The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1865-08-30
The Fruits of Negro Equality.

The Panama correspondent of The Ne,o
York Herald, under date of July 10th,
gives the following account Of the work
ing of Negro Equali'yin that portion Of
Central America. The writer says
You may suppose that much I have
heretofore written in regard to affairs in
this State is because have taken 0 pro-
judicial view OF matters and things and
have not taken pains to inform myself
properly as to their true condition. l
will now give you an outline Of the con.
versation had few evenings since with
a native Of Panama. gentleman of edu-
cation and refnement-one who knows
and thoroughly understands his country,
and who would upon no account say any
thing against it. l wanted some infor-
nation on the subject, and frankly told
him SO, and what use intended to make
of it. The first question put was
"W hat is the population of the city Of
Panama and suberb (arrabaO W An
swer-"About twelve thousand, includ.
ing foreigners" Second-"What pro.
portion Of the twelve thousand are pure
white ?" Auswer-"Less than two thous.
and" Third-"Of the children born
among this population what proportion
are legitimate :" Answer-"About three
tenths, and those nearly altogether among
the whites, for there are but few mar
riages among the blacks" He went on
to say that on one occasion he took cen
sus Of an adjoining department Of thil
State, and among eleven hundred personl
he found seven married couple only
What have here given you is yer!
fair picture Of the state Of society here
about, and you will find it about on pa
no worse-than other parts ofthe worlt
wherein the negro has, by mistaken sym
pathy, been brought above his propel
level. From knowledge Of what thu
Southern States were prior to the REBEL
ion, I feel perfectly safe in asserting tha
notwithstanding Mrs. Stowe, Fam,
Kemble, Butler and others-there wer
more legitimate children born among III
slaves than there are among what |
termed "freedmen." Morality anon
them here is q thing almost unknown
\ and some Of the cases Of incest you hea
Of are Of the most revolving and disgust
ing character. / will say one thing, how
ever, in favor of the class who are native
Of the soil-that in everything they ar
as far advanced above the Jamaci
negro as it is possible to be. Tn
latter has very likely acquired som
little education; this at once makes hin
saucy, arrogant and desirous Of aping al
the manners and customs Of the whit
man. Tho Jamaica mulatto is far worse
and can excel tho world for impudence
and in nine cases out Of ten is uttsrl..
worthless. They are Stunned by the ma
tives, and the lowest term one can us
here towards black Or mulatto Is to So
that he is "Jamaioa niger" Thi
cuts like two edged sword, and is NOR
telling in its effects than if you were
use the vilest words known in the Eng
lish language. had intended TO dro
the black subject, but thought thata III
tlo information from the best source abor
"Mosquerra's progross IN civilization
would not be amiss, and might thro
some light upon what may be expecte
in the United States should the sam
course be pursued within the freedmen
there has been in this country an
among the West India Islsnds--namel.
universal suffrage 'i a'''a'l as37pl