Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1864-02-17
WHAT Is SAID OF US ABROAD.
The Abolitionists and the Negro--Caustic
Structures
From the london Herald, Jan. 2I.l


this month on The Negro Race in Amer
ica, which would appear TO have been
written by some Abolitionist fanatic, eli
ther English or Yankee, who had never
read anything but Aboliuonist tracts and
Abolition newspapers, who knows nothing
whatever about the institutions Of the
South or about the character of the negro,
who gets his facts from Butler aud Sew
ard and his philosophy from Beecher and
, Wendell Phillips. 1t is quite possible for
such writer 10 believe that the negro
race have been long intelligently awaiting
emancipation ; that they aIe as capable
and more moral than the whites that
they work better as iIeemen than as
slaves ; and that they have submitted so
long to slavery only because they sArauk
from incurIing the bloodshed and coniu-
sion which must follow seryile revolt
/ 1t is possible for such a writer 10 fancy
that the negroes have been ill-treated by
the South and kindly received in the
North that they love the Yankee and
hate the Southefner; that they act as
! Northern spies and not as Confederate
scouts that they do soldiers service in
/ the Federal armies, and have in that ca
pacity achieved victories worthy ofremem-
| brance.
The fact is that the whole negro popu-
lation, with here and there an exception,
has been happy aud coutented in slavery :;
that the free negro is utterly unable to
take care Of himself in the midst of su-
| perior number Of whites; that he will do
no work at all, and is one Of the most
miserable beings in creation. Such is the
experience Of the United States, North
and South; such is the experience of our
own West India Islands. in one of which
the free negroes lately got up rebellion,
Of which the object was to plumber all the
property Of the whites, to gain possession
of the women and to massacre all themen
The negroes Of the Southern States were a
happier and higher species; they were
well fed and kindly treated, and devoted
ly attached TO their masters aud their
masters families. In the North they
were Ill-used, spurned, and spit upon :;
Hogged out of one State, fined if they
set foot in another; in no State out of
New England admitted to the privileges
Of citizenship. Consequently, when the
war broke out the negroes were enthusi-
asticaly loyal to their masters
When Lincoln's proclamation was is
sued, the Aboltionists - who expected
and hoped, who passiona'ely proclaimed
their hope, that the negroes would rise
upon their masters families and enact
throughout the South the horrible scenes
of Delhi aud Cawnphrc were bitterly
disappointed. The negroes remained
quiet and loyal, serving the Coniederotes
so faithfully and 2eaIousl : that the sobcrer
sort Of Northern officers began to find out
that an intelligent contraband meant
Confederate spy. And so they have re-
mained, exec pit when they have been
dragged forcbly away from their homes
to serve or die under Yankee cOlOrs, or
when left for months under Yankee con
troll they have been debauchcd aud bru-
/ talized ty drink, 10y license, ard by The
preaching of Mr.. Beechcr's disciples, who
teach the iamoIs creed Of " Hell fire for
the leaders and Greek fire for the mass
es" So the wretched slaves whJ have
fallen into Northern hands either die bv
thousands Of want, cold and nIkedness-
and tens Of thousands have % perished-
or, being completely dc5as ed, are employ
ed as the tools Of Northern vengeance :;
now in destructive expedition, which
burns and plumbers, but dares not fight
now in murderinG old men and children,
nov IN outraglLg the unhappy inhabitants
OF the districts which have fallen into
Northern hands.
Their military achievements have been
contiIed to three forms of service-they
haze burned unresisting towns like Da-
rien; they have committed massacres
like that of Beckhaul's Landing: they
ay,gI i
yindictiveness, as they are at Norfolk
they have never done anything in the
field Of battle, except when driven on by
Yankee bayonets, they have screened tho
craven soldiery of Massachusetts from the
fire of Confederate batteries. The most
remarkable Of their exploits is one Of
which the full history has notye reached
us; but it appears that they mutinied at
Fort Jackson, murdered their white Off
GERS, and bea, off a force sent against
them. Thus their only success in fight
ing has been obtained over the Yankees,
and not in their service,
At Norfolk, under the congenal leader
ship Of the infamous" General Butler,
they are no doubt fulfilling the hearts de
sire Of their emanCipators 10y tormenting,
insulting, and vexing in every possible
way the wretched inhabitants. These are
detained by force, and are not allowed to
cross the Confederate lines, nor yet to
live under Federal rule without taking,
not one but twenty oaths Of allegiance. II
a man desires TO make purchase, to re-
cover stolen property, to perform any of
the most necessary duties of civilized life,
he finds that he must take an oath Of al
legiance to a Government which he loath-
es and detests, and on each occasion anew
oath is required. Women also are subject
to this law and what is worse, no protect
ion from the foulest insults is allowed to
any one who does not swear in the pre-
b scribed form. When General Butler iss-
!, ued his proclamation authoizing his troops
TO treat the ladies of New Orleans as wo-
men Of the town plying their vocation,
some very unsorupulous persons, here and
in America, tried to argue that he did not
mean what be said that he only intend
ed brutal and blackguard insult, not a
2 license to outrage.