The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-04-10

P'oPosc W SuPpoTt Vlem ureCtly from tnC
national Treasury : Would this be more
wise than to permit benevolencc to provide
for their temporary wants and to permit I'll.
labor Of their own hands to supply their ne
cessitics for the future |? HR '9s % sts
I do not deem it proper on this occasion Il
enter into . labored investigation Of tn.
probabilities Of ainalgamation Of the white
with the negro race II the negroes should al
be set free. How is it in point Of fact 7 DE-
you find white gentlemen and white ladies
marrying the free negroes that are now ii
this District? Do you find them marrying
the negroes that are now free in Maryland
and / understand the Senator says there are
over eighty thousand ofthem in that State !
Do the Senators tind that the amAlgamatiou
of the white and the negro race Is in progress
in the States they represent! And If 80,
does it progress more rapidly among the
free than in the slave States? And in the
slave States does It progress more rapidly
among the free negroes than among the
slaves. fhave known of bat three cases in
my own State, and all threo Of these men
married to wenches have been residents Of
slave States, where, doubt not they acquired
their tastes. Laughtcr.1 Iibcrating the ne.
gro carries with it no obligation to marry
their wsnches to white men. Gcntlem en-
may follow their tastes afterwards as now.
The Senator from Massachusetts, fMr.
Wilson Nhas. furnished me with the figures
showing the exact pum5erssof free negroes
in the States of Delaware and Maryland
In the former there are 1928 free negroes,
and but ], ,79s slaves, and in M,ryland 49,.
7l8 free coloredpersons, and s7,70o slaves.
lfthe white population of Maryland does
not intermarry and amalgamatcj with the
3,718 free negroes now in the State, would
their tastes in that regard be changed II
more Of them were liberated /? If the peo-
pie Of this city, the capital ofthe nation, are
not now insulting our delicate sensibilities
BY intermarrying with nearly twelve thou
sand free negroes here, would their tastes
be changed in that regard by the liberation
of about fifteen hundred others, for under.
8 and on consultation with the Chairman OF
the Committee on the District Of Columbia
that there are not now probably to exceed
fifteen hundred slaves in the District. There
were when the census was taken but triHe
over three thousand.
This is merely fling intended on the
part Of those who use II to arouse a rreiu-
dice that they know is deep seated in the
minds Of the people of the free States against
association with the colored population
They know what I know and here state,
that there is in all the free States a deep
seated prejudice against an association with
the colored population prejudice that
does not exist in the slave States. There
you find this association together, not in the
social circle, it is true. You fnd them,
however, at work together in the same shop,
at the same bench, on the same farm, in the
same buildings, at the same kind Of TOLL
You find their children on the same play
grounds, at the same games. at the same
amusements, not unfrequently eating, sleep
ing, quarreling. and fighting with each other
without reference to color. It is so in this
District, We all observe it every day we
live. Any man who will take the trouble to
walk up Pennsylvania avenue at this mo-
ment will see the white hackman and the
negro standing side BY side, whip in hand,
for ajob. He will see the white man and
the negro on the cross streets, sitting on
wagon or cart, side by side, waiting for en-
ployment. Go into the hotels, and you will
find them there, white men and negroes,
white females and colored females, in the
employment of the same landl ord. Go into
the Government workshops, into your own
navy yard, as doubt not all have done, and
as | have done, and you viii see black men
and white men working side BY side, swing.
ing the same kind of hammer. forging the
same piece of iron.
1t is here in a slave DiNrict and in the
slave States that men learn to associate IA
miliarly Is laborers and mechanics with the
colored population and as result of that
familiar association at the daily tolls Of life,
there is less shrinking away from them less
reluctance at receiving. -.thep into their en-
brace, SO handsomely described by the Sem
ator from Delaware but moment since
No, sir II you inquire for those willing to
receive co!ored persons into their embrace,
you will find large majority Of them born,
brought up. and educated in the midst Of q
slaveholding community and As : result Of
this familiar association, you will find in
every slaveholding community much larger
number of mulattoes than in the free States,
But, then, what is to be done with these
fifteen hundred liberated slaves !? If they
are liberated we are told that they must be
sxpatriated they must be sent into some
other country, into . strange community,
and there compelled to provide in q land Of
strangers for the supply Of their daily wantss
Where are they now ? In the bosom of the
families Of this metropolis. they are the
house servants and field hands Of those who
now claim to be their owners. Whence, then
. necessity for expatriating them, Il does
not increase their number to liberate them.
If their labor is now necessary for the indus.
trial purposes and comfort Of the people Of