Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-01-14
THE NEGROES AND THE NEIT

|
THE NEGROES AND THE NEW
STATE. r.
Editors InttlIigcneer
desire small space in your paper To
say few words to those who object to onr
new State upon the ground that the adoD-
ton of the Wiley amendment will have
the effect Of rendering our State recep.
thcle Tor tree negroes. How it will have
any tendency of this sort they have not
condescended to show US, but seem to relv
! simply upon the assertion, to prejudice the
minds of the community against the
measure. But the people have desired the
new State organization too audibly-have
hoped too long. and labored too much for
1t, to be now brought to stand upon the
eveo the consummNtion of all their hopes,
without seeing very clearly how it will
nave the tendency to produce this result.
1nls amendment simply provides for the
gradual emancipation of the few slaves vet
remaining among US, and at the utmost
can increase our free negro population only
TO the amount of the slaves gradually
emancipatcd.
HOW the adoption of this amendment
could have the effect of allowing the free
negroes OF other States to flock TO West
virginia is hard to see. 1t is somewhat
singular, that these men love the negro
IN one condition, and hate him in another.
While SHmbo crouches beneath the lash
of his master, he is a divine institution.
and all the powers of the Government ara
invoked to keep him from ruuuiuC awav
We cannot do without him-he is neces.
sary TO our domestic happiness Heis our
rlgnt arm-the very apple of our eye--al-
most bone of our bone aud flesh of our
hesh We love to be near him. But in
1rk h a l. Al. 70
west MIN with ias right ct a6SE aga
With him; we cannot endure him; he's
black, fiat nOsed, and woolly haired, and
belongs to an inferior race we cannot en-
dure his presence, away with him!
How it is that the presence of the negro
Is SO desirable in the one case, and so,very
offensive aud detrimental in the other, we
confess we cannot very well see., We an.
Prehend that he will neither work less or
steal more in state of freedom, than he
does in state Of slavery. But as we are
no especial admirers Of the race, we shall
admit that free negro population is not
desirable among US. But still we insist
that his presence as a slave is just as often
siVe to properly constructed nerves, and
just as detrimental to our interests as his
presence MS freeman. To relieve our.
selves completely let US try and get rid of
| them all. How then will the adoption of
| the Wiley amendment operate upon this
pointf First, it will gradually change the
condition of the slaves into that of free.
men. 1t will give them chance TO 90
where they please, While they remain NJ
slaves we will not let them go, or if one
should escape we will bring him back
again. But under the operation of this
amendment they will become free to scatter
in all directions; a privilege of which they
will not be likely to fail to avail them
selves. Thus Pennsylvania OF the one side
and Ohio on the other will receive their full
share, from the choice of the negro him
self. The negro, when left to himself, has
peculiar tastes and seeks peculiar employ
ments. The hotel, the barber shop, the
steamboat, are the paradise of the free ne
gro. All over the country you find them as
walters, porters, BARRIERS OF, hostIers, They
rarely ever engage in agricultural, still ore
rarely in ay mechanical employment. This
fact in the habits of the free negro has n
tendency to scatter that kind of popula-
tion far aud wide. No principal more sure
ly governs the distribution of any particu-
lar class of population than that of de-
mand for the particular services to which
l.they naturall adapt themselves. Thus the
trree negro wttlygo wherever there is Il de-
mand for TINT peculiar employment to
which be seems naturally to addict him
Iself To obtain the position he desires he
fwill wander far and wide. Throughout
this whole country you can. scarcely find
any where u. community of free negroes
permanently located. The tastes aud hab-
its of the free negro tend to their disper-
sion. No fact smore palpable than This
Thus the policy Of gradual emancipation,
instead of making our State.a receptacle
for free negroes, will tend most directly 10
the dispersion abroad of our present slaves
as they become gradually emancipated,-
Emancipat0 them. at. once and you could
not keep them here if you wanted them
They would soon disperse in search of the
emplOyments and positions which they
cOvct. But even if this were not the case
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