New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-02-05
WHAT SHALL WE DO yVKTzz TEsE5Ee

NOTHING could be more ridiculous and lnsig-
nificant than many OF tho reports which have
been forwarded to the North respecting the
character and demeanor of the Emancipated
Slaves. 1t has been our misiortunc, IN too
many cases. to fad this information miserably
deficient in Ilberality, intelligence, and sympa-
thy. A corporal trusts bis shirts with sable
Iaundress, who receives three OF these gar
mpnts and returns two, and those perhaps az
grayatiney bereft of buttons, whereupon this
indignant brave writes home to the village
newsparer that the ContrabanGs, TO an iBdi-
vdual, arc all thieves. 4 sturdy black, de-
spairng OF remunerhtiye meal or money, de-
cnes to dig, at least assduou,ly; and we are
treated to the deep deduction, sometimes by
electric telegraph, that without tie Lash, all
Negroes are lazy. Some venerable SamOo, IN
confidence, imparts to a gaping ie'ter-writ9r
.se fact that he wishes to 50 back to hs
master; and we have leading columns occu-
pied by delighted editors who conclude from
this wonderful premise, that all other Sambcs
wish to 70 back TO their masters also. Hard
upon this follows another conclusion, VIZ that
Immediately upon being restored 30 the bosom
of Abraham, this cdf'ous descendant Of nc.
cursed Canaan, unless properly hogsed, will
experience an iHexplIcable regusion Of feeling,
VIII murder his master, aud fre his masters
house. Ii appears to Us astonishing that the
Civil War, which is not only sucA sOmber
bat such q serious business, AMI which demands
of the best mind OF the nation such careful and
practical Judgment, should have led to 10 wiser
rejection. We bave mad all this before. For
quarter IF o century We have been compelled to
IstrE 70 the same bad assertion AMI tie same Inc
consequential reasoning-the same begged denial
o.; he htuess Of tie slave fox freedom, and OF
the policy Of doing him common justice Ihis
pertinacious assumption of his lncapacty Tor
social liberty has been the stock.in.trade Of
tie Mau-Owner and OF his sufficiently servlle
aDologist, until Heaven is sick and earth
weary OF hollow words and ingenious subter.
fuge3
For our own part, as we have been found
among those who believe Emancipation 10 be
not only right, but safe, we beg leave to say
that We nave never supposed that the liberia.
ton Of so many human beings, heretofore IT.
responsible, would be without some embarrass-
meEts IL is Freedom that tits men for Free
dom. be the man black, white, or yellow. just
az the athlete grows sturdy by the exercise Of
his profession. The crime OF Slavery has been
that it has found IL the incapacity of its VIC
tins an argument for the continuation OF 1t:
concentrating Influences, aud has continually
pointed to the ruin it has wrought as an apol-
oey for posIponng repatriation. In eleyat.ng
masses of men, there must be, as In every
other human enterprise, beginning; and it
has been just this costly step which we hayo
been sfraid TO take. Emancipation has been
opposed particularly by doughtaces, not because
it would diminish crops or endanser human lie
and pubic order, but because it was telt
that its inevitable effect would be 10 ralse
the Black 70 something Ike social equality
with the White. The fear has been, not
that the Freedman would be Idle, but
: that he would be Industrious; not that
he would become still more degraded, bu! that
/ he might become tOeraby enlightened; nos
that he would prove unworthy OF tAe expert
nent, and of the confidence implicitly reposed
N hun. but that he would by his develop
ment OF good character, give the he to Is
hbelers. Men who have spent their lives and
their best intellectual energies in proving tad
lnferority of the African race, cannot ID
expected to regard q practical REPUTATION o.
their notions with equanlmity. The Freedman
Ican do them no greater diSseryice than 10 az
hibit the good qualities Of which they ASSERTED
that he was incapable. IL Is petty 'snlV
which refuses to give Emsncipated Man
chance. Nobody, in mis- senses, has supposed
that tho Black Race would emerge instantly
from degradation continued for two centuries
Nobody has expected TO find the freedman
altogether beautiful in oil parts Cd his charac'
tcr--a model Of possible excellence, mlrace
of virtue, y wonder OF wit, paragon o.
prudence. and u marvel OF industry. In Gun
who was Yesterday Slave, we should expec
to find the vices OF The Slaye-the traces
Of that falsehood which heretofore hal
been bis sole protection against cruelty--eN
that thieyishness which may have saved aa
from the pangs of hunger, or guarded Aui
irsm the incemency of the elements--cl !na'
characterization of the animal passions whlca
his superors in society have encouraged LOT
their own profit and by their own example
of that unthrift which has been strengthened
by whole life of jealous guardianship and OF
restraint in its pestiest forms. we might 10
we'll expect to find in newborn babes the fullest
muscular development as in the captive just
unclaimed all the exceencies Of human nature
characterization will not remove the scars wblc,