The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1864-05-31

Coiofcu uAou uoW boIFiuB III our armle
shall be Withdrawn from confronting tb
enemy, and be arenanded to perpetua
bondage. and subjected to The vengeanc
ofrebel masters ?ssELet them make vi
their record, But let il not be said o
us on this side of the House that we fail
ed TO recognize these heroic qualities
but rather that we had the justice ant
magnanimity to extend TO them the fost
ering care and .psesspssS, of the Govern
ment that,they in common with us are
seeking to maintain and perpetuate.
But, says the the opposition, why Civ.
them lands which they will not till
They say the negroes free are idle and
will not work for themselves. There
never was an argument or statement SC
utterly fallacious. Will not work The
statistics OF industry and population show
that they are industrious when oppor
tunity is given. Look at Maryland an
example almost within sight Of this Capi.
tol. Free negroes comprise one eighth
Of the population. The people of that
State have always relied upon the labor
of these negroes and recently, by a
majority of more than fifteen thousand,
have decided in favor of immedi late and
unconditional emancipation as the true
policy of the State.
New Orleans, as appears by the CEN
sus of 1860, contained in that year a
population of one hundred and seventy.
five thousand of these fifteen thousand
were free colored, ten thousand were
slaves, and the remainder whites. The
free colored men were taxed for an aver.
age of $1,000 to each person, while the
whites were taxed for only S732 to each
person. How have they acquired this
wealth If not by their own industry :?
Some of the wealthiest inhabitants of the
city of Charleston, South Carolina, are
the free colored population. Experience
demonstrates at Port Royal and else
where where the freedmen have been
permitted TO occupy abandoned lands
and cultivate them, that they are indus
trious snd prosperous, accumulaling
property and improving the lands allot-
ed TO the m.
The results Of emancipation in the
English and French colonies prove that
the freedmen as class are industrious.
Lord Stanley, in l842, characterized
the transition from slavery to liberty in
the following terms :
p" The negroes are happy and satisfied they
give themselves to labor /: they ha We meliorat-
ed their manner of living, aud increased their
comfort while crimes have diminished, their
moral habits have become better"
He further says:
The number of negroes who became free
holders through their industry and economy
amounted in the whole island of Jamaica to
two thousand one hundred and fourteen in
1868, under the apprentice system, which was
abolished in that year, and the number ia-
creased to seven thousand three hundred and
forty two years Afterwards
In Jamaica. the most important of the
slave colonies, the freedmen, in four
years, expended for the purchase Of lands
and the erection OF bousee more than
four million francs. Of the eighty-two
thousand slaves emancipated in Guiana,
fifteen thousand nine hundred and six
had become freeholders in 1s43.
A colonist in 1851 says
g 1t may be supposed that the whites have
the preeminence there" But
apart from that prominence which results
from wealth and intelligence in every commun.
ity, tho whites have no privilege over their fel.
that the colored man can raise himself TO the
first rank of civil society and hold his place
there as well as any European by origin''
On all these point the French ,esti.
mony accords completely with the En-.
gish reports.
After emancipation The aggregate
commerce ofthe French colonies increas.
ed. The value of productions increased
notwithstanding the unfavorable legisla.
ton Of the French Assembly. Ii is true,
for three years after emancipation, ex.
ports fell off. but recovered again in five
years and in ten years. in some islands
doubled.
Both before and after emancipation il
the English and French colonies the
home Governments sought to increase
colonial productions by encouraging tn,
immigration Of hired lsborers.
THIS experiment did not prove success
ful. from variety Of causes. But il dis
prove that the hired laborers from Africi
were the most industrious and least vi
cious. In other words, il is from Ii
African race that laborers are borrowed
destined to replace other Africans VIII
are accused OF idleness and vice.
Is il likely that this great work c
emancipation could have progressed an