Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-02-16
THE NEGROES IN JAMAICA AND IN
THIS COUNTRY.

article on the government of the eolored
races, points out very strongly how impossi-
BILE it is for people living at distance, and
having but the merest superficial knowledge
of the habits and idiosyncrasies of negro
character, to form just opinions on the sub
ject. Speaking generally with respect to
the negroes in the British colonies, but with
a special reference to the recent outbreak in
Jamaica, the Rerier says;
"Our own negroes became Christians after
they had become slaves. And there was
much in Christianity popularly taught by
the missionaries to the negroes which was
likely to engage the sympathies of the lat
ter. Compassionateness and long suffering
were qualities calculated to gain the hearts
of men living in bondage.
Subsequently, after the days of bondage,
the negro found particular attractions in the
doctrines which his Baptist teachers love to
dwell on, without qualification or limitation
namely, the equality of all men; the duty
of calling no man MASTER in fine, all
those doctrines which are generally known
as those of Christian socialism. Preached
to men endowed with no power of reflection,
but gifted with an amount of self-conceit
which no other race of human beings ever
possessed. and with love of lazy devotion,
they naturally inflated their self-importance
until it broke down the barriers of ancient
customs, manners and feeling. The negro
civiIly free and religiously exalted, began,
like all other races, to dream of nation
ality for his own color. He was the equal
of the white man. Why should he work for
the white man? Why should he be gov
erned by the white man? Such, we
are informed ON good authority, are the
questions with which the negroes of our
West India colonies season their social gath
erings. Neither identity of language nor
identity of creed has broken down the bar
rier between the white race and the black
race. Both have made the negroes fanati-
cal democrats of the socialist type. Though
speaking the same tongue and living under
the same laws, they have very few sympa-
thies with white men. The black man
Graves an equality which the white man
will not concede The white man avows a
superiority which the modern negro will
not admit.
"The gulf widens deeper between them
every day. A strong external power keeps
the two elements together. 1t ltcompeis them
in appearance to maintain genuine har-
mony. In truth, it only compels them to
keep a long truce But how long will this
truce last? And is this government? Can
any sort of recognized polity be said to
exist where two dissimilar races, Of the most
opposite natures, are kept from flying at one
another only by 4 power three thousand
miles away? And that they cannot be so
l-a,,
shows.
Many persons who speak with personal
knowledge of the West Indies say that events
have long been movingup to this catastrophe;
that it was long forseen; that il was a mere
question of sooner or later; that the conflict
was simply postponed by tact and manage
ment; and that it will again be repeated at
no distant day. We have not experience or
knowledge sufficient to affirm or deny these
allegations. But we feel assured of this. II
there is any truth in them, two things are
clear First, that there can be no public
opinion in the West Indies; only heated
passion in two hostile camps. Next, that to
attempt to govern the West Indies on the
principles of Exeter Hall would be as unfair
to our white brethren as to govern them on
the principles of Colonel Hobbs, Colonel
Whitfield, and the West India Ensigns would
would be cruel to our black subjects. Who
shall discover the true art of governing the
two races? The French treat their free
blacks as aliens, amenable to police protec-
tion and police supervisor. But this cannot
now be even tried in English colonies. Such
are the fruits of a government founded on a
public opinion of the narrowesta metropoh-
tan pretensions"
If it be impracticable to govern the West
indies on the principles of Exeter Hall, it is
equally impracticable to govern the Southern
States on the principles of Massachusetts
President johnson has clear perception of
this truth. He has asserted over and over
again, that if the programme ofthe Radicals
were carried out it would result inevitably in
a war of races. The President is right An
irreconcilable antagonism is certain TO spring
up whenever the attempt is made to put the
whites and the blacks on the same plan Of
equality. The present condition of Jamaica
is, at once, a striking illustration and con-
elusive proof of the inherent weakness Of
Summers declamatory harangues and of the
fallacy Of the arguments put forth by Wen
dell Phillips.
On that Island, as in the other British de-
pendencies the negro is vested with all the
privileges enjoyed by the white man. The
elective franchise is open to every adult male,
without respect to color, on the simple pay
ment of an annual tax of fifteen dollars. The
legislation Of :he Lower House is, and has
been for years, controlled by negroes. A
narrow, fanaticsl but influential party in Eng
land, whose zeal is intensified in the ratio Of
its ignorance, is constantly watching over
the interests of its prOteges, and yet, at the
end Of thirty years, with all these advan-
tages, they have given no evidence of i'm
provement, either mentally, morally or
They are confessedIy indolent
improyident and sensual. Their religion is
mixed up with semi-barbaric obseryances,
and, having been taught that they are the
equals of the whites, they have become in
solent where they were once servile, and
brutal, credulous and unreasoning in pro-
portion to the extent Of their relapse into
savagery. As the Saturday RevieU well says:
" Neither identity Of language nor identity
of creed has broken down the barrier be-
tween the white race and the black race.
Both have made the negroes fanatical demo-
we should style them here
'' of the socialist type. The black man
Graves an equality which the white man
will not concede. The white man avows
which the negro will not admit. |
The gulf widens deeper between them every
day"
1t has been wisely said that history is |
philosophy, teaching by examples, and the
history of the decay Of Jamaica, where the |
policy Of the negrophiiists has had free |
scope for more than quarter Of a century, |
should warn rs Of the fatal consequences of |
TO carry out a similar pro-
gramme, upon wider field, and among a
people to whom the negroes we're but re-
Gently subordinated. With every disposi- |
tion to accept the abolition of slavery as a
result Of the war, and with an honest desire |
to promote the welfare Of the negro so long |
as he proves himself to be honest and in |
dustrious, content with his freedom and the |
civil rights and privileges that justly APP |
pertain to his new state, the Southern whites /
would vet resent, as the deepest injuries, the |
forcibIe elevation Of the blacks TO a political |
equality with themselves. On the other /
hand, the negroes, instigated by the crafty |
and insidious teachings Of demagogues to
assert that equality on every available oeca-
sion, would provoke and retaliate the enmi-
ties Of the whites, and the final result Of an /
thus commenced and thus stimu-
lated, would be collisions and bloodshed, |
in that war Of races which
President johnson 80 earnestly desires TO
avert.