Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1862-05-07
THE NEGROES AND NORTHERN STATES.

any considerable number of the Southerr
slaves obtain their freedom they will necessa
rlly emigrate to the Northern States, and that
| thus large proportion of our white laborer.
| VIII be thrown out of employment, and heavy
taxes or other expenditures caused by the me-
cessity OF providing for indolent refugees. II
| requires, however but slight examination OF
/ the subject to see that this conjecture is not
well founded. There has been, in all our
past history, but very little voluntary emigra-
ton northward of colored men. The Africans.
IKE all other races, fer congenial climes.
ana they Will pot venture from them unless
they are compelled IL do SO by very powerful
motives. 1t has been a rare occurrence for
any OF the large body of free negroes who re-
side in the States south of Mason and Dixon's
line to Journey northwaTd. AS general rule,
only flying fugitive slaves, or those whose
freedom was imperiled by the system of hos.
tile State legislation that has OF late years been
commenced in the South, have ventured on
this experiment. A striking proof OF this
fact is furnished by the census of 1850. OF
the % 200 free blacks of Pennsy lvania only
10,OOO were not born on our soil. OF the 81 ,
333 free blacks of Virginia only 533 were ini-
migrants; of the 74,723 in Maryland only
l 1861 of the ,0T3 in Delaware only ll4l
It is thus clearly shown thJt they are not a
migratory race, and that there was very little
disposition TO emgrate even to PENNSYLVANIA
Notwithstanding her contiguity to the homes
OF large body of free blacks. The causes for
this are numerous. The Southern States
comprise ut the largest agricultural dis
tricts in the world, and nearly all the labor
that has heretofore been performed there has
been done by the Africans. Their labor will
he as much needed hereafter as heretofore
and no change that may be made in the con-
ditionS upon which it is to be performed will
dispense with the power and present necessity
OF It's employment. Practically, in the South
ern States the negroes find a climate agreea-
bic and health, and demand for their labor,
in the Northern States an uncongenial eli
mate, and little, if any, demand for their SER
vices. No large body OF men have ever emf
grated for the sake of emigration-and par
tlcularily when they could derive no absolute
benefit from the change, and when they had
no strong love for novelty nor spirit of enter
prise 10 impel them.
There are other considerations, also connect
ed with this subject which lead to the same
general conclusion. Even if it were a demon
strsted fact that the negroes could not in CON
sequence of any political changes that have
been or may be made, remain in or near their
OLD places OF residence, and that an absolute
necessity for their emigration to some point
existed, there fields open to them much
more inviting than the present free States
V aileus colonization projects agitated.
Liberia has been refuge for a portion Of
their race Tor many years /; Hayti now cordial
ly invites them. Central America is also pro-
posed as suitable spot for African colonial
tion. An unceasing demand exists for the
tropical productions, which negro labor alone
has successfully produced, and there is an "a
bnndancy of tropical land now unproductiye
and useless All the great requisites for ne
gro prosperity exist-capacity to labor in trop-
ical climes; land capable OF yielding tobacco,
cotton, sugar, and rice aud a willingness to
pay liberal prices for those great staples. If
but small modicum of the intelligence en-
ergy, and industry that characterize the An
glo-Saxons were infused into the Africans
they would soon become one of the most
wealthy and prosperous races on the globe.
Those who charge upon the administration
disire to Atricanize the free States grossly
it, The policy it pursues neith-
er proposes nor tends TO produce that result. |
The President alluded, in his late message 10
Congress in relation to the abolition of slavery |
in the District of Columbia to his strong de-
sire to secure the adoption of an appropriate
system of colonization. Hon. VIM. ID. Kelley |
in speech he delivered in the House of Rep |
resentatives some weeks ago, answered some |
Of the prevalent misrepresentation in the fol. |
lowing eloquent language:
Sir, brief time is left me, and | hasten to |
the point Of the Authorization of American |
society and American labor. [ have said that
the members of the dominant party on this
foor are not ddcocates of The reopening Of The
'Lare trade that we do not advocate the ex-
tension of the colored institution through the
whole free Territories of the country and that
ye are in faror Of opening means by Which color
% men can iedre our country and find happier
home. Sir, Nature works by invarabe laws
It is by no freak OF hers that the light of day
paints the likeness of our loved ones. Ii is
~ no such freak that the wire bears the
message of JOY or woe over land and under
yater He who traverses our continent finds
IN the Pacific slope Of the Rocky Mountains
he grandest arboriferous vegetation of the
world. On tho eastern slope, divided thence
,y narrow strip, which produces its effects
IN the clouds, you lose all arboriferous vege-
alton. You find only the red sage you find
lothing larger growing there. The same
kies are over; the some God watches but
lie works through wise and inhexible laws
md thus teaches men to look to Him through
Nature for guidance. On the Pacific slope
he earth is refreshed by ninety inches of rain
acb year, while on the eastern slope but five
all. The negro is the creature OF the tropics
submit him to the guidance of his own in
tincts and volition, and he will find his way
o the tropics, or lands lying near them. Ma
ure's uncrrng law will lead him there. The
ruelest monument of sman's nhumanity to
o man that l can point to to-day is that col.
my of fifty thousand American negroes living
II the cold wids of Canada. AS well might
ou expect the tree OF the Pacific slope to
hrive in the region of the sage, or the sage
o thrive under ITS broad shadow, and with
inety inches OF rain falling in the year. The
egroes will wilt and dwindle and prematurely
lie there.
owe all know that the President and his
eal friends on this floor in faror of The re-
ognifion Of the republic Of Liberia, Of erfendiag
Hayti commercial relations, Of procuring Nth.
a The american tropic lands ,chere The negro,
lade free by the crimes of his master, may
o and dwell as Nature intended him to- This
he President recommends, and all this the
1aiOritv on thicse Aoor inland IN c,ne,p,.ta | +,