The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-31
Negro "InsoIenoe."

let us cultivate patience.
Negro "InsOIence."
rom The ". y Tribune.
The New York Times, in the course of
"halfand half leader on "The Division of
Races, says:-
"Take the Virginia election as an illustra-
tlon. The blacks voted one way, the whites
another. Is that evidence that the blacks alone
are pursuing course which points to the an
tagonism OF races TIE great majority OF
whites voted primarily against a Convention -
that is, against reconstruction based upon po-
lttical equality; and, secondly, in favor of cam
didates hostile TO the newly acquired rights of
voted soldly against their own degradation
and disfr anchisement and in support of cam
dldates radically opposed to the Old pro slavery
spirit7 And is it fair, when deprecating the
tendencies of the time, to forget the unwlse
illiberal, and unjust proceedings Of the whites,
and TO remember only the folly and insolence
of the blacks?
Comments By the Tribune.
Whoever has any knowledge of human
nature, and more especially of negro nature,
must know that the Virginia blacks would
most gladly and proudly have voted for the
ablest and most eminent of the Virginia
whites, if the whites, as class, would have
let them. But for the ever-present horror of
being sold to some slave-trader, and sent
South to be driven in gangs in the cotton
fields, the Virginia slaves were a happy
peasantry-not over-worked, for the most part
amply though coasely fed and loving their
homes with a passionate devotion. slave
was proud of his masters social rank, his
wealth, his broad domain, whenever he could
be, and spoke fondly of "my CATTLE" ''my
horses" ETC., with an unconscious identifica-
tion of his own interests with his masters.
We know no country with a strictly laboring
| class superior in docility or efficiency to that
| of Old Virginia. All that was needed to
attach that class firmly to the political for
tunes of her white aristocracy was simply an
| earnest, hearty recognition of the freedmen's 5
manhood and their newly acquired political
rights.
The great mass of the whites, and especially
| Of the former arstocracy, have chosen to refuse
that recognition. They began, directly after
Lincoln's death, by conspiring to give the
freedmen barely starvation wages. They pro-
ceeded in legislating, under Johnson's recon-
struction, to deny them the most essential civil
rights. And, when Congress dictated a new
and different plan of reconstruction, by which
power is based on loyalty and manhood, not
on color they combined to resist such recon-
struction to the bitter end.
Such being the facts-and the Times sub
stantially admits them-we ask, earnestly,
what is meant by 'the folly and insolence of
the blacks 2'' We challenge specifications.
We sue for evidence. That they did not vote
to disfranchise themselves is certain; would
not the Times have scorned and houted them
| if they had? That they sometimes made
| mistakes and distrusted where they might
wisely have reposed faith, we believe; but is 1t
| wonder that-ln view OF the Iorm'oaole con-
| sniracv to crush them-they chose to vote for
| the candidates who seemed most thorough
| Going in defense of their rights Professions
are cheap, you say; but, as between the man
| who offers to render me a great service
| and one who puts his pistol to my head and
bids me stand and deliver, can you blame me
| for preferring the former! This may possibly
be 'folly," though we hardly see it, but how
can it be ''insolence 2" Do let us understand
The Times intimates that some of the whites
| who volunteered to counsel and lead the
blacks are neither SOlomons in wisdom nor
models of disinterested virtue. We do not
quarrel with this judgment. We regret that
Governor Peirpont, Judge Rives, and several
more OF their stamp, were not chosen to the
Convention. We believe it would have been
better for all classes that they had been. But
do whites evince such perfect, unerring wis
dom in the choice of representatives that
they can afford to throw stones at blacks on
this score Have not others as we'll as negroes
sometimes given more heed to noisy, vehe-
ment professions of Difference and devotion
than to solid but modest worth? Did the
blacks elect Andrew Johnson
New Era for AmerIoan Statesman ship.
From the N. y Herald.
Our late war was but portion of the grand
series of sequences and causes which constitute
their revolution through which the American
people have been and still are passing towards
the predestined future. When the war closed
with the surrender of Lees army to Grant
near Appomattox Court House, new era for
American craftsmanship was opened. II soon
began to be apparent that the nation had out
grown the swaddling clothes and leading
strings of its infancy. 1t must now in its
manhood, grid itself to run the race that is sci
before it. The "abstractions" of State rights
have dissolved, leaving behind them but dim
and misty tradition of old conflicting sectional
interests In their turn these must disappear
completely; while the idea of vast, consoli-
dated unified nation arises distinctly before
the national mind as the goal Of our ambitious
hopes. In order to reach this goal we need a
higher style of statesmanship than even
mat which successfully laid the founda-
tlons OF the republic. To restore internal
peace ana prosperity, to develop our in
eAhAusuole sources of material wealth,
70 apply all the marvellous agencies
of modern science and civilization. TO educate
= refine and elevate the national character, and