There have been vague rumors in
circulation at divers times recently of
a general strike to be inaugurated by
the laborers on sugar plantations at
the eommencement of the grinding
season, but if such a scheme has been
seriously contemplated-which we
doubt-the fiasco of the Burnside
hands will do mnch to discourage it.
'The colored workingmen of this
section, who form the great mass
of our agricultural laborers, have no
leadership or organization under
which to inaugurate a systematic
strike, and no means to sustain one
for a sufficient length of time to ac
complish its desired purpose. They
are utterly devoid of the advantages
possessed by the participants in the
great strike of railroad employees and
miners which recently convulsed the
North, and tile disastrous failure of
that extensive movement should ef
fectnally diss.atde Southern working
men from embarking in ia similar
venture. Any temporary benefit that
might be secured in rare cases by a
suspension of labor at a season when
it is so peculiarly essential and in ex
traordinary demand, would be more
than counterbalanced in the near
future. Arbitrary measures on the
part of the laborers to enforce de
mands which may be impracticable
and unreasonable viewed from an
emiployer's standpoint, will beget
similar measures by the latter for the
protection of his interests. And the
history of the past few months is not
wanting in precedents to indicate
that in such a contest, though Capital
nay be tenmporarily crippled, Labor
will go to the wall and ultimately
bear the brunt of injuries iftlicted
upon its self-constituted enemy, but
na;tural ally and friend nndler a
wholesome condition of mutual rela
tions.
THE ELECTION IN FRANCE.
