The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1865-11-17
The Negro Character.

AAO AN ~ ShoAoSoSA'
The following account of the negro
character, is from G.. A. Sala's letter
from Algeria to the London Telegraph:
"You have been told that with educa-
ton and equal political and social rights,
the free negro will, in process Of time,
rise to the level of the white man. Some
amiable fanatics 60 so far as to maintain
that Sambo is in all respects, about
thirty-fve per cent. better than his fair
skinned brother. Well, the free niger
experiment has been tried by the French
in Algiers, not Dramatically, but almost
unconsciously, for five aud thirty years.
Sambo in Algeria is held by authority to
be as good as any other man. The Euro"
peans, the Arabs, the Jews and the ne
groes all enjoy equal rights, The Moors
often marry their no2rcsses. The French
have not the slightest prejudice against
the negro on account of his ebony skin.
They never have had. Among the ladies'
Sambo is even popular. lie is "wn beau
noir." The Houave walks arm in arm
with the Turco negroes and negresscs
THU III tHt suLle u'HuipuSSSS anu CaETldSeS
as white men aud there seems to be as
many negroes in Algicrs-full blooded
black Digscrs--in comparison with the
population, as i'll any considerable city in
the North
am quite certain that if deserving
colonist were recommended to the En-
peror for the cross of the Legion OF Honor,
his Majesty would not withhold the deco.
ration from! him on the ground that he
mad black face. | don't think the COM
munity would offer the slightest objection
to negro sub project Or u negro commis.
sary of police. Why should they The
negro is French soldier, and all French
men are equal before the law. Thus,
without satellites, without the stigma of
belonging to an abhorred race, one might
imagine that enfranchised Sambo would
have done something for himself by this
time. The State provides gratuitous edu-
cation for all races, classes aud creeds,
and there is plenty Of work and money to
be made, for those who are sober and in.
dustrious. The end of all which is that
Sambo goes to sleep i'll the sun, waking
up 10 reject himself with "abundant pump
KIM or penteous pluntains, and devour-
ing, preferably, another mans pumpkin to
his own.
He does little Gshing-this avooaion
gives him plenty Of time to swing his legs
over bank, grooming forth songs Of the
tom-tom kind, and taking short dozes be-
tween the bites he does little garden
ing; he peddes few baskets, caabashes
and bead rosaries. This is all He works,
perhaps, two days u week. lie is very
liberal in his creed, keeping with mu CHI
scrupulosity, and as the closest of holi-
days, tho Mahomctan Sabbath, which is
Friday, the Jewish, which is Saturday,
aud the Christian, which is Sunday, with
very likely a Saint Monday of his own.
And whenever there is the slightest ex-
cuse for an old cooked hat and a pair of
worsted epaulettes, to surmount his tur-
ban or his shoulders withal, he sticks
spangles or tinsels over his caftan, and
with Pompey, and Quashie, aud Quimbo,
his brethren, he perambulates the streets,
humping the tom'tom, Changing the cas-.
tinets, bowling the chants of his country,
and demanding the sous. In the whole
of Algiers there is not a single reputable
negro shop keeper or artisan. You never
see the negroes, now that they are free,
carrying heavy burdens, or doing any
kind Of arduous manual labor; that they
leave to the Arabs. Sambo prefers to
loaf and 'slosh aroupd.' "