Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-11-10
FREEDMEN AT PORT ROYAL.

FREEDMEN AT PORT ROYAL.
This is the title Of an elaborate article in
the "Atlantie Monthly" literary organ OF
Yankee Aholitiouism, for September. ltpro-
fesses to give an account OF their pet Colony
of negroes Mt Port Royal; the management OF
which, it appears. WAS transferred from the
Treasury to tho War Department, and placed
in tho hands of ''Brigadier General Rufus Sax
ton, native of Massachusetts, who, in ehild>
hood, had brcathed the free air Of Connec-
t;cut," which is doubtless high qualification.
It ia in vain VIC examine the article for any
account of the financial or economic results Of
the "Colony;" and how much it costs the W-S
Department to got cotton raised there; but Il
is not long since the New York tribune"
stated that cotton in those parts is produced
at about twenty dollars pound. The writer
in tho "Menthly'' prudently avoids all revela-
tons upon this part Of the case; which might
in fact. cool the zeal Of the Yankee nation III
the great cause of Human Freedom; for me-
Their Human Freedom nor anything else, hu-
man or divine, will satisfy Interpretations Of
that people unless it pays a large per centase
on the investment. He applies himself, there
fore rather to exhibit the greet moral ard
intellectual Development of the colon'zef
slaves and here there is room for the flights
Of q warm imagination. The negroes Of Port
ROYAL this writer depicts IS amongst the most
ariiable, industrious and high spirited OF the
human race. Not altogether perfect he can
did!v admits: and he feels compelled to check
the too sansuine belief (which it seems has
prevailed in some quarter that the Colony
would instantly become another Arcadia, or
happy valley of Rasse!as
"Oue who expects to fud in emanclnated
slaves perfect men and women. or to realize IN
them some fair dream Of an ideal race, will
meet disappointment"
But though not yet ideally perfect men and
women-for he avows that "three arc some
vices charged upon these people, or portion
of them"-yet they arc q much more intcll-
gent and wise people than, for example,
tie Italians
"Nor do they ordinarily display much ex-
lilaration over their new conditon-bc,ns
oujtc unlike the Italian revolutonist who
used to put on his toga, walk in the forum
and personatc Brutus and Cassius."
The ladies Of the colony, he says, are fond
of purchasing chopped skirts" but, for the
present, too many of them are found working
in the cotton patches with their hoe. There
must be some people in Boston likely to be
disguised at finding that their colored sisters
have to work at all; but the writer in the
"Monthly" shows that they cannot yet be
expected to be further advanced than the
women Of Switzerland
alt has been suggested that field work does
not become women in the new condition: aSd
so it may seem to some persons OF Just SYM
pathies who have not yet learned that no
honest work is dishonorahle in man or woman.
But this matter may he left to regulate itself
Field work, as an occupation, may not be con-
sistent with the finest feminine culture, or
the most complete womanliness; hut it in 70
way conflicts with virtue, sels-Tespect anc
social Development. Women work III the
field in Switzerland. the freest country Of Eu-
rope; and we may look with pride on the TIL
umphs OF this generation, when the American
negroes become the peers of the Swiss peasau-
try"
Certainly two years of philanthropic coloni-
cation could scarcely have done more than elc~
yate negroes to level with the freest naticn
in Europe. Much is already done in making
them superior to the Italians.
Many of the negroes have, by an operation
called ta1-sale become proprietors of lands
on which they formerly laborcd as slaves
One of these landed proprictors, who is re-
ferred to as a model, is named Harry "lIe
has "a horse twenty-five years old and blind
in both IN both eyes whom he gaiies with q
rone-cnrrving on farming, l thought, some
what under difficulties. Harry lives in the
house Of the former overseer. and delights,
though not boastingly, in his position as q land
ed proprietor He has promised to write NE.
O. rather dictate q letter, giving an account OF
the progress Of his crop"
OF course the writer, being probably a
schoolmaster, dHells with enthusiasm o.; the
educational establishments. He snys there
are thirty schools; and positively AYERS that
in one of these schools, he heard with his own
e,rs class reciting the multiplication table
"as high as fves." The teachers are ell
commissioned by the three associations in
Boston, New York and Philadelphia, and by
the American Missionary Association; and
from the specimen here given of the cate.
chetical examinations on history and gengra.
ply, it may be seen that they are training
the youthful mind in the way it should go
The teacher was instrucsing her pupils in
some dates and facts which have had much to
do with our history. The questions and an
srers, in which all the pupils joined, were
these:
"where were slaves first brought to this
eountry?"'
"Virrginis."
"Whep?"
"1620."i
"who brought them'"
"Dutchmen.'
"Nho came the same year to Plymouth,
Massachusetts?
"Pilgrims."
"Did they bring slaves?"
sNo"
A teacher in Beaufort put these questions, to
which answers were given in o loud tone by
the school:
"What country do you live ii?"
"United States
"What State?"
"South Carolina.
"What Island?".
"Port Royal"
"W hat town."
Beaufort.