Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-05-16
SCHOOLS IN WASHINGTON.

The Federal District has a colored population of
l4,uOO most OF them free, while n large proportion
OF both fyee and slave are part -colored, evincing n
liberal il fusion Of Caucasian blood. For the cdu-
cation OF none of these, whether slave or free, is
any public provision made, while nearly all of them
exist in q state Of poverty and social degradation
which iorbids the thought of their education by
spontaneous effort. Living in a state Of social vas
salage, tolerated by the ruling caste only as minis.
trants to their pride, luxury and Incidence, OF pan.
ders to their vices, it is aot strange that the moral
as well as intellectual condition of these Blacks is a
very low one--it would be strange indeed if it
were otherwise.
These facts, some years since, impelled q North.
ern lady, Miss Myrtilla Miner, to undertake the
establishment there of a School for Colored Girls.
The plan was favored by a few philanthropists,
through whose aid a plat Of three acres or so living
near the boun1ery dividing Washington City from
Georgetown, has been purchased and paid for. with
a small but comodious building thereon. which is
at once the schoolh0use and residence Of the
teacher and her boarding. scholars. Here som.
thirty or forty girls of all hues but white are being
instructed rs well as the abilities and means Of
the teacher will permit. The imposibility of rent.
ing a room Tor such n purpose has constrained the
purchase of this house and ground, while the alb
sence OF any appeals for local sympathy or local
notoriety has not shielded the enterprise from the
wrath Of His Democratic Majesty, King Mob.
For some years past, however, it has been unmo.
les,ed-a favor which Miss Miner gratefully at
tributes to the personal interp0sition of Mrs. Pres.
ident Pierce, who. hearing that its riotous suppress.
sion was imminent, drove over repeatedly in her
carriage to inquire into tie progress of the school
and be assured of its prospects and safety. The
cowardly miscreants who were plotting its destruc.
ton. noting with amazement its reflected shadow
of White House patronage, wilted like mown
weeds under a July sun.
Recently, an effort has been made, mainly in
RnStnp IN raiap SCD OO0 for tho nnlaruanront nf RI.
house and general improvement of this school, SO
as 10 fit it for the accommodation Of half a dozen
teachers and one hundred and fifty scholars. inclu.
ding twenty or thirty boarders. Such dangerous
radicals and fanatics rs the Rev. DR.. LOthrop.
George S. HIllard and Deacon Sam Creole were
conspicuous in the effort, and it was thought that
the $50, 900 required could be raised in the course
Of this year.
These facts have stirred up the Hon. Walter
LennOx, n pecuniary magnate and ex-Mayor of
Washington City, to q counter-dem0nstration. lie
announces through The National Intcliigencer, that
this school must be put down. lie don't want to
provoke 20 sentimental controversy"?? lie would
simply suppress agitation by suppressing the edu,
cation Of c0lOred children in the District. Says
the Hon. Walter:
THE matter involved is too momentous in all its
relations, not only to this community, but to the
entire country and, in the language of the extract
itself, rises Intimately above all party or sectional
lines IL is piy wish to arrest public attention
here, as also elsewhere, in order that such imme-
date measures may be adopted as the exigency of
the case demands. If | do not entirely mistake
the opinion which the citizens Of this District will
eLtertain OF the character and fatal consequences
of this enterprise, they will almost universally,
without distinction Of party or class, emphatically
protest against it, aud will confidently expect that
the advocates OF this measure will promptly aban-
don it. as an unjust and dangerous interference
with the interests and feelings Of q seperate indie
pendent community.
~ We shall gain nothing by concession
or delay. This scheme was started some years
ago in humble guise, and in the fIothold it has al
ready gained it feels secure of its future progress.
Earnest, prompt action can now arrest it peace.
fully tumult and blood may destroy its future
history.
with Justice, we can say to the advocates of
this measure, You are not competent to decide this
question your habits of thought, your ignorance
of our true relations to the colored population,
prevent you from making a full and candid exam.
ination of its merits. and above all. the temper of
the public mind is inauspicious even for it's consid.
eratiur. If your humanity demands this particu.
lar sphere for its action, and if, to use your own
language prejudice would brand them at your
Northern schools" establish separate institutions
in the Free States, dispense your money there
abundantly as your charity will supply, draw to
them the unfortunate at your own door. or from
abroad, and in all respects crafty the largest i'm.
J - wv h's CSSA w
impose on US n system contrary to our wishes and
interests, and for the further reason that by so do
ing you injure the cause Of those whom you ex.
press q wish to serve. We must insist that within
our limits we are the hest, and must be the exclu-
sive Judges Of the character and degree of in.
struction that shall be impaired TO this class of our
population who shnll be their teachers, and what
the nature of the influences they may seek or shall
be permitted to exercise"
Certainly, Mr.. Lennox! you citizens of the Dis.
trict can break up the school. burn the house; con-
6scate the grounds, and punish or Danish the teach.
er, if you insist on it. There is no power in the
States where the teaching of the poor and despised
is no crime to prevent such demonstration on your
part. But the People of the Free States have a
right to judge whether a District in which such
wrongs are instigated by tho rich and powerful,
and executed by their blind instruments, is a fit
location for the capital of this Model Republic,
and they will por der the question without fear of
your MODS or your denunciation. Nay. they will
require their Representatives not to vote million
after million of their money to increase your wealth
and power, if you war thus on the education of the
lowly which you are not asked to support. At the
late session of Congress, million after million OF
their money was voted away to increase the price
of your lots, the rent of your houses-onc million
at one dash of the pen in aid Of the construction
of an Aqneduct, at the cost of the Federal Treas.
ury 10 ditfuse the water of the POtomic through
your streets; when your houses have no more right
to be supplied with water 1t their expence than
have the dwellings Of New-York or Chicago. You
drove that appropriation through by means of a
Committee Of Conference, when you knew that the
House was at least two-thirds opposed to it, and
would at any time have voted il down as a separate
proposition, as was in fact done Now, Mr.. Len
nox, drive that woman and her little squad Of
schoolchildren out of the District. and let us see
the name of the Northern Representative who
votes more money out Of his constituents pockets
to enhance the price or the rents of your houses
in the Federal City N y. Tribune.
We do not like to assent to the poisoning theo-
DRY, so long as We can account for the sickness,
nationally, in any other way. Now, ashington
is one of the sickliest holes on the face of the
earth. We will not say that it is any worse than