The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1865-12-22
From tha Lancaster Ltelligencsr.
A Merry Christmas for the South.

udo dh aTllCle winch SHOWS must clearly,
that, it the negroes Of ,h4 South have becn
seriously and on any excessive scale ill
treated since their liberation, the rcspou-
siblIity rests DOT with the Southcrn peo-
pie, but with our own commanders and
with the officials Of the Frccdmeu's Bu-
reau: ln ~ part of the South have the
relations between the blacks and whites
been surrendered to the operations of
the local law. 10 all the States North
ern officials have assumed control IF all
the relations between the freedmen and
their former masters Liberated by the
force of our arms, they have been con.
trolled by Northrrn agencies up to the
present time. We, therefore, aud not
the people Of the South aye responsible
tor their present cUndItl.u, and to fear
full extent for their tuufe conduct
Runners Of preparation for such an in
surec'lon as that which prevailed in Ja-
maica, have Leen coming, now from Lou-
siana, now from Virginia, to day from
Arkansas, Tomorrow from Georgia -
Christmas has been fixed as the the when
the outbreak would occur. Should thu
nation and the world be Mortified by any
such terrible events, the whole blame will
rest upon the shoulders Of those who have
assumed c. ntrol Of the negroes. The
Southern whites will stand before the
world as the Innocent victims Of barbA-
rian race maddcucd into fury and prccipi-
tated into revolt by set of madleniug ia.
Mates. Ever since the emancipation of
the negroes these northern officials have
been omnipotent both to act and control
the acts Of the blacks, while the people Of
the South lave been left perfectly pow
erless. The IiOrW concludes its article
as follows:
There is singular accordance between
the dreams and visions of the revolving
negroes in Jamaica and those which are
said to be now agtatng the negro popula-
tons in many parts of the South. Iu
both cases division Of the Landed prop.
orty of the whites appears to be the mil
lenial boon for which these deluded crea.
lures are looking; 10 both cases the season
of Christmas and the New Year TO have
been fixed upon as the time of the coming
of this agrarian jubilee. In the case Of
Jamaica there is no reasonable doubt that
these notions, which strangely recall the
decisions Of the Jack Cade movement 10
medieval England, and of the Jacguerics
in medieval France, had their origin 10 the
preaching of white clerical demagogues.-
The negro's love of idleuess and his prone
ness to superstition, the most strongly mar
ked of his savage traits, and the last to
be graduated from bis nature, have been
the easy vehicle of'heSc impressions and
it is out rational to infer that the like re-
suits in America must be lraceable to the
like causes. 1t is unnecessary to say that
we regard General Howard, the head of
the Freedmtn's Bureau, as quite iucapa-
bic of tuleratlng. still less encouraging, the
dissemination among the "freedmen" of
influences leading to such an end But
the Freedmen Bureau was organized as
u sort Of var measure, in war times. Vast
nnmbcrs of its agents were selected with
no reference at all to their fitness, either
intellectually or morally for dealing with
so stern problem as the maintenance of
just relations between population lately
enS|aved and a population Iatcly slave
holding. They we're recommended to
office, on the contrary, in majority of in
stances, by the extreme vebemcnce and
bigotry Of their personal opinions on the
abstract question of slavery. Civilians
for the most part, Or officers little familiar
with actual service, they entered toto the
conquest achieved Fly Others with pre-.
disposition, shared by most human beings
in similar circumstances, to magnify their
fur ctions. Instead, therefore, of mai,-
tanning semi judicial and impartial atti.
lude between the two races, the Freed
mems Bureau has really on the whole,
been administered as If it were a secouda.
ny engine of sntjugation brought to bear
upon the whites. 10 this way, even
when its functionaries have not actually
made themselves the missionaries Of an
approaching doo.Fslay for the whites they
have encouraged the negroes to regard
the whites as doomed, aud themselves as
the destined nherjtors OF the Gland and
iatncss thereof
Tried already as few people in our times
have been, by defeat, by priva,ion, by fl
nancial ruin, and by political disfranchise-
ment, the Southern people, it is sadly
possible, may be destined to be still more
sorely tried by the nameless calami les Of
social convulsion. 1t is sadly possible
that the blessed Christmas bells, which
should ring in peace and good will to all
men every where, may sound for them
the tocsin Of household murder, of mid
night conAasration, Of death, and miseries
worse than death. Most earnestly and
devoutly do we trust that this browning
curse may be spared to our country but
alike to just Indemnity for the past and
firm security for the future it is indis-
pensable that this curse, if it falls upon us,
should be carried swiftly and with aven-
gng emphasis home, by the public con-
science and the public arm, to those who
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