The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-04-10

In maintaining his proposition, he argues, nrsl,
the right of the State Governments to prohi6f
the introduction or emigration Of colored people
within their limits He next attempts to show,
that these people are not needed in the free
States, and that their residence there Injuries the
whites more than it benefits them.
We deny the right of any State, under the
Constitution, to adopt the sweeping policy rec
commended by DIR. Drake. The legislation OF
Indiana or Illinois that attempts to prohibit COL
Ored people from entering their borders, is grOss-
ly unconstitutional, 80 far as it may affect the
colored citizens of Massachusetts, or any other
State. They have no more right TO prohibit the
free immigration of its colored citizens than of
its nsturalized citizens otherwise, the constitu-
tional provision which secures to the citizens of
each State" the privileges and immunites of
citizens of the several States" is without any
meaning-a miserable mockery.
As to the assertion that negroes are not need
cdo in the free States, the same might be said Of
the Welsh, the Norwegians, or any other particu-
lar class Of emigrants. Undoubtedly, the country
does not need them, but they may make them
selves, Notwithstanding, very useful-and at all
events, their need may require their colonization
in the free States
But, they are troublesome" says the Doctor.
" In various ways they give us trouble" and there
fore, we ought to prohibit them from coming
among US. He resorts, of course, to the thread
bare topics OF vulgar prejudice. They are desti
tute of property, and many, continuing so, draw
fou ;ty tbay Of aIa
Of accounts they are inferior to US; sometimes
servile, sometimes impudent; they are addicted
to petit-lsrceny ID is difficult to mnge them with
whites in our workshops, poor-houses hospitals,
schools, and churches we divide and quarrel
about the amount of liberty we should grant them;
their presence gives birth to scenes of disorder,
violence, &c. Much more, in the same vein, the
Doctor dscovereth; and he speaks the more conf
IDENTIFY, because he knows that popular prejudice
will confirm his statements. But we hesitate not
to pronounce them exaggerated. 1t is true that
colored emigrants to the free States are destitute
of property. But so are three fourths of the
foreigners that come to this country. 1t is not
true, that many of them, continuing so, draw on
our charities for food and clothing. In Cincin-
natl, where there is large colored population, it
takes care Of its own poor. During residence
there of sixteen years, we were rarely applied to
by colored persons for charity; and we know that
so far from continuing destitute of property,
large portion of them became property holders,
and for many years paid the usual school-taxes,
without deriving one cent from the school fund
In this city, it is more common to see white beg
CARS than colored ones, and every man of candor
will admit that there is a steady advancement in
the condition of the permanent colored population
If the Doctor were to apply his mode of reason
ing to other classes of population, he would adj
vocate the exclusion of foreigners in many cases.
Take Boston, for example The foreign popula-
ton there is gaining upon the native and evil
IDENTIFY, for the present, to the detriment of the
city. According to a late report by the Sanitary
Committee Of Boston, in a population of forty
six foreign to fifty -four native the deaths in 1919,
were, as ffty-nine foreign to forty-one native
the deaths by cholera, as seventy-two foreign to
thirty-fve native; the applications for employ
ment to the Boston Society for the Prevention Of
Pauperism, in the last five years. 1904 foreign fe-
HdleS, 10 1000 uttlfc mdleS,
10 sos natives the number of births in ls49, 60
per cent. foreign, SO per cent native. Could such
picture as this be presented of the colored pop
ulation, it would be held up to alarm the white
people, and make them believe it necessary to |
their safety at once to prohibit the introduction
among them Of a class of people 80 improvident,
destitute, and troublesome.
A., - tEo, 49, h.. IL
negroes DR. Drake draws largely upon his i'm
agination OF the three mobs in Cincinnati of
which he speaks but one had its origin in contro-
versy between blacks and whites, and that finally
expended its energies against our Press The
others grew out of the agitation of the question
of slavery, and had nothing to do with the coored
people, although they had a little too much to do |
with us On this point the Doctor must admit |
that we are better informed than he can be- In |
other cities in the free States instances of coils
ion between the blacks and whites have been less |
frequent than between natives and foreigners.
we all know, has been repeat
eddy disgraced by violent conflicts between the |
last named classes but we are not aware that |
they have been used to prove the policy of ex-
Guiding foreign immigrants.
We see nothing in the condition or relations of |
the colored population of the free States, nothing
in the state Of public sentiment, to warrant the |
apprehension of the Doctor, that collisions be-
tween the two races will grow more frequent and
ferocious Everywhere the signs of an improve
ment among the eolored people, slow, but steady,
lre visible to the most careless observer; and |
their increase, compared with that of the white
population, is so utterly Insignificant that you
can never brighten any intelligent person with
the scare-crows of amalgamation and competition.
The notion, that two hundred thousand colored
people the number in the free States, can ever
increase, under any circumstances, 30 fast as to |
become source Of danger or serious discomfort |
to white population of fourteen millions, is too
for the most visionary alarmist to harp
upon Owing, in part, to this fact and, in part,
to the prevalence Of better feeling among our
own people, there has been an evident abatement |
of prejudice against the colored man in the more |
intelligent portions of the free States as is shown
by the removal within few years, of various dis
abilities on account of color. In the Doctors own
state, LOT example, one year ago, the piacX code |
which had dsgraced its statute-books for nearly |
half a century, was abrogated at one blow; and
can it be supposed that the public sentiment that
demanded and sustains this reform tends to those
fearful collisions between the two races which the
Doctor foresees in the futurel
We. find it impossible to close our remarks on
the letters this week, and must postpone further
comment till our next number
ANTI-SLAVERY PAPERS.