The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-10-14

En<z>e2A
great things as yet-pardon friendly
fraukncss, you have done as yet very 1T
tie, you know in truth as yet very little.
Man has so much to learn, and yoGs my
friends, are only at the beginning Stt-
Ter net yourselves to be carried away by
too natural self-congratulatlon--sieep
not on this bed OF laurels-these crowns
which have encircled your sable fore
heads will soon be faded if you take not
the precautlon to renew them"
With such noble aud hearty detcrmin-
alton, and such examples, We may hope
for much in the future of Hayti,
| When shall prizes Of honor be awarded
in our colleges to colored Americans
| Is there aot something ia the fraternal
spirit Of France, its absolute and philo-
sophie superiority to the prejudice of ra-
ces, which may account for this result IN
I Paris? The Africans, as a race. are ex-
trameIy anprohatiye, They are sensitive
te kindness or Rnkinlncss, They need a
warm, kindly atmosphere to grow in, as
much as tropical plants. The pltiless
frosts and peIting storms of scorn, ridi-
cule, contempt and obloquy which have
fallen upoa them could not have found
a race more sensitive, more easily beaten
back and withered. But as Christianity,
as 4 pablic sentiment, IS the light reflect
ed ftum all other civilized nations. helps
us TO correct this peculiar and local pref
udice, we shall see more and more devel-
Iopment of talent in this race. The day
will, we trust, come when it will be no
longer recorded as a prodigy that ~ Af-
rican has excelled in anything
One thing mare, 1t is too often
thoughtlessly conceded, because of the
great superiority of the African race in
our country to their barbarous ancestors
in Africa, that the credit is due to the
Southern States Of having at least civil
ized and CAristianized race.
1t is far safer to say that the natural
aptitude of the race for civilization and
improvement has been such that they
have developed in spite of every effort on
the part of their masters to prevent it.
! Forbidden all icarning-the very mi
tlal steps to the temple of knowledge
guarded from them by pains and penal
ties-the family state st1diodsly corrupt
ed and defled, by the refusal Of pcrma-
pent and legal marriages-alI rights OF
restraint or education taken from parents
in shQFs a sYstcm2tio warfare directed
against every clement Of manly progress
which God has placed in the sQuI-they
yet have risen, as the Hebrews multiplied
in spite of tbs cruel prosecutions of the
Egyptians The slaYe-owners have edu-
Gated and civilized them just as the
Egyptians increased the population of the
Hebrews, and not otherwise. Other
races so treated have been broken down
and disappeared Witness the native
tribes of America. But this African race,
with its grand, warm, tropical yiyidness,
with its noble breadth of physical yigor
and enjoyment, is destined, evidently, to
a future. This gigantic aloe, which has
stood silent and neglected in the worlds
garden will yet come to flower and put
new yigor into the worlds life and histo-
~. The young communities Of Hayti
aud Liberia will 90 on, and from Canada
and from the Southern States will rise
men to feel an electric thrill Of pride and
sympathy-and in that day let oppress-
ors trembIe. They may have proofs Of
the capacity of the race far other than
they desire.
ANpQYER, Sept. p.