Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-04-28

are in such numbers-already some forty
thousand--in the midst of o white popna.
tioh, with whom there must necessarily be
some elements of discourse, is becOhing
subject of Importance to the political econ
omist as well as the phianthropist, and
must, ere long, demand the earnest IT not
the anxious attention of our British neigh
bors In this view of the case, we look
upon the Information contained in the fol-
lowing communication, from one familiar
with the subject, of much general import
nnce, and as such we give it o place in our
columns. The writer C. e Foot, has been
engaged for eight years almost exclusively
in the moral, and intellectual elevation of
these refugees, and he writes to correct the
impressions of another correspondent to
the same paper towhich this is contributed.
He says:
We come to the condition of these
people in Canada the means for their
elevation, and their ability to care for
themselves. | will reverse this order, and
ask why can they not, with proper start,
provide for their own wants ? Has slave
ry so dwqrfed their powers as thus to dis
able them If so, why not devise means
for relieving them from these disabilities
1t is not generally known to the world that
full one-halt of the arrivals from the South
are children of white fathers. Startling
as this declaration may be, it is neverthe-
Id e
known and distinguished in our national
councils. Is it not SANDER upon these IL
lustrious sires to say they have begottcu
race that cannot take care of themselves.
have known whole families to arrive in
Canada from the South with scarcely par
ticle of African blood visible in their faces.
The philosophy Of the case is, therefore,
clearly on the side of the runOways. Let
us look, then, for the facts.
That any one who chooses can find ma
terials in Canada for writing a sad history,
is not to be denied but it is ever to be re-
membered that these people are what slave
ry has made them. If they arrive in Canada
with dwarfed and perverted moral natures,
in profound Ignorance and poverty, as
most of them do, this is TO be placed to
the account of the school from which, after
protracted pupilage, they have gradua.
ted. II is affirmed that they are too lazy
! to work, and that they prefer to steal their
living rather than to earn it. Now, from
many years intercourse with the people in
/ CANADA, black and white l affirm that
there is more hard work performed by the
former than by the latter, in proportion to
Al -, l,ut ea,rr t.,b 70
families that do not employ coored labor
ers, in door and out. They clear up the
lands they chop the wood, and get it
to the market they assist in planting and
gathering the crops and, if there are
dlers among them, they but follow the ex-
ample of their white brethren. There are
also thieves among them, but these are ex-
ceptions to the general rnlr.
There is equal ground for complaint on
the other side of this question. If these
people make depredations upon their ne Ugh.
bors, they do but re-enact the greater
frauds committed upon them by the Cana
dianS. | will give you but two cases out
of multitudes that might be named, which
will Offset all the "sheep stealing" ever in
ficted upon the Canadians. A man now
on the lands Of the Refugee Home Society
contracted with one of his white neighbors
to deliver at the Belle river depot two
thousand cords of wood When the work
was nearly accomplished the man "broke
down." leaving his colored brethren un.
paid-thus indictug want and sorrow upon
the families of a score of men who had as
sisted in getting ont the wood A railroad
contractor employed large number of col
ored men and when pay day came he ab-
seconded with the money, leaving them to
reflect upon the superior honesty Of white
men.
All the year long these people are COM
ing to me with similar complaints, only on
a smaller SCALE These cases do not prove
! the Canadians to be worse, but like the
rest of mankind. | will not omit to say,
however, that the majority Of the Canadi.
ans ore entirely kind to these people, and
do much to relieve the destitute.
Let us turn now to the means and out
lays FOR their elevation. On their arrival
in Canada not one in hundred can read
a word they have not shilling in their
pockets, nor blanket for the first night,
nor a shelter for their heads. Now, if peo-
pie in such a plight are not proper subjects
of charity, then charity should come to an
end
How princely are the chrites of the
American people. They have just given tc
Father Chiniquy, for the relief of his little
colony at Kankakee many thousands oI
of dollars. They have sent forty thousand
dollars for the relief of the sufferers al
Lawrence They have sent fifty thousand
dollars for evangelizing ireland. Il write
from memOry.)
Noble charity | Msy the dew of Heav
en- rest upon the donors. But neither o
these classes we're in a more needy condi
tiou than the fugitiVes on their arrival il
Canada and yet the sum expended on tn
few numbered sufferers at Lawrence exceed
all the money ever received for the fort,
thousand fngtiVes in Canada. In thi
stateme Mt do not include the lands of tn
Elgiu colony, as the purchase money re
turns to the stockholders; bat do includ
the lands of the Refugee Home Society
every dollar of whose funds is appropriate,
to the interests Of the fugtives
This society hesides furnishing an ont &