The Portland daily press., 1865-12-28
Justice to an Injured but Loyal People.

AAAy A'1POAeoAS ASoPSSeos
Justice to an Injured but Loyal People.
No pains have been spared to create an ex-
element against the colored population of the
South, by representing that they were to rlse'
and inaugurate gigantic rebellion during the
holiday festivals. This effort comes of one OF
two causes; it comes of disposition to bring
suspicion upon defenceless people who have
been uniformly loyal while their present per-
secuters have been in aims against the loyal
Government, representing them as a-danger-
Gus class, so as to prepare the pubic mind 10
+ be content with their cruel subsection to the
t'ruling classes"-the late rebels-and to make
the people Of the United States satisfied to
see them ground down and deprived OF every
right belonging to free people, or, second, it
comes of cowardly, guilty public conscience,
realizing its long chapter of wrongs perpetrat-
ed against this oppressed race, and exercised
with nervous fears lest the people composing
q that race, now that they are tree and many of
them have been taught the use of arms, will
rise in their strength and manhood, and take
4 vengeance on their old oppressors for the cru
ell wrongs they have SO long suffered at their
hands. i ny ''-l' .i-i'i- as
In either case, however, the allegations
against the blacks are false, and are being SO
proven by the transporting events of the hour.
Not an instance has revealed itself of any riot,
general disturbance, or disposition to break the
peace, on the part of the people so recently
emancipated. b.
From the elimination of the rebellion in
civil war in 1851 till the present hour, while
the entire white population of the South
statesmen and politicians not more than phi
losophers and divines-have been in one great
seething cauldron of rebellion, and mitered &C.
clesiastics laying aside the cross have taken up
the sword to cut down the tree of popular lib
'erty; while the very devil seems to have en-
tered into and reigned supreme in the South
ern "ruling classes" the negroes have remain
ed quiet and peaceable, never committing acts
of violence, but patiently watching and wait
ing for the morning light which should bring
them deliverance. Their orderly, quiet and
unexceptionable department has been the won
der as it has challenged the admiration of the
world, astonishing the rebels who feared their
power when coupled with such opportunity
and almost equally astonishing the loyal peo-
pie of the country, who expected, perhaps
hoped, that they would seize the golden oppor-
tunity to strike for freedom and thus decide
the struggle Even the New York World has
conceded their peaceful conduct, and with un-
speakable meanness, insisted that an oppressed
people having such opportunities and neglect
ing to improve them by general uprising and
overthrow of their old oppressors, were not
worthy of the political rights of citizenship.
Events have shown, however, that the blacks
pursued the course ofwisdom. The end has
justified their conduct, and should teach us
p that, during the great struggle through which
the nation has passed, with all their tempta-
tons and opportunities to do acts of violence
they have been controlled by higher than
human wisdom; that God has been their
Counsellor and Guide though they and the
loyal people of the country may not have rec
ognized His interposition. ssN ,f.
Recently, as we have already intimated,
reports have been simultaneously put in circu-
laton, in various parts of the country.
That the negroes contemplated general
revolt at Christmas; that they would insist
upon division Of property, and other agrari-
an measures, and, failing to secure reeogni-
ton of these, they would apply the torch and
the dagger Unfortunately to all classes. This
wicked attempt to excite indignation against
an unfortunate class has, in few instances,
met with a proper response from those it was
intended to injure. 70 on. >is 9eeJ oiE
In Richmond, Va, meeting Of the colored
citizens was held, and a series of resolutions
was adopted, declaring that the rumor of an
intended instruction" was without founda-
ton; and citing their conduct during the late
war, when they were slaves, as proof of their
declarations. They ask for equal rights be-
fore the law, including that of suffrage-for
the abolition of class laws-ior such protec-
ton in their rights as given the WITHSTAND
pledge themselves to sustain the government,
and to aid in putting down rebellion whenever
called upon. .af lq ai j
How incomparably does such a voice rise
above the insolent tone which has character
lied nearly all the public assemblies of the
whites of the South The colored population
are loyal without an eff" They ask for the
recognition of rights which they have by acts
proved their fitness to enjoy. The whites de-
mand the enjoyment Of privileges which they
insolently trampled under foot, and appeal
to Constitution which for four years they
have sought to destroy. The blacks have been
the friends, the whites the mortal enemies of
the Republic. We insist, if a .ruling class" is
is now to be created in the South, it should
be composed of loyal people. ne hs--" s7at