The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-08-31

70 sne workings OF emancipation IN Virginia
We believe that it originated with the Balti-
moro Patriot, and we had intended to notice il
before seeing it in the Sentinel Il is not our
custom, as it is with the champions Of Slavery,
to dodge every fact or argument which is sup
posed to conflict with our own views. Our
1 object is truth, and we are willing to follow
whithersoever it leads; while the organs Of
Slavery only give publicity to such matter as
they think viii sustain their cause. We have
recently had occasion to expose their false aad
garbled statistics; but not one Of them, inclu-
ding the Sentinel, has had the courage to COR
rect the gross misrepresentation which we
pointed out:
Il Free Negro Conlmunity.-Richard RAN
| dolph, eldest brother of John Randolph, of
| Roanoke, died In the year 1895, at Bizarre
the name of the large estate bequeathed him
| by his father, John Randolph, ST., and living
| on the head waters of the Appomattox river,
near the town of Farmyille, Virginia. He is
| represented to have been a man of talents
scarcely inferior to those of bis celebrated broth
| er, and of extraordinary goodness of character.
Entertaining the opinion then general in the
South, and especially in Virginia, that Slavery
Il
| Mr.. r. liberated his slaves by viii, and made
| ample provision for their maintenance Owing
| to pecuniery embarrassments, the provisions of
| the will were not carried into execution until
| fifteen years afterwards, and not until many of
| the slaves had been sold to iquidate the heavy
mortgages which rested upon the estate. About
1911, John Randolph, who had assumed the
management of his brothers affairs removed
to the county of Charlotte, and the negroes, va
| riously estimated at from one hundred to one
hundred and thirty in number, entered upon
the enjoyment of their freedom.
"a portion of the Bizarre estate, consisting
| of $50 (some say 500) acres, partially cleared,
| well timbered and we'll watered, was divided
| into sections OF fifty and twenty-five acres,
| each and upon these sections the various fam
| lies, according to the number and age of the
| individuals composing them, were settled
| those having aged and infrm parents to sup
port received more, and those not having
these membranes less land All were pro-
vided with means to build themselves houses,
and with agricultural implements to till the
SOIL Fairly settled in the land of promise
the Canaan to which they had looked 30 long
ingly for fifteen years-they gave it the name
of Israel Hill AN appellation which explains
the sanguine snticipations and religious tone
which guided them to its choice. No doubt
they looked forward to the time when Israel
Hill should be . thriving populous village-ta
city set upon an hill'-shining gloriously TO
the eyes of their brethren in bondage, as did
the delectable mountains to Bunyan's pilgrim"
The writer gees on to state the numerous
advantages and opportunities which these
emsncipated negroes enjoyed, and then informs
US that, after lapse of more than forty years
of freedom, they have degenerated into an idle,
worthless, thieving set of vagabonds who are
the pest of the neighborhood; that the men
and women are equally abandoned; and that
IS q consequence they have decreased in num-
Der and have worn out their lands.
We are not disposed to oontrovert these
statements. Dilapidation, decay, and depopu-
lation, has been the rule in Virginia and it
would be singular if handful of Ignorant
manumitted blacks should be able to roll back
the tide of desolation. Israel Hill is situa-
ted in Eastern Virginia, which contained
ttcentySiT thousand more inhabitants in 1880
than in 1910! Why blame the negroes of
Israel Hill for following the downward road of
their white neighbors? II seems, however, that
the negroes have done better than perhaps half
| of their white compeers in one respect They
have retained their land, amid all their mis-
fortunes and may yet, under favorable auspices
| improve it.
But if the white men of Virginia have made
so little of tiff they are behind the free States
in oil the arts of life, in education, in litera-
ture, in manufactures and commerce, in the
number and size of cities, in general wealth
and the facilities Of travel how preposterous to
censure the poor, oppressed free negrol What
are the facts The free negro in Virginia is
denied the privilege of learning to read and
write, and heavy penalties are visited upon
those who are prompted by humanity to teach
him to read his Bible. A case of this kind re-
Gently occurred at Norfolk. He is denied every
privilege of citizenship. He cannot hold an
Office. He cannot vote. He cannot testify in
court, or sit on jury, and is therefore at the
mercy of every knave with white skin. A
free negro cannot keep q gun; he cannot 60
out at night, without pass from white
person who may have the charity to assume
the Office of master. He cannot 60 out
of his neighborhood without carrying free
papers, on pain of being arrested and sent to
prison. He cannot move from State to State,
in the South, under any circumstances, with
out FORGETTING his freedom. This and more is
the law, which is enforced beyond the letter,
while the social prescription is even more Sc
we're still. Every candid man who has lived
/ in the South must admit that free negroes are
kicked and cuffed with as little ceremony as
slaves, and, In fact, with less as the master
would resent such an encroachment on his Pc
culiar privilege in the case of slave. Such is
faint picture of free negrodom in Virginia
and the South, and such the circumstances
under which they are held responsible for ret
regarding. The State of Virginia has taken
pains to keep the free negro in ignorance and
disgrace, aud then her politicians triumphantly
exclaim, Behold-tbe free negro!" Could cru
city be more refnedl
1t is generally allowed, even By republicans,
that nations must be prepared for political
freedom by o gradual training; but such an
argument in the mouths of the despots who
have systematically prepared their subjects for
Slavery, sounds like speculative impudence.
Are not the Russians, the Spanisrds the Ital-
isns, and in fact the greater part of mankind,
as little qualified to exercise all the privileges
of republican freedom as are the free negroes
of Virgins! Are not the Russians as abjeet,
and the Italians IS wretchedl And has not
despotism, less rigorous than that which reigns
in Virginia, made them what they ares What
but misrule and superstition which is but the