The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-01-23
THE NEGRO DISTURBANCES IN CANADA
The Public Schools of Chatham taken I'm
Possession by several hundred Negroes.
SCHOOL DISTURBANCES AL SANnNlcH


The Public schools of Chatham taken I'm
Possession by several hundred Negroes.
SCHOOL DISTURBANCES AT SANDWICH.
The Detroit Free Press of the 18th inst gives
the following account of further disturbances among
the fugitive negroes of Canada West:
The negro disturbances which were alluded to in
our issue of yesterday, were not overrated in i'm
p0rtance as is confirmed by subsequent advices,
while the extent Of the agitation was much greater
than was at the time surmised In regard to the
hendsh transaction enacted at Anderdon, half of
the truth was not told. Officers still in pursuit
OF the rescued criminals and great indignation pre-
walls throughout the whole vicinity, so that if they
caught and delivered into the hands of the pop
ulace, they will be severely dealt with.
At Chatham forty miles from this city, crowd
composed of several hundred negroes took posses
sion of the public school-houses early on Monday
morning, and when the white teachers and scholars
arrived, refused to allow them to enter in any
manner obtain possession of them. As there seemed
to be disposition to carry matters with high
hand the authorities were called in but from the
fact that the negroes inhabiting the town far out
number the white citizens there were 20 means
available except those of conciliaton. The Africans
| were headed by one Shadd, negro, who has made
| himself prominent in that vicinity for some time,
having been concerned in the forcible rescue case
which occurred there two years ago The Mayor
and Council assembled on the spot, accompanied by
a majority of the citizens. The whole town was in
| an uproar in consequence of the warke demonstra-
tons OF the negroes, and the crowd and excitement
were consequently very great The negroes de-
manded not only that the schools should be thrown
open to them, but that they should be allowed to
participate in their management, which, ac-
count OF their numbers, is equivalent to giving them
the control. They have hitherto been allotted
schools and teachers by themselves the latter be-
| ing drawn from their own races but they declared
that they were as good the whites if not better
| and that they must be allowed to send their chill
dren to the white schools. 1t was not claimed that
any superior advantages were to be gained by this
arrangement, but the negroes considered it an in
dignity that they were not placed in immediate con-
tact with the whites, and were determined to COM
pei the latter to submit to their society," and that of
their children.
| As the hatred enter tanned bv the white citizens
against the whole is neither slight nor in any
manner disguised, it may be imagined what their
! feelings were upon being coerced into compliance
with such insolent demands. The conference con-
tinued some hours, the authorities maintaining a
conciiatory and peaceable course, and the negroes
asserting their claims with arrogance and violent
demonstrations. They were finally quieted by the
assurance that their claims should be taken into
consideration and such arrangements made as could
with propriety be brought about This means
nothing, of course, as the demand of the negroes
must be complied with or resisted. In they
are complied with, the town, and a consequence
the surrounding country, will be under their rule
and if they not, conflict may be expected be-
tween the white and black races, in which the for
will have great difficulty in maintaining their
ground as they in the minority. There are
about 200 negroes in Chatham alone.
AT Sandwich, three miles below this city. there
was disturbance growing out of the cause.
The whites, in apporiOning the school taX assess
ed themselves only, leaving the negro population
out in order that they might not control the
of education by their votes at the ballot-box. The
negroes were highly incensed at this, and went in a
body to the polls on the occasion of the election of
school officers, determined to vote. They were re-
sisted and driven away, and much ill feeling and
enmity engendered.
1t will be seen by all these indications that the
DODulatiOn of npiohbOrnu prnvinna ia
becoming organized and bold in its opposition to
the Legitimate institutions of the country, and
overbearing and insolent toward its rightful citi-
zens. We may safely say that the hatred with
which they regarded in return is not less vio-
lent or open than their own demonstration. There
are very few whites living the borders, where
this fugitive most cOugregate, fanatic to
close their eyes to the fact that their immigration
, Is fast tending towards the decentralization of the
country. As citizens they are worthless to the
last degree, while crime prevails among them to
alarming extent and swells the criminal calendars
of the country with the most revolving Offences
particularly with the violation of female chastity.
With all this in return for the mistaken kind
nesses which have been offered them, they are now
becoming bold and violent, and have dared to re-
sort to the high-handed measures which we have
recorded, all of which repeat obviously the
result of a concerted movement among the great
body OF negroes inhabitng this portion of the pro-
vince. Canada has nursed viper in its BOSOM
which is now preparing to turn upon it. The
hordes OF blacks which have for years poured into
It's counties are beginning feel their pow
err and if we mistake not, will give infinite trouble
before they are brought down to their proper level.
REV. ROBERT j. BREcKINRDGE AND THE VICE
PREsIDENr.-The Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge,
uncle to the VicePresdent of the United States,
has written letter reviewing the speech recently
delivered by the latter in Frankfort, Ky. Our
space will only allow US to give the conclusion OF
the epistle:
at is the furthest possible from being true that
the secession of portion of the slave States or the
disruption of the Union the slave line, is neces-
sary, wise, allowable alternative. 1t is
true the States sovereign States. But it is
equally true that the nation is anatOn-the Ameri-
can people people. Great nations cannot sudden
ly disappear, like cloud of insects; do power
{ ful natlonaties fade in day. like the flower of the
grass. 1t took the Roman Empire a thousand
0 years to die; and the Hebrew nationality has sur
vved through all the possible fortune of four thou
f sand years.
''To rend nation in twain is far more terrible
procedure than for nation to recover itself by an
a internal struggle. Nothing can be more certain,
than that slavery cannot be perpetuated this
A continent by of the rending of this nation.
a With single nationality like ours, internal srug
: giles, matter how often they may occur, can
never be greatly protracted, and fatally
arrest the progress of society. But in precisely
such case ours the permanent rending of the
: nation Is catastrophe-the progress of which
Y promises nothing assuredly the mutual disso-
luton OF DOtn the partS-and the end OF which can
produce nothing more certainly than the total de.
feat of the avowed object of its perpetration. The
n firm determination of every portion of the Union
A to maintain its right within the Union, under ev-
: cry extremity, would soon put an end to all neces-
sty for any portion of it to elect between ter
ribe means of doing so. 1t is the holding in re.
serve of this idea of rending the nation it is the
weakening of the idea of glorious nationality,
. that gives ygor if not existence many ideas
: which can escape being tratoreus only by denying
J. that we are people or have any nationality. In
the restoration of that great idea, there is moral
. | force competent to the country by ordinary
means, in such crisis this. Or, if there is
a not, there is practical force in it competent to
f save the country by arms, whenever law is SILENT
Z and arms the only remedy. 1t is horrible to
reflect that the children of the revolution might be
. obliged to shed each others blood. How much
q more horrible to shed it in such that
$ oceans OF it could never restore what we had de-
J., stroyed, while every drop of il would be an eternal
! testimony against our folly.
i "For my part, am not ashamed to confess the
; | depth of my love for my whole country, and the
n mingled sorrow and Indignation with which wit.
n ness every attempt to weaken amongst the people
the of what owe to the mother of us ALL
a No people ever did anything glorious who did moi
= believe in God, who not faithful to oaths, and
# who did not love their country. When reflect or
q | what God has already done for us, and already
n done by us for his own glory and for the advance
v ment of the human race when | consider what ouI
q position and our influence amongst the nations
4 the earth must be when we become a hundred mil
# lions; when try to appreciate the necessity o
n just such power earth, and the majesty of it
f benefcent and irresistible exercises, my very hear
a throbs with oyerpowering JOY and exultatiOn thai
a such destiny is reserved for people, that sucf
a refuge and inheritance is kept in store for man
| thank God continually that the dust of nv ances
tors mingles with this soil; that the hands of my
L kindred have labored on these sublime monuments
that the valor of my friends part of the cost
by which all has been secured; and that the lot
the inheritance of posterity appertans to sucf
'e land and such people.
he As for the South, taken in its widest sense, Goo
y has cast my lot there, and | have been loyal t.
ot her; all the more loyal, that have been neither
r blind to her errors, nor ignorant of her perils.
IL for Kentucky, if | have left undone anything
could have done for her honor, her interest, he
glory, she knows how jOyfuly would redeem tha
lack of service. But still love my country: still
| am American citizen. And deny with up
lifted hands, the right of any court any President
! any Congress- any State, any combination of State
L under heaven, to abolish from amongst meh tina
highest of all human titles. | have it
i crown all my days earth. And implore you
i by our common blood and common name, by al
the love many noble hearts bear for you and al
the hopes they cherish concerning you, so to qui
i yourself in this day of trial and rebuke that vOl
L shall bear that title proudly, long after gre
Il hairs are under the green sod.
= ''Ro. j. BRECKINRIDGE.
ID "Bredalbane, KY, Jan. 8, 1860"
70 MExIco.-The Mexican papers speak of nothe
70 expedition against Vera Cruz by Miramon. This
l. believed, however, to be only talk, for he has no
As the means to undertake any such expedition