The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-09-18
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THE NEGRo-auEsT1oN AND THE TRUTH.

snivis its periods according to the incxor;s-
bic rules Of rhetoric. 1t always reminds us
forcibly of the respectable old gentleman,
venerable in gray hairs and the glory OF
learning, who sold Moses, tho son of the
Vicar Of Wakefield, gross of spcctaclcs
while he announced to him that eve know
nothing Of the world nowadays"
The South has been playing Moses for
many years, and the North has been as
profound as the venerable Mr.. Jenkinson,
on all her deficiencies and needs; but the
time is about to come when we will be
shrewd enough not to swop our excellent
family horse for a gross Of sea.green spec
tacles; not to exchange, in fact, our prop
erty, our position, our hopes, for lot Of
worthless "Iankee notions," though the
latter may be backed by an extraordinary
amount of scholastic impudcncc. Philan-
thropy is very decent-looking, well dressed,
affable old lumbug, but VIC scarcely want
any more of its srectaclcs.
We would not lave been betrayed into
these remarks, but that philanthropy has
been claiming a remarkable share of pub
lie opinion Of late, and we deem it neces-
sary to examine whether it deserves the
mced of popular applause so eagerly de-
mandcd by its worshippcrs. We arc afraid
of installing Tartuffe for a sincere gentle
man, or Joseph Surface for an honorable
friend; and bitter experience has compelled
us to submit Philanthropy, whenever or
wheresoevcr we encounter it, to very
strict and searching examination. 1t may
be good natured fool, like Fourier or an
eloquent dreamer, like Louis Blanc; but,
on the contrary, it may be an arrant knave
like Greeley, or dangerous agitator like
Seward. Many a fghting-man wears a
Quakcr's costume; many a rogue has an
excellent reputation; and many seller of
sea-grecn spcctacles, like Mr.. Jcnkinson, or
of wooden clocks, like Sam Slick, may be
exceedingly erudte in the language which
clothes his rascality. In truth, we have al
ways to pause when Philanthropy begins to
speak, and ask, with the Rev. Mr.. Primrose
whether we " have not heard this on another
occasion.''
Ihe peculiar phase Of Philanthropy in
the United States, as our readers are aware,
is negro worship; it adorcs an African it
admires his limbs as much as Miss Brcmer,
who encountered y 1" black Apollo" in New
Orleans; it fondles his ebony beauty and
plays with his wool, like Tinania when she
caresscd the long ears Of the ambitious
Bottom it is ready to sacrifice its life lin
prin) in the great struggle for the "regen-
Grafton" of race which is now infinitely
better off than it ever was, or ever will lie
again if Abol;ionism succeeds in the real
isation of its views.
But, mind you, this affection is all wasted
on the we'll fed Southern slave, for the Afr-
can in the North has no claims on the
sympathy of the people; he is anatAensa
and stinks in the nostrils ho cannot be
admitted to all omnibus, or permitted to live
in any more aristocratic quarter than the
Five Points. This is only natural, inasmuch
as the poor negro has no earthly chance
OF competition in community which pos
sesses intelligent white labor at four dollars
a week, and pays two cents each for its
shirts to its unfortunate millincrs.
Recalling the foregoing facts, which have
often been mentioned before, we are 70, ced
to certain conclusions on the relations of
modern philanthropy and abolitionism.-
We are compelled to think that the North
does not really desire by its Black Republi-
canism to elevate and improve the negro,
but only to humiliate the South by the
Judiclous use of clap-traps which women
tod and youug) arc always certain to mis-
take for truths.
Ibis view o. the question is somewhat
mover amongst us. We are accustomed to
receive the speeches of the Abolitionists
seriously; to investigate them seriously ;
TO answer them seriously; when in reality.
they have no existence, save on paper, and
no significance, save in printers ink. When
Parker or Greeley talk Of human freedom
and the co-equal rights Of the blacks. we
have invariably replied to Parker and Gree.
ley by scientific and commercial proofs of
the necessity of slavery; as if the said Par
ker or Greeley believed word Of their
elaborate gibberish! They know the no.
gro race as we'll as we do; they do not de.
sire its freedom, because it is incapable Of
using its freedom in practical and sensi.
bic way but they perceive the weak point,
or what they consider the weak point
(though 1t is the strongest point, in fact
Of the Southern states-and, accordingly,
putting on the armor of philanthropy, and
mounting. the Rosinante of cant, they
charge and SILVER their lances on a wind
mill.-inyincible, even though it is not
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