New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-07-16


talked of as dream of misdireoted phiIar-
thropy"
After demonstrating beyond all oayn that
the negro race of to-day possesses I'LL the char
actensues Of the same race asrecorded three
thousand years ago, we do not wonder that
the learned doctor should manifest some inn
patience at the misdireeted efforts of the
freedmens bureau in their futile attempt
ito direct the imperfect plans of Provi-
dence . Their purpose is doubtless very
good, and is as well-meant as recent
Massachusetts, prayer which invoked the
| supreme Being to change his wrong way
OF direeting things and come over to the more
enlightened views of the petitioners EQUALLY
Just ideas prevail in the model bureau.
DR.. Mott we'd remarks however, eff it be
admitted that the physical type, instincts,
habits and intellect of the negro have been
the same for three thousand years, is it any
thing short Of cruelty and folly for the freed
mems bureau to attempt to change this work
of the Almighty? "Can the Ethiopian change
his skin, or the leopard his spots, is the lam
gr1age OF soriptvre, and proclaims physical
law over which man has no control.
But while meme will question the conclusion
which Dr.. Mott here reaches, we think he has
lost sight of the pretensions of the immacu-
late bureau, for they seem, in the language OF
the poet, to claim to be more or less than
man" They therefore undertake, with com
mendahl9 assurance, the task not only of chang
ing the skin of tbe Ethiopian, but of manufac-
turing him into voting machine for ruling
\ the inferior whites. We therefore commend
| to their attention the following example which
illustrates the rapid lretroeession Of the negro
| into barbarisn when restored to the rights Of
unrostrained freedom and removed trom the
! deleteroUs influences ofthe white man.
In the earlier years of the late war mum
her IF slaves escaped from their owners on the
Teohe, and took refuge on one Of the bayous
near the gulf of Mexico Amid the incidents
of the waT they were forgotten. None cared
to seek them out and they lived in
perfect seolusion. Last August they were dis
covered in their new abode. The change
which they had undergone was remarkable
Before their flight they had attained the high
est degree of 60 initiative civilization" of which
l4S LtsG6 ~ SttoGeAJl4O4e. 1utJ were well cIaQ.
They had been taught to cultivate the soil, and
had learned some of the duties of life in a
civilized community. They had often partiei-
pated in christian worship and had learned to
initiate many of the virtues of christians. But
when discovered in their retreat, they had
abandoned the cultivation of their little fields.
Their clothing had never been renewed; and
their only habilimentsI were the breech-clout
Their only diet was the wild fruits which grew
bountifully in the forests, or the crabs, oysters
and fish which were afforded BY the waters All
ideas of christianity had faded from their
minds, and toads, frogs and snakes were the
only gods they worshipped. The example
affords a remarkable proof of the correctness
of the views of DR.. Mott, and accords with all
the teachings Of history. The world must re-
gard with interest this new case of the philan-
thropists and the freedmen's bureau vs. the
immutable DEGREES of Providence.