New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-09-22
Al A.syadaiion Of the uIarks IL n cause M

psliticai degradation Of tho blacks 10 q cause as
well "a a conscquenco Of their moral dobaso-
mrnt Had they mover been cnalsvod they
would not now be so sbjcct In soul had thoy
not been so abjcct, they could not have been
euslaved. Our Aborigines might haze boon
crushed into S avery by overwhelming force;
but they could never have been made to live IN
it. The black man who feels insuted in that he
is called "nigger," therein attests the degra-
daton of his race more forcibly than does the
BLACKBOARD at whom be takes offense; for negro
is 10 further a term Of opprobrium than
TIE character of the blacks has made it So.
"Whig," Yankee" Democrat were origi-
nally terms of reproach or derison; but those
thus stgmstzed in either case accepted the
designation and made it quite ether than con-
iemptuous. "Libertine," on the other hand,
was proudly Gained as distinction by those
who favored Human Liberty; but their conduct
converted it into term of reproach. If the
Blacks Of to-day were all or mainly such men
as Samuel r. Ward or Frederick Douglass,
nobody would consider NEGRO" an invidious
or reproachfu designation.
common Rights of Man; but they stand greatly
in need of the spirit in which those rights have
been won by other races. They will never win
them as white mems BARRIERS, walters, ostlers
and boot-blacks; that is to say, the tardy and
unerscious concession of the RICH. of Suffrage
which they may ultimately wrench from re-
luctant community will leave them still the pO-
Iticsl as we'll as social interiors of the Whites
excluded from all honorable office, and admitted
70 white mems tables only as walters and plate
washers-unless they shall meantime have
wrought out, through toll, privation and suffer
ing. an Intellectual and essential enfranchise-
ment. At present, white men dread to be
known as friendly to the black, because of the
never ending, still beginning opportunities to
help this or that negro object of charity or PHI
lsnthropy to which such reputation inevitably
subjects them. Nine-tenths of the Free Blacks
have no idea of setting the mselves to work ex-
cept as the hirelings and servisors of white
men; no idea of building church, or accom-
pishing any other serious enterprise, except
through beggsry of the Whites. AS class, the
Blacks are indolent, improyident, servile and
licentious: and their inyeterate habit OF appeal
ing to White benevOlence or compassion when
ever they realize a want or encounter diff
Guilty, is emnently baneful and eneryating. Ii
they could never more obtain dollar until they
shall have earned it, many ofthem would suffer,
and some perhaps starve; but, on the whole,
they weuld do better and improve faster than
may now be reasonably expected.
OF course, they will not generally heed these
rough hints, since they are abundantly supplied
with counselors whose tones are more siyery
and whose utterances are more welcome than
ours. We do not ask then to believe US AMI
mated by any special aspiration for their we'll
being; for, though often accused of NEGRO
"worshipng," "negro idolatry," &C., we never
professed any peculiar regard for them. AS our
fellow beings and for good or evil, an integral
portion of the commonwealth, we anxiOusy de-
sire their political, social aud moral elevation,
rot for their own sakes only or mainly, but for
the sake of the entire community. We believe
their complete emanci pation most desirable -
that it is to be wrought out mainly by them
selves, and by the exertion of other muscles
than those at the root of the tongue. Let them
bear all sides, and act as their camest judgment
eh6ll dictate.