The weekly Anglo-African., 1860-05-19
The Anniversaries-Caste.

most of the proceedings and speeches Of
the anniversaries here during the week,
especially those which had any bearing on
our cause, and are more fully, pursuaded
than ever, if that were possible, of our firm
footing and strong position in this country
"a position from which nothing but some
gross blunder of our own, some new weak.
ness engendered by ourselves among our.
selves, can bulge US. Why should it be
otherwise? What, after centuries here
should serve to divide or unsettle us, OF
even disturb us in position we have main
tanned SO long and so well-for, all things
considered, our bitterest enemies must &C
knowledge that we have maintained il
firmly and well. This, we think, is the
general verdict, and we have no need, as q
mass, to go beyond our own country to pro-
mote our general welfare.
1t is general mistake to believe that
because we are not doing. we can't do
that because we do not see the chances o.
success they do not appear. The fault is
our own-not in the things about US. Il
we avail ourselves of the advantages that
surround us as fast as they present them.
selves, we shall find our condition rising
both in rapidity and altitude, beyond oul
highest conceptions.
We would not in this be understood to
bar individual enterprise directed in any
quarter of the globe; we would not be un.
derstood to bar against the aspirations Of
our enterprising men in any high aims, no
matter how or where. Rather, we would
have them feel that the world is their le-
Ultimate country-their broad field in
which to operate for profit, whether pecu-
mary, moral, mental, or religious. But we
would not by any wholesale scheme unset
tie our people in this country, or lead the
whites to feel that we are in an unsettled
state; for, however gigantic the scheme,
however formidable it may seem, that fact
will never appear, and those who look for
it will be deceived. Here we are, here we
will remain, and here we will plant our
trees and 1epose beneath the shade thereof
This is our side of rejoicing; this is our
negative position-a position belonging to
and held by us because of the promptings
of common wisdom and common lot
Shall it be so longer7 Are any obstacles
formidable in the foreground of our own
construction, to break our ranks and drive
us to atomsl
One thing we do regret-from the depth
of our hearts we deplore tiff it has any
foundation in truth, and we pray God that
it has none. 1t is asserted that recent at.
tempts have been made to divide our peo-
plea division upon the most infamous
(may we not say the most diabolical p ba-
sis that it is possible to conceive divis-
ion OH complexional grounds-yea, divi-
sion on black and yellow grounds
Prof. G. L. Reason, of this city, has
been the first to make public this foul at
tempt, if such really exists. AS he is a
man of high intelligence and long standing
among us, while we would fain hope he is
mistaken, we have our fears. Would he
have stood up as he did, in the face of that
large and intelligent audience in Rev. G.
B. Rays church on Monday evening last,
and make the statements he did, without
foundation? We think not This matter
of complexion, it is asserted, said the Pro-
fessor, is at the bottom of African Civiliza-
ton and Anti-African Civilization. For
himself, he denied being actuated by any
such motives, but maintained that such
feelings did exist among our people here
in New York and elsewhere.
Who are these base persons who would
thus drive this red-hot plow-share, just at
this time, through our people2 Are base,
designing white men at the bottom of it,
and if so, are we, any of us, weak enough.
supercillious enough, to fall in with it ?
Are we any of us SO low sunken to thus, in
the face of the whole word, degrade our
selves to a level far below the meanest of
our species known on earth :? Are we will
ling, at one fell swoop, to verify all that
our enemies have SO long said against us
about our degradation and utter unftness
for admission into the ranks of civilized So
ciety2 For, be assured, if this state Of
things is general among us, or can be made
SO, we at once forfeit all claims to equality
among the rest of mankind. We do hope
thot no such state of things does really ex-
ist-certainly to no extent in New York
or in the North generally. We have heard
of such divisions being made in some parts
of the sarvile States where the cOlored