Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-03-09
CONDITION OF THINGS Arrrsr soUTvy.

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CONDITION OF THINGS AT TEsE SOv1TEg.
Notwithstanding the terribly gloomyprophe-
cleS'made at the beginning of the winter rcla-
1--WE to the condition and prospects of the
freedmen, it is now evident that they are fast
ceasing to give the really discerning amongst
Their friends any great uneasinesS as to their
future. From all parts of the South, and es-
pecaly from the Southern papers themselves,
we get good accounts of their industry, their
ability and determination to make a living for
themselves; and it is no wonder that with this
evident, it is getting to be deemed measurably
needless TO treat them as the utterly helpless
beings it is the wish and the interest of some
TO consider them.
We have taken the ground hitherto; that it
was foolish to talk Of sending the coored man
out of the country; of ''colonizing him" when
the fact was evident that in a new country like
this, there was more than enough Of profitable
labor for all. And when we think of what the
freedman has accomplished in the past, as
almost the only laborer Of the immense sec
ton he has put into profitable cultivation. how
idle is it to talk of his being, for any length of
time, and once fairly started in his new career,
an incubus; a being unable to provide for
himself?
And how poor compliment those who as
sumo to be his exclusive friends pay him,
when they propose to enact laws to hold him
UP; to treat him as a miserable weight on the
community; he who by his educated capacity
for labor is really better able to provide for
himself than those who, educated 70 do moth
lug, were his late masters. With even the
fraction Of chance in the past, his little
patch cultivated in the intervals Of his regu-
lar labor, supplied him largely with the COM
forts of life; and what could be done more
destructive of his self reliance, his need Of
self development, than to teach him that now
when his time is his owR, when he is his own
man, that he must be kept in leading strings
by the Government, in the implied belief that
he may be unable to provide for himself by
his own labor.
We have said that the accounts from the
South, generally teach both Government and
people better and wiser policy than all this:
and none is better able to see that this is so.
than the President himself Better posted
than any in regard to the progress the freed
man is making-because necessarily the centre
of all the reliable information that IS current
on the subject-wiser, we say, than any one
else, we are glad to find the facts bearing him
out thoroughly in his declared policy, and we
have no fears whatever, but that in no long
time his views Of the situation viii be fully
justified, making those ashamed who have 50
eagerly assaiied him as untrue to the freedmen
and 10 the country.
We have said that the information that
comes up from the South goes to show that
the Freedman is fairly winning his way. From
numerous articles current on this subject and
to the same effect, we propose to quote a brief
passage from most reliable iournai-thc
Savannah National Republican. 1t says:
"From many parts Of the Southern coun.
TRY, we are receiving the most encouraging
''accounts in regard to the actions Of the
'Freedmen.
lin North and South Carolina and Alabama
"they are said to haze surpassed the most san
Equine expectations Of heJriends Of free labor,
''Gnd agreeably disappointed those tgho lacked
toBJtuthLt ~ tf't SYotLH U!Ftt pr pgILtCECA ~
+'aoo'ttd proce signal failure. The officers
"of the Bureau in these States are besieged
''trom morning to night by hundreds of them,
''anxious to make contracts, either with their
70. 10" '''osiers. or those for whom they have
taken special liking. Itmatters not whether
f'the favorable turn of affairs is attributable
Ito their having made the discovery that they
must do something TO keep off the grim
phantom Of starvation, or whether thev are
''moved to it by the same incentives that
cooperate upon the rest of mankind Whether
cit comes from the promptings Of an empty
Stomach Or n heart in the right place, the
fact remains the same, and speaks volumes
''of good cheer to the hearts of our struggling,
''almost Respondent people"
This Is certainly emphatic in its character,
and what is more, it is confirmed by all that
we see in our daily exchanges from the whole
region in question; something far more rcli-
able-the editors Of these journals being resi-
dents there-than the casual observation and
gossip of the travelling correspondents of
radical papers north, whose determined and
evident purpose it has become 10 throw the
President in the wrong.
Then say-after an exhibit so plain
what right have any to despond as to the fu.
ture of the colored race, and of the destiny Of
the States where he is located? To be sure,
the latter are under many discouragements
now, as the direct consequences of the heed.
less conflict entered upon TO overthrow the
Government; but with their submission ten
dered, and their purposes to accept the lot
that has come upon them evident, it cannot
be long before they will finally emerge from
their present troubles, despite the obstacles so
persstently thrown in their way at Washing
ton. Every friend of his country should de-
sire this, and desiring it, there need be not a
single fear lest it will not be accomplished