The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-06-16
The Great Mistake.

The world, which Is by no means infal-
liblc either in whole or in part, has, in the
present day, made one Of the greatest mis-
takes Il ever blundercd into. This is the
egrcgious error Of supposing that the re-
cent civil war in this country liberated the
negro; whereas it really liberated the
white man. Years ago JOHN RANDOLPH
asserted that The masters ,ccre Slaves to the
negroes ; and this was the truth. To provide
for tho blacks TO take care of them; to
repair the damages from their neglect; t."
husband resources their improvidence ana
recklessness were ever impairing; 10 pear
up under the general tendency to waste
exhaustion, and decay from their need
lcssness and forgetfulncss, their indo'ehce
and sloyenliness--imposcd upon all MASTERS
cares and labors that made them really
slaves 70 the. negroes. Aware that the
master had to support them, they felt no
concern as to how they were to live.
Knowing that they had no right OF
property in anything used to cultivate
the place, and that if it were lost or
destroyed they would not have to re-
place it, they bestowed no care upon
il. The master had to care for all and
provide for oil. He had to look after the
negroes, the horses, the cows, the sheep,
the hogs, the wagons, the harness, the
ploughs, the agricultural implements of
all sorts, the stables, the barns, nay every
thing. Without the care and vigilance of
the master and his white superintendent,
there would have been little left after a
few years. The very houses would have
been burned down over their heads
Therefore the responsibility and care con-
corning these people, their coming and 60
ing, their working and support, were heavy
and incessant. The master carried these
cares with him to bed, he dreamed of them
in his sleep, and the morning called him
early to the renewal of the wearisome and
and vexatious vigilance of his relation as
master. He held an office Of uncommon
responsibility and one imposing the most
arduous duties, with compensation alto
geher inddeqme to the duties and the re-
sponsibility it devolved upon him.
The burthens thus borne by the master
for the well-fed negro, who had no cares
nor anxieties for the present or the future,
were quite enough to show that this master
,oas the sldue, and not the negro ,oho ,cas
called his property. But there is another
phase of the relationship which adds
strongly to this view of the subject.
Slavery compelled the children of the
planters and farmers to emigrate. The ILL
sttution did not encourage commerce, nor
trade, nor manufactures. There was little
occupation outside of agriculture, and the
negro was the laborer in that branch of
industry; and, as it had been found i'm
possible to work white and black together,
the white man had to seek new fields afar
off for employment and for success in life.
The wealthy put their sons to the profes.
sions of law and physic, which were al
ways overrun and which, while number
ing in their ranks men who were ornaments
of their country, contained Others who
were only fit for the lower order of occu-
pations-such as ditchers, COW drivers,
farm hands, wagoners, SC. in which
they might have earned livelihoods and
led exemplary lives. But being briefess
and patientless, they fell into vices which
are always convenient for the idle,
and ended Improbable lives by un-
timely deaths. Such fate, with its warn
ing, seemed to be lost; and the multitude
journeying through life in this fashion was
never diminished. This was the picture of
too many who remained at home. And
though it was relief to turn from these
to the cases of those good parents whose
sons were driven by the institution to other
States where they were successful, yet can
we fail to sympathize with those dear old
people who, in the evening Of their days,
were left alone in their charming old man
sions, daily to pine over the absence of
their children! Every object in the house
reminded them of those loved ones. The
rooms they had occupied were tenantless
and gloomy. Though not dead, they might
never meet again! Here was the master
ACKNOWLEDGMENT for the negroes who
dwelt on the same farm for generations,
living socially and joyously in their quar-
tiers, which presented an appearance of
contentment and ease running into fire.
quent festivity, the like Of which the world
never saw, and will never see again!
Which ,cas the Sldue-the white man or
the black mani
We shall soon see.
There ,cere strong arguments for slavery,
and there are strong arguments to console
us for its abolition. 1t was an institution
forced upon US by Great Britain the mag
nitude of which was swollen by the horri-
BILE slave trade on the high seas conducted
by the New England States-a trade now
denounced justly as piracy. Itbecame our
right, morally and conStitationaAy. 1t was
our interest to make it humane and profit
able; and this We also regarded duty.
We have faithfully discharged it. But the
institution is dead - everybody knows
how-chieHy, however, by the agency of
the descendants Of those who at one time
carried on that traffic now made piracy
and it is now our duty, as well as our inte-
rest, to look at the advantages Of the revo- |
luton IN labor ac1 ,,,aya Tho ,,,nct oc