in
heritance Of our lands. The interest of the
white race, North as well as South, de-
mands that "this land, of every land the
pride" should be kept open to the white
race. The white race everywhere cannot
but heed our call to the rescue Of our race.
Let the appeal be at once made with long
and loud note, as Of trumpet making no
uncertain sound. ou uH.