Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-06-07
Our Relations with the Freedmen.

The riots which have recently occurred at Mem
phis. at Norfolk, at Goldsboro', and perhaps a
other places, suggest matter for the 8ravest re
! Election. From the different stand-points from
which they are viewed, they are made the cause o
indiscriminate and wholesale abuse of the blacl
race or the white population of the Southern
States. In Congress they are powerful weapon
in the hands of the violent partizans OF that bod
to mould Northern political sentiment and tia
low ours of party take up the cry, and by insinu
alton and open charge, fan the flame which fanatl
cism and sectional hatred has kindled in the breas
of prejudice.
The people of the South while not responsible
for the presentstae of feeling existing between tn
whites and their late slaves by acts of commission
may not be entirely guiltless, on account of i
growing carelessness in regard to the freedman
and for surrendering his destiny too much into
the hands of Northern missionaries, Eng
| landadventurers- come as the agents of plous
political societies. to teach the negro, for party
purposes, characterization to and hatred of, then
| former masters.
In consequence of their late condition as slaves
the freedmen are ignorant of the operations OF
the civil government and the laws of society to
which they are responsible for their conduct
almost wholly illiterate-careless of the restraints
of public opinion, and regardless of the obliga-
tons of contract improvident, and with
imperfect false and mischievous notions of their
new relations. It becomes the duty of those among
whom they have always lived, and with whom
their destiny is cast to lead them up to proper
degree of civilization and usefulness, and teach
them the importance of their duties and rights.
It certainly is for the welfare of both the whites
and blacks, that we, rather than those Indifferent
alike to the fate of the white black population
of the South, should bring them to an appre-
citation of their true and appropriate sphere in
their changed relations to society.
Our duty and our interests go hand in hand in
this matter, for if we leave the mental and moral
training of the freedmen to those who, upon a
false assumption, would have themselves regarded
as their special guardians and friends, they will
cetainly become indoctrinated with the belief that
the very people with whom they were raised, and
are to be their employers, their natural enc
miles, cruel and oppressive, against whom they
must entertain prejudice and disgust. This state
of affairs will but prove fatal to the best interests
Of the South, and we honestly believe that the
bloody scenes already enacted have had their orr
gin in the baneful influence and direct teachings
of Shiny hypocrites, who come among the negroes
in the attractive garb of religious symathzers and
friends but in fact the wiley tools of fanatica
party who desire and expect to maintain political
power in the blood of the negro and the further
ruin of the South.
These men, under the cloak of religion, wolves
in Sleeps clothing, are daily and hourly sowing
the seeds of discomfort in the breasts of the freed
men. Taking advantage of their ignorance-their
sudden release from servitude, for which they claim
the chief merit and supplied with liberal means
by polltico-religious societies, they are weaving
them from the real bonds of attachment existing
between the:two races &c Faithful servants who
have gained the esteem and confidence of their
former masters, and possessed and reel procated
tender feelings of affection from those whose in
fancy they have watched, and in the sports of
whose childhood they have participated" are be-
ing artfuy led into conduct which Justly forfeits
all considerations of former attachment or present
good will.
Beside these drawbacks, we have to counteract
the baneful influence long exercised over the
negroes by the shameful abuses of the Freedmen's
Bureau, an institution which is now in the throes
of disreputable dissolution and we have little
reason to suppose its latter days will be less honor
best interests of the country.
Under the mal-administration of this Bureau,
the freedmen have been induced to forsake their
former homes and occupations, and have congre-
gated in large numbers in the towns and villages
of the Southern States, living in idleness and
crime, but swelling the Golfers, and the import
ance of useless, and too often, dishonest officials
Protected by the Bureau, they form nests of laz-
aroni, equally injurious and dangerous to them
selves and the communities in which they have
concentrated. In this situation they are easy
dupes to the feelings of malignant hate against
their former masters, which few bad men, sent
and paid by Northern fanatics, encourage. The
ignorant negro, little knowing that in conflict
between the races, the victims that are offer
ed up to the Moloch of fanaticism, the greater
number of votes will be registered for radical can
didates And for an indefinite lease upon power,
they will mortgage the life of every freedman
within the limits of the United States and make
as frequent and bloody forfetures of the same as
will insure their ignoble purposes
1t is our duty, if possible, to regain the conf
dence and esteem of the negro, which we have to
degree lost by the scheming of political ennis
saries and by proper and judicious treatment turn
them from the headlong course which will soon
place them in antagonism to the whites and which
must inevitably lead to their utter destruction
and by inducing them to quit the vice and idle
ness of the towns for the useful and remunerative
abors of their native agricultural districts, those
causes of danger and of crime so frequent, will
be prevented, and those incentives to violence and
hostility will be removed, which are now the oc-
casion of sorrow to the peace-loving and of mis-
Of fbo III diS,,ocoJ