The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1859-09-21
PORTAGE SENTINEL
A stunning Blow for the AbOII-
tiOnIsIs.

The following article from the former
headquarters of Abolitionism, ought to be
printed In lsrge letters and pinned 10 the
coats Of ell the Stewards, Greeleys, Garri'
sons, Summers, Wilson's and Weeds in the
land. 1t is from a recent number Of the
London Times, and needs no comment:
"There is no blinking the truth. Years
of bitter exPerence-years ofhoPe deferred
of self.devotiOn unrequitted, of poverty, oI
humiliation, of prayers unanswered, of suf.
ferings derided, of insults unresented, oi
contume ly patiently endured-have convinc'
ed us of the truth. 1t must be spoken out
boldly and energetically, despite the wild
mockings Of 'howling can't The freed
West India slave will not till the soil for
wages the free son of the ex.sIsve Is as
obstinate as his sire. He will cultivate lands
which be has not bought for his own yams.
mangoes and plantains. These satisfy his
wunts-he does net care for yours. Cotton,
and sugar, and coffee, and tobacco-he cares
little for them. And what matters it to him
that the Englishman has sunk thousands and
tens OF thousands on mills, ma chinery and
plants, which now totter on the languishlng
estates that for years have only returned
beggary and debts. He eats his yams and
sniggers at Buckra.'
"We know not why this should be but it
Is so. The negro has been bought with d
price - the price OF English taxation and
English toll. He has been redeemed from
bondoge by tho sweat and travail OF some
millions of hard working Engiehmeu.-
Twenty millions Of pounds sterling lone
hundred millions Of dollars-have been dis.
titled from the brains and muscles of th e
free English laborer, of every degree, to
fashion the West India negro into free aud
independent lOborer. Free and independ-
ent' he has become, God knows; but laborer
he has not; and so far as we can sec, never
will be. He will eiug hymns and quote
texts, hut honest, steady industry, he not only
deteets, but dcspses.
awe wish 10 heaven that some people in
gIond-neither Government people, nor
persons, nor clergymen-but some just. mind.
cd, honest.hearted Ond clear. sighted men,
would 60 cut to scme of the island-say ia
maico, Dominica, or Antigua not for q
month or three months, but for year
would watch the precious 'protege of Eng.
lish philanthropy, the freed negro, in his
daily habits; would watch him Us he lszily
plants his little squatting; would see him as
ne proudly rejects agricultural or domestic
service, or accepts it only ct wages lud',
crously disproPort;onete to the value Of bis
work. We wish, too, they would watch
him while, with hide thicker than hippo.
potamus, and body to which fervid heat is
a comfort rather than an annoyance, he dro
ningIy lounges over the prescribed task on
which the intrepid EngIshman, uninured to
the burning sun, coDsumes his impartial en-
ergy, and loo often sacrifices his life. We
wish they would 60 out and view the negro
in all the blazoHry of his idleness, his pride,
his ingratilude, contemptuously sneering at
the industry 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."