The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1865-06-28
NUMBER II

them when aged and lnhrm, and all this
for the labor of one man. 1t will be
much cheaper for the planters to employ
white labor, sof which, indeed, they can
easily procure an abundance. And if this
should be the result of the abolition Of
|slavery-if, in depriving the masters of
their slaves, the Abolitionists have also
deprived the slaves of their homes and
the means of their subsistence, will they
be SO well satisfied with the "war for the
negro?"
THE SOUTHERN FIELD OPEN 70 WHITE LA.
BoRERs.
From all that can learn of the actual
condition of affairs at the South, such is
very likely to be the ultimate result of
the abolition of slavery. The people of
the South, like all other people, are gov
erned by selfinterest. Negro labor has
been profitable to them, only because they
could compel the negro to work, ,and thus,
in spite Of the heavy burdens entailed
upon them by the support of the negro's
labor profitable. But the liberated slave,
APPLYING pow 20 his old master for em-s
ployment, will be met by the competion
Of the white laborer. 1t is in vain to rid
icule this idea. 1t must and will be SO.
The Southern field is open to the white
and black laborer alike. Tens of thous-
aHds of white laborers, Yankees, Germans;
Swedes and Norwegians, and Irishmen,
will, in year or two, swarm all over the
South. seeking that employment which
they fail to find in the over.crowded
North. And thus, in year or two, the
poor negroes will find themselves crowd
ed from the scenes of their former em-
|ployment.
THE PLANTERS CONSIDERING THE SUBJECT.
These are my views, but they are not
mine alone They are the views that al
ready begin to occupy the minds of the
Southern people. AS remarked above,
their system of labor has entirely chang
ed. The question which they have to
consider, and which, as l learn, they are
considering very earnestly, is, whether ii
will be most expedient and most profita-
BILE for them to enter into new relations
with the negroes or to employ white la
borers in their stead Very few public
meetings on the subject have been held,
although have before me the proceed
ings of two in Virgins, ,and four in ether
ly discussed in private, ameng the plant
ers; and the universal sentiment, particu=
larly in the mere northern latltudes, is
strongly in favor of discarding negro labor
altogether: not Immediately or suddenly,
but BY gradual process. The plan
which has received the most favor is, in
brief, to employ those of the negroes who
are willing to work, paying them fair was
ges, ahl to employ, also, white men
whenever they offer the right kind, to OBJ.
serve carefully their relative value as Ia
borers; and if, as is supposed, the white
laborers turn cut to be the most profita=
bic, gradually increase the white laborers,
and diminish the number of negroes en-
ployed. In this way the Southern States
will eventually become free States indeed,
but in a way not all contemplated by the
Abolitionist agitators of 1860.
WHAT WILL BEceME OF THE NEGRO.
What will become of the negro race
then? This indeed, is a serious question,
and one which Mr.. Charles Sumner and
his followers had done we'll to consider
six years ago. If they had been content
to let the negro alone, the latter would
4
forever. By their sudden abolition Of
slavery they have paved the way to the
certain extermination of the black race In
America, an event which may possibly be
accelerated by negro iusurrection or q
servile war. At all events, the races, both
free, can not live together. The negro
can never become citizen at the South.
| Wendell Phillips perceives this fact clear
| ly, and it is this that renders him so hos
tile to President Johnsons policy. The
negro can never compete with the white
race, either in the intellectual or agricul.
tural field of labor. Wherever the two
races have come in competition, the me-
gro has gone down, and so it will be in
and man can't alter the DEGREES of God.
WHAT THE SOUTH HAS DONE FOR THE
AFRICAN RACE.
4 Why is it, that as century after century
has rolled away, the negro in Africa has
not made any advances in civilization, as
the nations of Asia, and Europe, and
America have done? There are forty three
millions of pure negroes in Africa, NOT
counting the Egyptians and Nubians, and
the inhabitants of the countries border
ling on the Mediterranean. Why have
they built no cities or railroads, invented
no machinery, written no books? The
negro of to-day in Africa is the negro of
six thousand years ago. He has not ad.
vanced one step in civilization during all
that time. He is still a ferocious canni-
bal, running naked in the woods, and
selling his captives for slaves. The curse
of God is upon the race. The only anne
llioratiou they have ever received has been
at the hands of the much abused South
! fern people In the Southern States they
have been humanized, civilized and Chris
tianized. A 'loyal" paper sneered at the
Catholics the other day because the Cath
olic missions in Africa had not succeeded
in Chrstianizing the natives. But what
denominations has succeeded in Africa?--
lit is in the Southern States, and by the
Southern people alone, that the negroes
have been made Christians and brought to
the knowledge of the true God. On eve
ry large plantation the negroes had their
church aud their minister. Their good
friends, the Abolitionists, have deprived
Al > a.