The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-10-06
The Probable Fate of the Black
Race of America,

The Probable Fate of the Black
Race of America.
In our inquiries into this interesting
question, we have arrived ut an approx
mate demonstration, that the subject por-
ton of this race would. ultimately, yield
to the pressure Of free emigration, by
nominal emancipation, but in fact by sale
to the Woodworking plantations of the
South. The relation of the Northern to
the Southern Slave States, in respect TO
slave population is very like that of the
country to the cities in respect to horses,
and it is very easy to ioresee that when the
source Of supply ceases to be provocative
it must soon cease to exist.
But there is another class Of Black pop
ulation, free blacks, whose fate is
somewhat problematicsl. viii this recede
and finally become extict or will it run
on with the tide of our population to the
cuu VI tlihe we tuiuh TIE iOIIioT VIII
be true for the following reasons: 1t is
an established law in Political Economy
that population, whether human, or merely
animal, will increase, or decrease accor-
ding to the encouragement or discourage
ment it may have. This is within the
compass Of any ones observation, and
ranges from the insects which swarm in u
stagnant pool to races Of men which CON-
pose nations and it will be found inva-
riable.
What encouragement then do the free
Blacks of the United States receive ?
There is in the whites an instructive aver
sion to the whole black population which
is constantly falling with depressing weight
upon the inferior race. 1t effectually closes
every avenue to self-aggrandizement it
cuts Oft, to great extent, the means Of
education it excludes from stations of
trust and emolument it shuts out from
cultivated society; it dooms to unremun-
Grating and degrading pursuits, and drives
the race to congregate in large cities,
where vices of every name are nourished
and every condition of healthy procreation
violated.
The race is not only thus unequally
dealt with b. s0c,rsy, but is directly at.
tackled by the STATE They ale denied
the most valued civil privileges Legis-
lation is enacted which is designed to
drive them from the limits of a State while
others, in self defence, make enactments
to shut them out ; and this kind Of legis-
lature is every year becoming more COM
mon. And finally, orr highest Court has
distinctly declared that they have no
rights which white men are bound to re.
spect. If under such circumstances a
race can thrive it must be in opposition
to natural law, or there must be some
conditions which we cannot discover But
facts from the Census throw some light OH
this subject During the existence of the
Slave trade the free black population in
creased with considerable rapidity since
then the ratio of increase has been de-
81 creasing, until now, in nearly all the older
States, there is no increase. In short the
result is just what should be expected
b from the causes named above
These effects are directly and indirectly
attributable to the inconquerable aversion
Of the whites for the blacks,-a sentiment
which, whether right or wrong, is, so far
~ we are able to judge, every year grow.
ing more intense. No true philanthropist
can but wish for the elevation of this race,
no we'll enlightened philanthropist can hope
for it under their present relation to the
whites. Many of the more gifted will
without doubt, find in other lands
an opportunity to rise but the race
in this country is doomed to humiliation,
as certainly as are the Aborigines, and
the event is only question of time.