The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-07-25
The white I.shorer.

The White LsheReF.
In the various articles which we have |
presented for the consideration of our read |
ers on the subject Of slavery, we have had
chiefly in view the prosperity and elevation
Of the white laborer. 1t is to this class OF
men that we are most devoted, and with
which we are in most mmunicatiOn from
day to day. There is surely no one OF our
readers, however much his prejudices may
prevail, who suppose that We would advo-
cate any question which we thought lnJu-
rious to this deserving class of men; or en-
tertain design, however remote, to di-
minish the sources of their prosperity. We
belong to the same stock. We are heir TO
hard hands and life maintained by the
sweat of the brow. The history OF our
Church in the United States forbids, more
over, any thought of the kind. Our faith
has been propagated by the poor; they are
truly the bone and sinew of the Church;
they and the priest have been hand in hand
in every labor Of love, and hence there wo'd
be no excuse for him if he wrote, or spoke,
or thought, or took part with any one in
any political movement prejudicial to those
TO whom we owe so much. 1t is for them
that we labor; their permanent good is the
motive which gives impulse to our mind
and heart. We wish to throw open to them
q continent; to give them power 10 selecta
place Of labor in any partof the land, with
out being subjected to the injustice and
tyranny which are the results of pro-slave-
ny legislation. We desire to see them free
to cultivate the land for themselves, and
thus constitute a people who, by their Sc
we're toll, integrity Of life and Christian
fortitude, will give honor to our Church-a
people whose lives will not be lavished in
luxury acquired by the blood and tears and
unholy bondage of their fellow-men. Our
hostility to the restoration of slavery is not
80 much for the emancipation of the blacks
as for the social elevation and independence
Of our white brethren.
doing it well We have no hesitation in
saying so, because every day brings us adj
ditiOnal proof of the increasing strength of
our position. We have indeed encounter
ed violent opposition, the result not of rea-
son or ill-will to the cause of humanity,
but of a prejudice the growth Of years, a
mishapen mass with life in it indeed, but a
life-deaf and dumb and blind. We have
exchanged one class of subscribers for an
other; many have left us for fear they
would lose the footstools on which they
sat in contented humility and meekness
at the ward meeting on the county conven-
ton; but for these we have received the
names of men in whose patronage and
friendship we rejoice, because they have
shaken off a load Of political bias, and
dare to use their intellect in judging of the
great questions which engage the attention
ofthe citizen. Thus, what we have lost in
Ohio and Indiana, we have gained in
Western Virginia, Missouri and Kentucky,
Nor do we think that those who in a mo-
ment of irritation have left US, will become
SO enamored with the piae1, tempers of
their netO toUes, that they will not soon re-
turn to the old.
The great argument constantly used
against our position is this-If slavery
be abolished we will be overrun by color
ed people, who will compete with the white
laborer, and finally supplant him. This
argument, or rather assertion, has not
force. They have been running into Cam
ada for years, and yet they have been able
to accomplish nothing against the white
laboring population. Their presence has
only added to the character of the white
man for energy and intellect. Negro colo
MES have been established in various parts
of Ohio, but they have not prospered. To
compare these people with the white man
however poor his condition, would be
ridiculous excess" We know of but
one settlement which gives indications
OF permatent prosperity, and this is to
be attributed to the fact they be-
came converted to the Catholic
Faith, and the Old Church threw her man.
tie over them, and though they were black
she gave them sanctuary and drove away
the wolves, spiritual and temporal. But if
Slavery be abolished the negro will return
to the South. He will not remain amid the
SHOWS of Canada or the Northwest. The
sun attracts him; so that the fear of any
competition between him and the white la
borer becoming successful in the North, is
q phantasy-a hallucination such as mind
welded to Slavery suggests: Our duty at
present is to prevent the rebuilding of the
Slavery edifice. 1t is now in ruins over all
the South, pulled down by the hands that
built it. ALLOW it to be patched up and
the white laborer is again shut out, or al
lowed to enter only on an equality with the
slave. So long as Slavery prevails, there
is not the remotest chance for the white la
borer to contend against it. This is known
to all but remove the nuisance. blot it out.
and the poor white man thinks it no long
er q degradation to work, and he ascends
at once to q position which, under any 9TH
er circumstances, is unattainable. In no
other way will the rich cline of the South
ever be thrown open, with the remotest
chances Of success in life, to the emigran,
laborer. Am l not arguing fairly, my
Catholic countrymen? You know what It
is to labor to save up enough to purchase a
few acres Of land for your family, land
hard to cultivate and scanty in its return.
Are you willing to perpetuate an institu-
ton by which your children are shut out
from the fertile fields of the South? Are
you conNnt W Keep AItGnen gardens Tor
men who despise your Do you wish to oc-
Cupy the same position here that Ireland
does in relation to EnglandP The guilt of
this war Is not upon our souls, but If any
good can be produced from it, let us claim
Rand preserve it and not allow it to slip
nom eur hands.
We do not wish to see the black man in
competition with the white. We desire to
see them far apart; there ought to be no
partnership between the two races. We
have no anxiety to ace them intermingled,
neither working together nor even cult
waiting adjacent fields. The natural supe-
nority Of the white race ought to be care
fully preserved. This is impossible 80 long
as slavery exists, because the poor white
man is just as much, or to q great extent,
in the power of the rich planter as the