Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1866-07-14
MISCELLANEOUS.
Education Of the Frecdmen-In-
pOrtnnt MOycments in the south.
The citizens of Oxford, Mississippi

recent popular meeting, put forth the fol-
lowing plea for the education of the freed
men:
That the time has arrived when measures
should be adopted by the Southern people
themselves to provide the ways and means of
educating the freedmen, is conclusion to
which we have been led by the following
considerations
/. These people arc now thrown upon
their own resources in a state of freedom,
for which they are to certain extent un-
prepared
2. They consider us, their former owners, J
to be now, as we have always been, their
natural guardians and their best friends.
EDUCATION.
3. 1t is our interest, as well as our duty,
to ditfuse the blessings of education as
widely as possible among all classes of peo-
pie in our country.
4. If it ever was good policy to keep them
ignorant, it certainly is no longer so, but
the very reverse.
5. The right of suffrage will, in all pro-
liability, be given to this people at some fu
ture day.
8. Ignorant voters are the curse of our
country.
Z. If we do not teach them, some one else
will, and who ever thus benefits them will
win an influence over them which will con-
troll their votes.
8. If we perform this service then we shall
secure their identification with US in pro-
noting all our interests.
MORAL EQUALITY.
So much for policy and interest-the
least elevated form of the argument. Let us
look at the subject in its moral bearings
/. The church is the light of the world
it is therefore bound to illuminate the sur
rounding region. There is no special in
junction to enlighten the white race only,
but we are to ''preach the gospel to every
creature" "Search the Scriptures is the
command, not addressed to our race only,
but to mankind. God "commandeth all
men everywhere to repent" We are un-
questionably resposibe to God for our in
fluence and ability to do good. "The poor
ye have also with you" is the declaration of
our Saviour, and by his Providential ar
rangement we are constantly reminded that
we live not for ourselves alone. The colored
race are now emphatica!ly ''the poor among
the people"
GRATITUDE TO THE NEGROES.
g. But do we not owe it to them as debt
Ol We IoW lucy, lOT
our sakes, endured heat and cold, wet and
dry, summer and winter, cultivating our
fields, ministering to our comforts, promo
ting our wealth, improving the country, and
actually advancing civilization by their
physical labor, attending upon us at all
stages of our lives, nursing our children,
waiting upon the sick, going with us to the
burial of our dead, and mingling their tears
with ours in the open grave Can it be
that all this is forgotten2 And is it not a
small return for all this that we are asked
to make, when it is proposed that we shall
give them that modicum of instruction
which will enable them to read, or at leas.
! to know the way of life eternal 1t is un-
der the pressure of these and similar con,
siderations that q few of the citizens of Ok
| ford have been moved to take the initiative
in this enterprise.
| MEANS OF INSTRUCTION.
We propose the establishment of Sab
| bath school for the oral instruction of color
ed people, as we'll as to teach them to read.
We have organized this school with more
than one hundred pupils and twelve teach
ers. Regular preaching also is provided for
them by the resident ministers of the differ.
eut churches of Oxford. We desire to en-
list in this work all our fellow citizens, as
there is room enough for all and work
enough for all. In such a work as this, no
doubt, the conviction of duty and the com
manG of God should be sufficient motives to
actuate US. But while we would not plead
for the authority of great names as a sane
ton of our course or an inducement to
others, at the same time we rejoice to find,
that in many parts of the South, the promi,
nent citizens and official dignitaries are
actively moving in this matter.
In South Carolina, Governor Orr and the
first citizens of Charleston are urging the
establishment; of the common school system
for the freedmen. In Alabama ex. x.Governor
Moore and ex-Congressman Curry are en-
gaging in the movement, and elsewhere in
Mississippi this field of labor is occupied by
some of the most distinguished of our citi-
zens. All this shows that the influence is at
work which is to put into general operation
an effective system of instruction for this
people in sacred and secular knowledge.
Let US, therefore, engage in the work in
earnest, according as God shall open the
way for US, and considering your duty in
connection with the work, We ask you to
decide upon that course that you will pro-
badly approve when the light of coming
eternity shall be shed upon the subject.
]. N. WADDELL, s G. BURNEY,
A. l. QUINcHE, T. E. B. PEeUEs,
WIN. DELAY, j. w. McPHERsoN.
OXFORD, Miss, June 10, 1866.