The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-01-07
The Underground Railroads.. eplsrable
Poverty and Crtme Among Free Negroes

sfoes who have been stolen from the South
and run into that province. The report OF this
gentleman occupies nearly eight Of the solid
columns Of the Herald and exhibits thorough
exploration VI every negro settlement in Can
ada, and An elaborate and precise statement OF
! every fact Of ia terest and importance onnected
| with the settlements.
The writer states that in all the principal
cities in the State of New York--in New York,
Albany. Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo,
and other places--regualr agents are located,
and subscriptions are solicited and collected
all the year round, to help the slaves on their
road to Canada. The amount thus accumu-
lated is said by the writer TO b. almost incredi-
bic, and the names Of the charitable donors, II
| published. would astonish the world. Cover
| nors. Senators. editors, lawyers. merchants,
| and of course politicians. swell the capital
stock of the underground railroad. Scarcely
a week passes without witnessing band of
| negroes, of from three to dozen, paraded
quietly in some Of the New York cities by the
| agent of the aboli,ionists, and shown TO those
| from whom subscriptions are solicited as a
| fresh impor ;ation." The negroes are always
| badly clad and apparently in a suffering con-
| dition and sympathy being thus excited for
| them, contribution follows rs a matter of
! course. 1t is probable that in every instance
| the money is misappiied. The agent" is a.;
| ways a man who without any visible means
| of support, makes himself we'll OFF. Half a
| dozen idle hangers-on find living out Of the
| funds. But the slave for whom the charity is
| craved receives barely enough to carry him TO
| the limit of his journey, aud is set down a
| half clad, half starved beggar, in a strange,
! inhospi'able country, and congratulated on
| having achieved his freedom"
A large proportion Of the money. adds the
! writer, contributed to the underground rail.
| road, is given under msapprehension of
| facts. 1t is believed by the donors to be an act
| of humanity to the negro, and to be instru-
| mental in lettering his condition. The little
| of it that is honestly expended On the fugitive
| from slavery only helps to remove him from a
| home where he is Well provided for and hap.
| py, to plunge him into suffering and crime
The greater portion of ii finds its way in 70 the
pockets of the idle scamps who are prominent
rs agents and collectors Yet owing to the
liberal contributions Of the North and of Bril-
| fish ab,liiionists, of late years, the stealing
of negroes from the border Sta ties has increas-
ed to an alarming degree, until it has culyni-
| mated in Browns bold attempt to incite SER
vile instruction in an entire State.
Among other items of Information connect
ed with the underground railroad, it is stated
that when the funds get low a batch of bogus
slaves are picked up in Worth street AID other
negro resorts in New York and elsew here and
are put through the regular operations as fu-
gi.iyes, TO stimulate the slack con tribuiions of
the fanatics in New York, Albany, Troy, &c;
and that when the Simon Pure runaways get
TO Canada, certain philanthropic land specu-
=
in to buy eligible lots and farms in the Cana
dian negrodom. There they soon become shift
less and worthless occupants of the land till
they are dispossessed, or die of consumption
70 keep up this infamous business all sorts
of tricks and humanitarian appeals are re-
sorted to, and As fast as the Ola fools are dis
gusted ard leave new ones are roped in to
supply the funds. Now AMI then bright look
ing negroes call upon benevolent citizens with
stories of having mothers, wives and children
held in slavery. whose freedom they wish to
purchase, and for this purpose ten, twenty and
some times a hundred dollars only are req hired
to complete the purchase money. In nine
cases out of ten these negroes are NE rely the
ticket agents OF the trunk line of the under
ground railroad.
50 much for the underground railrcad-
The condition of the slaves after they arrive
in Canada is miserable in the extreme. All the
southwest point of the Province OF Canada is
a neck of land running down between Lake
Erie and the Detroit river, l. Ike ST. Clair and
the ST. Clair river. 1t coptains the counties
OF Essex aud Kent. the only portion OF Canada
where toe cold is not intoerable. and it is in
those counties that the negroes who have
escaped from the South mainly congregate-
All the tow aships settlements, and associa.
lions, were thoroughly explored by the Her
nidS reporter, and the account from each and
all presents a monotonous and dismal pic lure
Of restitution and crime The tairest expert |
ments have been made TO ascertain by trial |
whether the negro race could be made self |
supporting rs their own masters and proprie- |
tors of farms, but every one has proved an en- |
tire failure. They will not work their farms ; |
in warm weather. they work out rs BARRIERS, |
boot blacks, or walters, or any other light en-
ployment. when they can earn little money |
without hard work. They return to their fam |
lilies in the winter, and lie idle as long as the |
little money they have saved will last. Their |
houses are generally of logs, badly construct |
ed, dirty inside, the place Of chairs supplied |
by boxes, aud the poultry and dumb ani-
mails sharing their dwelling with them
Around their dwellings, one sees a patch Of |
land half cleared here, ana another one COM |
menced there. Now a tree is half cut down |
aud then left, and the destruction of an easier |
one attempted. The lazy, shiftless character |
Of the free negro is seen everywhere The ex- |
ceptions of energetic and perseyering settlers |
are not more than three or four in a thousand. /
The Rev. Mr.. RENEIE, a Scotch clergyman At |
one of these colonies, was compelled to admit |
TO the Herald. reporter, that with ali his de- |
sire to see the colony prosper, the experiment |
had not rs yet answered the expectations OF lis |
proiec tors and express ed his fear that r would !
result in failure He said that the !
negroes suffer terribly III the winter from the |
want of good cIothin. and good shoes Its |
the lack of Them probably, that occasions So |
much Sickness aud is making consumption so |
fatal a disease among the black population OF
Canada The Rev Mr.. KING of the same col.
ony, has gone 10 Europe to Try to raise more
funds, probably 10 run off more negroes He
is reported in the Edinburgh Witness OF NJ
vemt'er the 10TH u have stated that at the time
OF ;he passage OF the fugitive slave law thirty
thousand fugitive slaves found their way in to
Canada, nearly ali of them in Il cebased and
ignorant coudi ion.
The white population of those counties in
which the negro colonies are established, suffer
greatly from their depredatous. The value of
heir land has been depressed, their personal
'omfort and safety diminished, and the peace
.nd good order OF their communities destroy ed
The reporter was assured by sheriff MERCER |
If Kent county--and the same is true o + Es-
eX-that nine tenths of the offences against
he laws are committed by negroes, although
hey do not Constitute mores than one-tour,h
If the whole population. In the township Of
A nderdon, Essex county. they had stolen