Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1861-12-20

thought themselves fit for freedom, anC
if the darkies were not lazy, their answer
was, "Who but the darkies cleared al
the land round here? Yes, there are lazy
darkies, but there are more lazy whites.
We were told that the free blacks had no
had fair chance under the lawS--tha
they don't dare to enforce their claim.
against white men-that q free coloreC
blacksmith had thousand dollars due
him from white men, but he was afraC
to sue for any portion of it. One man
when asked why he ought to be free, re.
piled, al feed and clolhe myself, and pay
my master one hundred and twenty dol
lars year; and the one hundred anC
twenty dollars is ust so much taken from
me, which ought to be used TO make me
and my children comfortable" Indeed
broken as were their speech, and limited
as was their knowledge, they reasoned
abstractly on their rights as well as white
men. Locke or Charming might have
fortified the argument for universal lib
erty from their simple talk. So true is
it that the best thoughts which the hu-
man intellect have produced have come
not from affluent learning or ornate
speech, but from the original elements of
our nature, common to all races of men
and all conditions in life and genius the
highest and most cultured may bend with
profit to catch the lowliest Of human ut
terances.
THEIR CHARACTER.
In natural tact and the faculty Of get
ting livelihood, the contrabands are in
ferior to the Yankees, but quite equal to
the mass of the southern population. 1t
is not easy to see why they would be less
industrious, if free, than the whites, par
ticuarly as they would have the encour-
agement of wages. There would be
transient difficulties at the outset but no
more thau bad system lasting for ages,
might be expected to leave behind. The |
first generation might be untitled for the
active duties and responsibilities of citi-
zenship, but this difficulty, under gener-
ous provisions for education, would not
pass to the next. Even now they are
not SO much behind the masses of the
whites. Ofthe Virginians who took the
oath of allegiance at Hampton, not more
han one in fifteen could write his name, |
and the rolls captured at Hatterss dis
close an equally deplorable ignorance.
As race they may be
ess vigorous and thrifty than the Saxon,
)ut they are more social, docile, aud at
ectionate, fulfilling the theory which
Charming held in relation to them, If ad
;anced to freedom and civilization. If
n the progress of the war they should
)e called to bear arms, there need be no
reasonable apprehension that they would
Xhibit the ferocity of savage races.
Unlike ch,tbey have been suhordinated
o civilized life. They are by nature a
elisious people. They have received
n education in the Christian faith, from
evout teachers of their own and of the
dominant race.
But as events travel faster than laws
r proclamatioas, already in this war with
ebellion the two races have served to-
ether. The same breastworks have
cen built by their common toll. True
nd valiant, they stood side by side in
ne din Of cannonada, and they shared as
omrades in the victory of Hatteras. =,
history will not fail to record that on the
9Th day OF August, 1861, when the
ebel forts were bom6arded by the fed
raj army and navy under the command
Major General Butler and Commo- ;
ore Stringham, fourteen negroes, lately !
'irginia slaves, now contraband of war,
4ithfully and without panic worked the
tier gun of the upper deck of the Min
esota and hailed, with a victor's pride, c
lie stars and stripes, as they again waved !
q the soil of the Carolinas.
GSr If you treat your interiors with =
expect the same of them.
~