Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-06
CONDITION on rHE nLAcE.s.


approvingly, from the n. Y. Post, of which
the following is an extract:
The blacks own absolutely nothing except
their bodies; their former masters own every
thing, and viii sell them nothing. Ii a black
man draws even a bucket Of water from well,
pc must tirst get the permission Of white man
his enemy. II he sleeps in a house over night il
Is only by the leave of a white man. IL he buys
a loaf Of bread, he must buy Of white nan.
III ne asks OF work 10 earn his living he must ask
awhile man--and the whites are determined 70
give him no work. except on such terms as Will
make him serf and impair his liberty. In diff
ferent parts Of the South the planters already
combining for this purpose they engage them
selves together not to sell or lease land 10 black
man on any terms; not 10 employ them except BY
the year; and on certain conditions. and not 20
suffer them to live on their places unless they rub
nit 10 the planters conditions.
If this were literally true, what might be
supposed to be the actual degree of wretch
edness into which the negro Is thrown?
If it were fact that the negro owns nothing,
and can neither obtain loaf of bread or a
drink of water, without the consent of white
man who is his bitterest enemy, surely the
negroes would be starving and furnishing all
over the South. But the falsity of such a
picture is shown in the reports which are
daily being published, that only few hun
dreds of them are receiving the care and sup
port of Government in any one of the South
ern States. As general thing throughout
the South, those negroes who remained on
the plantations are in a comfortable condi-
ton and, if they have been frugal aud eco
nomical in the expenditures of their small
earnings, are now able to lay by few dol
lars, which may be increased by the same
means. 1t is true that their sudden emanci-
patton left them in destitute condition. 1t
probably did not occur 10 the Post that such
would be one of the necessary results of abo-
lition. But it is equally true that if it had
not have been for the kindly sympathy of
their former owners, who gave them employ
ment and food, and raiment, great numbers
would this day be perishing, or the Govern
ment would be supporting them. The land
owners Of the South are willing to pay them
quite as much for their labor, in proportion
to the value of the services, as the Post and
itsfriends pay the common unskilled laborers
of the North. And, when they are SO en-
ployed, will be as fairly and justly dealt
with, and as punctually paid, as the Northern
white laborer is by his employer.
The wretchedness and misery of the ne
groes, Of which we are Palmetto see so much,
are principally confined to those who have
left their former homes and focked to the
villages, cities and towns, and have ceiebrat-
ed their emancipation by idleness, thriftless-
ness and dissipation. The painful results of
this course are apparent wherever this con-
dition exists, and will continue, so long as
they pursue evil and debasing ways, and en-
deavor to live without work. And the same
will be the case in any and every commun-
ity, everywhere and in all time, when a
body of its people pursue such course.
The Post further proposes that the Gov
eminent furnish them lands from the public
domain. In this likewise it displays the
usual abolition knowledge of the condition
of affairs in the South, and the best interests
OF the negro. 1t states that the-eis a GER
tain amount Of lands and town property in
the hands of the Freedman's Bureau, which
should be applied as far as they will go. 1t
would thus entail upon the negro lifetime
of lawsuits and uncertainty of tenure, with
a certainty that the lands thus given him
would revert to the children of the former
owner at his death, by express provision of
the Constitution. In the next place the Post
would give them lands from the unoccupied
areas of public domain in Florida, Louis
lana, Arkansas, &c 1t does not know that
these lands are either remote and barren
hills, or submerged swamps, which the
General Government nor the States have
been able to make productive This ardent
friend of the negro, would send him into
these barren and improbable wastes of sand
and bog; and for the name of owning piece
of land condemn him to misery and starva-
ton indeed.
We have observed one remarkable fact in
this whole abolition business, which has
given us better hopes of the ultimate pros
perity and comfort of his race than any
other-whieh is that he knows great deal
better what is his true interest than his
Northern abolition friend, and has generally
spurned his advice upon all subjects re-
lating to his welfare and comfort.