The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-06-04
The Plantation Ncgroes.


The Plantation Negroes.
A gentleman Of the west, travelled eNtcn-
sive through the South, says of the freed
menn-writing from Montgomery, Ala,
that save in the towns they have not been
reached to any great extent by Radical
arts, and are reported, therefore, as work
Ing better this year than last. The poor
creatures are very ignOrant-so ignorant
that they frequently ask for one-tenth or
one-twelth Ofthe crop, rather than third or
fourth, aud when called on, as has some
times happened at public meetings, to vote
vira Uoce, cast uieir suffrage, with equal
yociieration, aye aud no. They are tracta-
bic, however, and iflet alone by prowling
iueendiares, will be great help in the
mat erial restoration OF the State.
MACK" Of the Cincinnati Commercial is
down South, and was at Augusta, Ca,
when one Capt BRYANr-of the KELLEY
and WILSON brood Of incendiaries - -ad-
dressed large gang of negroes for two
hours, In the open air and during a heavy
thunder storm:
lie talked about rebels and rebel sympa-
thzers, and warned his sable auditors to
be on the lookout for their old enimies
(meaning the whites Of cOurse,) aud not to
be entrapped into voting for them or with
them. Now, il Is very easy to foresee the
result of such teaching and preaching rs
this. Ii Is not difficult to predict from il an
antagonism between the whites and blacks
of the South, which may yet make the
much-talked-of and laughel-at war of
races dreadful reality.
If, as the blacks are continually taught
by such irresponsible upstarts rs Bryant,
the whites and blacks Of the South are
natural and uureconcilable enemies of each
other, how long can they live In the same
communitiesY How long can this enmity
be restrained within peaceful limits?
Taking these demagogues at their word,
1t is merely question of time when the
one or other of the two races shall be com
PEELED to leave the South for nothing Is
palmer than that two irrcconcilably hos
tile races can not live together under one
local government very long. The only
question, then, Is which of the two is the
stronger, and 10 them the dominion of the
country is certain, ultimately, to fall. There
Is more mischief in this sort of missionary
work than the people Of the North, who
are so far removed that they can not watch
its effects, and can hear of 1t only as a step
in the right direction of human freedom,
imagine.
They have organized the negroes into
secret leagues, which are held together by
promises Of confiscaton, and farms, and
lllaL SORT OF lUlnHS. lUty nave already
taught the blacks to believe that the soil of
the South belongs to them-that they have
titled it and improved it, and enriched
their former masters out OF it, and it is now
theirs by sacred right, Why not go to the
the factory hands of Boston and Lowell
and Providence and tell them that upon
this newly-discovered principal they own
the factories and the looms they have been
working at wages not convertible into
more than was paid to the slave.
There is no reason why the blacks and
the whites of the South should not live
amicably and peaceably together In their
new relations to each other. They will do
SO if let alone, but the tendency of the new
party movement Is to create Il mHtual en-
nifty between them, which may not be
easily assuaged. If the negroes were not
capable of determining party questions for
themselves, what did the Republican party
enfranchise them forI And if they are
capable why are such fellows as Bryant
sent here to array them in secret leagues
against the people among whom they live
On this matter of being let alone by
Northern emissaries of strife, who believes
that the freedman, to any considerable de-
gree, would see anything else than a mutu-
ality of interest between themselves and
the whites? This is but natural. The ne
grOcs were as ardent enemies of the North
us their masters during the war. They
had no theories to sustain, and no special
care as to what questions were involved in
the contest. They sympathized with the
people who surrounded them; and If the
oath of allegiance were distinctly under
stood by the freedmen when it is admins
tered to them, nine-tenths of them would
be unable to say that they had not lent
willing aid and comfort to the rebellion
Having stood firmly by their masters in
the trials of the war, they are still likely to
stand by them in all public questions.
The New York Journal Of Commerce, In
this connection, puts the matter forth
strongly, saying:
1t is impossible to regard the speech.
making missions of Northern politicians
TO the Southern negroes as any thing but
injurious to them. 1t is, in fact, adding
the final blow to their ruin as n people
. Unless they settle down to work, and take
the position of lahOrers whose labor /,
necessary, and must be cherished and cared
for, they will rapidly perish. The suffrage
is in danger of proving the destruction o
the race. 1t would ordinarily take Il gen.
Grafton to learn the requirements of thS
new order of things. Where the interest!
of employers are SO deeply involved in thu
education of the employed, the process o
accommodation to the new system NIGH
be much more rapid. But the temptations
to idleness which political speakers arr
Offering them are too strong to be resisted
by their feeble intelects, and they arr
easily led to ruin. They would go mucl
faster If the promises were fulfilled. If tn,
lands were divided among them, and thel
were made TO depend on their own labO
for the product of their own farms, TIL
race would melt away in two or three gen