The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-23
Free Negroes at the South.

speces of retaliatory Legislation on the part OF
the Southern States, which has also been agitat-
ed in Virginia, and other Southern States-ln
reference to which We desire briefly to make
few suggestions The Patriot says: rsa
FREE NEGRoEs-We hear but one opinion
expressed, not only by the press OF our STATE
but by every one with whom We converse IN re-
spect to free negroes. All are unanimous III
the opinion that the approaching Legislature
ought to pass an act to remove them oeyoho
the limits OF the State We admit that, TO the
legislature, the duty may be painful one; FOR
none will deny that, in removing this class ol |
neople from the scenes of their childhood, where
they enioyed health, plenty, and happiness a
deep and lasting wound will pierce the hear' VI
all But necessity, imperative necessity sterhy
admonishes us of the expediency OF such an act
And while we here give it our unqualihed APP
proyal, we cannot but regret that, the unaceouht-
able faulty of Northern Abolitionists, urges US
to this conclusion. The safety OF our people
and a proper regard for the welfare and future
subordination of the slave population demand
il Mt the hands of the Legislature. ..
We know the humanity of North Carolinians,
and we know that all imaginable leniency will
he exercised by the legislature in making ar
rangements for their speedy removal. Let the
North have them And let their curses rest
unon the North because of their removal from
n land flowing with milk and honey. to a land
where they can scarcely procure the necessarles
of life. On the heads of the Northern fanatic
rests the responsibility. Esd
We greatly regret that our convictions on this
subject compel US to dissent from the correct
ness of the conclusion to which some of our
Southern friends have arrived We have long
and seriously considered and weighed the con-
sequences of such legislation, (the proposition
being by no means a new oneD and doubt both
the humanity and the expediency of the adop-
ton of such stringent measure against all the
free blacks now resident in the slave States.
Our reasons for this dissent, it would take
more space and time fully to develope than we
can conveniently spare at present-but we will
indicate few of our main objections to the
legislation proposed.
As retaliatory measure, we know that it
would infct heavy blow on the North, and
cause the recoil of their own Internal machine
on the head of the Aboltionists, and their abet-
tors, constituting the masses of the North who
have tolerated, when they did not encourage
these open incendiares. But we do not think
il lust, generous, and honorable on the part of
the Southern States, to make their own free
negroes the scape-goats for the sins of their
Abolition "friends" more fatal to the
happiness and well-being of the African race,
than the pitiless wild beasts of their savage ma
tai cline. We oppose this vicarious punishment
on the person of the black, for the fanatical and
fraudulent wickedness of the whte-unless self
preservation should compel it. If we believed
that "that the safety of our people, and a proper
regard for the welfare and subordination Of the
SLAVE population demanded it," we too would
urge this measure as a choice of evils, in which
the less had to be embraced to avoid the greater.
A sense of duty forces every community to pro-
vide for the safety of its citizens and legislation
must be so regulated as to make that protection
permanent and effectual.
But we differ from some of our friends in the
view which they take of this matter, and our
opinions have not been hastily or carelessly
formed. We do not believe that the expulsion
of this class from our borders is necessary on
the score of policy while we kno,o that if posi-
ble it should be avoided on the score of humanity.
We of the South have always claimed to be the
true friends of the African race, and acts which
speak louder than words have proven the truth
of the assertion We have further maintained
land in this too the facts have borne us ouD
that the negro is incapable of self-govern-
ment-that freedom to him was really no
blessed boon, but curse-and that to make
him "lord of himself,' was to entail literally
upon him I" n heritage of wo." These facts all
who really know the nature of the race
will concede-for they are familiar to all practi-
cally as well as theoretically-and those who
doubt, can find speedy confirmation of this truth
by witnessing the scenes of notwithstanding suf-
fering, penury and pain, which fall to the lot of
the free negroes at the North-or Of bloodshed,
tumult and despotisn, as though the tiends
held carnival, where the presence of the supe-
rior race Gas in HaytD puts no restraint upon
their animal appetites and ignorance.
That they attain condition of superior COM
fort in the slave States, arises from the fact of
their still enjoying there the benefits of the IN
stitution of slavery. The safeguards deviscl
the comfort and the care of the slave, equally
protect the manumtted bondsman whose guar
dian is n substitute for his master, and who,
therefore, can always claim the protection and
the counsel, which, as no more than child Of
larger growth from the cradle to the grave, he
ever needs. Let any one contrast the condition
of the free negro in the Northern and Southern
States, and he must recognize this truth, so
little reflected upon or acknowledged by the
pseudo phanthropists Of this day of canting
hypocrisy. What is the vaunted equality of the
negro in the North! Is he there admitted to
any real equality with his white brethren, even
the most vicious and degraded that skulk about
the moral sewers of the crowded cities :! Has
he the privilege of the ballot box? is he per
,,;ttad 70 sit at the same table with those who