The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-10-13

The Freedmen 01 the S0Wtns
rHRIR PAST AND PRESENT CONDfTION-ADDRKs9 OF
REV. JAMES LYNCH, or SOUTH CAROLINA, AT TIE
AFRICAN METHODIST CHURCH IN THIS CITY,
An attentive but rather smaller assemblAge than the
ability Of the speaker actually deserved gathered In tbs
African Methodist Episcopal church last evening" 70
sen TO the remarks Of the Rev. James Lynch OF Souh
Carolina who announced TO deliver an address on
the condition Of the freedmen Of the South Shortly
after eight O'Clock the gentleman announced mis- ds
course he said that for two hundred and forty-nve
wears the coored race had been held in bondage but that
Al length slavery which had ever carried within IL the
element Of It's destruction had been abolished ana
the oppressed were free But they were still in the same
ton which could be obtained from the government and
education which could be bestowed by tie patriots OF
the North whose past kindness was guarantee Tor suoA
Previous to the war there ton thousand slaves in
the islands Of South Carolina alone-ten thousand
bondsmen t0iing night and day their masters plan
tations and each receiving for nourshmen one peck o.
corn week and not fifteen pounds OF meat year The
capture OF Port Royal brought their iamenta-
BILE condition to the knowledge OF the .Unonists.
who ut provided for their moral as well as ter
physical welfare Fifty young men, all college graduates,
were at once sent the islands, and those by dividing
country into districts and establishing schools placed
the freedmen under the guidance Of liberal and educated
men. The ladies Of the North followed their example,
and ere long there not two hundred children OF
population Of ten thousand but attended school with the
utmost regularity So much accomplished that
within q few weeks thousand men were enlisted from
the OF the former slaves and were formed into
who before the outbreak OF the war could nos
sign their names, could both read and write
The coored laboers the docks In savannah ana at HI
ton Head carried everywhere their spelling books 10 their
hats Of the Thirty c0l0red regiment belonging
the regular army, the members of which were all ex
slaves Of whom could write his name before the
inception Of the struggle upwards Of two hundred and
fifty could now make good OF their PEN The freed
men in Beaufort s. c. had in the savings bank estab-
shed in that town by General Saxon less than ono
hundred and seventy-ve thousand dollars, earned by
hard labor since the abolition OF slavery.
Dat. pnnd fvn email
people towards the freedmen still bitter, and had
undergone no change The majority of the Southernes
still believed in the right of secession and only regret
their past conduct Of the misfortune caused
by the war; They had submitted TO the Union laws ana
TO the Of the freedmen under protest. and would
still be guilty of acts OF cruelty were they not held In
restraint by the bayone Of the North Moreover many
Of the white citizens Of the South were ignorant 9 70
be jealous zeal Of the blacks But there was little
doubt eventual change, and the colored mao
at least cause TO thank the people OF tho Norm Iof
their magnanimity. The popular heart had been 20
sorey tried during the recent struggle that Tor the mo-
men forgeful Of the past they yearned TO welcome the
Southern people back the Union Ere long, storm
or ariosm would succeed these days Of Incidence ana
all tho false plans OF indulgence and reconstructioA
would be neutralzed Then would justice be done 10 tne
blacks the true patriots vanqushed at nrst nke sne
Chartists OF England would see they their cause
triumphant and the COorcd accorded all tho rgntS
and privileges due TO fellow beings 10
The speakers remarks were listened 70 thfougnous
with marked attention. and will doubtless be repeated %
4 larger audience. ssst xNt