The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1859-09-07
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II EACTION.

~ IhO Il IVlVs
The London Times of q late date has III,
following reflections on the policy pur
sued by the British Government toward,
negro slaves and their colonial owners.
| "There is no blinking thetruth Years ofbitte
! experience--years of hope deferred, of selrdeyo
1 ton unrequited, of poverty, of humiliation. o
prayers unanswered, OF sufterngs derided, Of in
suits unresented, of genuinely patiently endured
have convinced US Of the truth. It must be smoke,
out, loudly and theoretically, despite the will,
mockings of bowling can't The freed IVES
India negro slave will not till the soil for wages
the free son OF the ex-saye is as obstinate as hi
sire. He will cultivate lands which he has no
bought for his own yams, mangoes and plantains
These satisfy his wants. he does not care for yours
Cotton and sugar, and coffee, and tobacco-he care
little for them. And what matters it to him tina
the Englishman has sunk his thousands and tens o
thousands On mills, machinery and plant which
now totter ON the langhishng estate that for YEAR
has only returned beggary and debts He eats hi.
vans and singers at Bnckra.'
1--WE know not why this should be; bit it is SO
The negro has been bought with pr.ce-the price
of English taxation and English toll. He has been
redeemed from bondage by the sweat and travail
Of some millions Of hard.working Enelishmen'
Twenty millions OF pounds stcring-one hundred
millions OF dollars--have been distilled from the
brains and muscles Of the free English laborer. Of
every degree, to fashion the West Indian nenr6
into free and independent laborer.' tFreeand
independent enough he has become, God knows
but iaborer he is not; and, SO far as we can see.
never WILDE. He will sing hymns and qaote texts,
but honest, steady industry, he not only detests
but despises. We wish to Heaven that some peo.
pie in England--neither government people, nor
parsons, nor clergymen--but some iust.minded
honest-hearted and clear sighted men, would 90
out to some of the islands-say Jamaica, Dominica,
or Anhgua-not for month or three months. but
for year-would watch the precious pyoteqe OF
English philanthropy, the freed negro, in his daily
habits; would watch him as he lazily plants his lit.
tie squatting; would see him,a he proudly rejects
agricultural or domestic SERVICE or accepts it only
at wages udicrously disproportionate to the value
of his work We wish, too, they would watch him
while, with hide thicker than that of hippopota-
mus and body to which feryid heat is comfort
rather than an annoyance, he droningly lounges
over the prescribed task on which the intrepid Eng.
lishman, uninuTed to the burning sun, consumes
his impatient energy and too often sacrifices his
life. We wish they would 60 out and view the
negro in all the blazonry Of his idleness his pride,
his lngratitude, contemptuously sneerng at the III
dustry OF that race which made him free, and then
come home and teach the memorable lesson Of
their experience to the fanatics who have perverted
him into what he is"
The appearance Of such an article in
the Times is not merely an indication of
the individual opinions Of the writer it
does not merely reflect the opinions Of the
shrewd farseeing men who conduct that
great journal as a joint stock affair and
for money-makiDg purposes. It is an
evidence that these managers believe that
they are representing the enlightened pub
lie opinion Of the business classes. The
Tines risks nothing for sentiment. Were
the British nation Of Catholics the
Times would not be Protestant sheet i
we're Great Britain Democracy the Times
would cease to be an advocate of royalty.
1t may sometimes be slightly in advance
Of popular feeling it never lags behind
it. Whether the political season warns
into progress or cools into conservatism
the 1smes, without scruple or qualms of
adapts it's clothing to the
weather. Thrust make money-honestly
if it can--but the bullion must come for
this reason it must represent public opin-
ion. 1t cannot hold on to an old abuse
when the people have resolved to get rid
Of it. 1t cannot proclaim utopian reforms
in society, nor can it oppose all reforms
and changes It sails well only when
going square before the wind letit tack
and veer to suit any caprices and its ma
jestic progress is at once checked.
1t may be inferred, therefore, from the
extract that, in the opinion Of
the managers Of the London Times, the
British people are beginning to believe
that their government has made grand
blunder init treatment Of negroslayes and
slave owners in British colonies that the
moral and Intellectual capacity Of the
African has been altogether misunder-
stood and over-estimated +; that negroes
never did nor ever can keep themselves
in even semi-ciyilized state; that they
are useful only when they are under the
tutelage of civilized people; that they
need good masters more than they need
the privilege of british idleness that, in
short, the British people are beginning to
estimate the negro at his real valuation
useful happy and progressive beings when
acting under the protection, the guidance
and the governments of those whose supe-
rior intelligence renders them worthy to
be their masters-a nuisance, pest and
a curse when removed from beneath this
necessary, natural, wholesome and salu.