Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-09-13
history versus Thurman.


It is not to be wondered at that par
! ty whose past history is so shameful
should seek to falsify all other histOr7
TO Justify its own policy. To misrepre
sent well established principles, anl
distOrt the most familiar incidents, il
/ becoming to party whose foundation
/ is falsehoOd, and whose daily utterance
/ are lies.
| For a stupendous, pIethoric, we'll con
ditioned and plausible lie commend IL
/ at all times to a Democratic neWspape
/ or a desperate Democratic orator. W.
I have often seen one Of the latter making
! his stumping tour through the rura
! districts with a huge faIseho0d strapped
| on his back, which, being his principa
! stock in trade, was made to do duty a
/ every cross roads before the assembled
/ multiludes of eredulous democrats. w
! have many illustrations of this cOndi
/ tiOn Of things the present season. anC
/ each democratic orator has his pet false
/ hood which he parades before his de
/ Guded hearers in the hope that some o
! them may fail to see the real character
! Of the exhibition, and believe some
/ thing thatis said.
/ One of the most remarkable examples
| of this irresistible disposition on The
part of democratic orator to draw or
his Imagination for his facts, is found
! in Judge Thurman's WapakOnetts
/ speech. In speaking of emancipation
he said;
@Look at Jamaica, look at Trinidad
look at any place where the experiment
Of emancipation has been tried, and
what has it been but a miserable fail
Ure? No advance in civilization, no In
crease in wealth; and shall we shut
our eyes to all this eXperienceP'
If the Judge will only open his eyes
to this experience, and read the history
of emancipation at any place under
the sun, he viii see that he has deiber-
ately misquObed and misrepresented the
results Of thst teXp pertinent" These
assertions have been the staple argu-
ments of the champions of slavery Tor
the last generation, and are as familiar
in this country as they are false. Let
us see what the facts are.
We viii examine the results Of eman-
cipatiOn in the English colonies, under
the act of Parliament of August 18th,
1888, by which nearly 100000 slaves
were to become free on the first day OF
August, 1884, but subject to an appren-
ticeship until IS40. There were many
restrictions upon the freedmen under
that act, which would very naturally
tend to make them dissatisfied at being
free in name but not in fact, and which
it was feared were sOstrict as to destroy,
to a gre At extent, the legitimate results
Of emancipation.
Bv the act above referred to the slaves
in nineteen colonies of Great Britain
were liberated, and 500, 600 freedmen
found themselves face to face with $780,
600 whites, their late owners and OPP
pressOrs. They saw their late masters,
who had driven them to unpaid toll for
years, entirely az their mercy, a mere
handful, whom they could crush in an
hour. Burning under sense OF con-
tinued outrage and wrong, would il
have been strange If the "experiu1ent''
had proven failure, as Thurman
claims it to have been? Butan English
uobleman writes NOvem Der 8, 1888:
Hitherto the results of the great ex-
pertinent of the abolition Of slavery
nave justified the most ardent hopes OF
the authors and advocates of this meas
ure."
Judge Thurman says there has been
sfnO advance in civilization" yet this
same writer says:
81 esteem myself happyin being able
to affirm, that, in this short lapse OF
time, a progress has been effected IN
their social condition which viii add to
the happiness of humanity, and of
which history has never offered a great
er example"
Tne Judge says again, that there has
been mo increase of wealth." The
facts are directly the reverse Of this. In
one year from the abolition of slavery
in Jamaica, more than seven thousand
freedmen became freeholders. At Gui-
ana, III LilC 5tlllG LlAlEg d95OCAAA4OLo Dl
negroes purchased estates worth 400, 900
francs; 1iOurishing villages were formed
with good churches. and the advance
ment Of the people, socially and finan-
cially, was far beyond the most sanguine
hopes of the friends Of the expert
ment'
The English government sent to these
colonies three years after the abolition
of slavery 1872 a committee of Inquiry,
which reported that - the religious,
moral and material amelioratiOn of the
negroes is incOntestable."
Judge Thurman has requested us to
"loOlz at Jamaica, and having looked
at Jamaica, we find the following facts {:
There the number of villages settled by
the freedmen before 1913, on 10000 acres
was between 100 aud 200. Three thOus-
and dwellings bad been erected in four
years, at an expense for houses and
lands, of four millions OF francs, and
Kingston, in 1913, that the city prison
had been without an inmate for five
days, a thing before unknown in the
history Of the town. In 1874 Lord El gin
reported continued Improvement in the
moral and material condition of the
people If the island. In this same year
we lind that there was the same amount
Of land under cultivation as before the
emancipation, and that wages had gone
back to the old figures, a days work
being nine hours. In 1858 q white col
Onist in Jamaica wrote:
fsThe cOlured man holds a position
in nOwise inferior, and we find no rea-
son to complain that he is on the same
footing with ourselves. Our bar is not
crowded, bat cOlored lawyers hold the
first places there. ColOred physiClans
practice in eOncuTrence with the whites.
All this progress has been accomplished
since the abolition of slavery iu The
island We have proved by. experience
hat the cOlOled man can raise himself
to the first rank Of civilized society,
and hold his place there as well as any
European"
we are requested by Judge Thurman
to look at Trinidad" We havelool0ed
At Trinidad, and have found there, as
in all the other seventeen colonies where
slavery was abolished, the same salts
factory results we have shown TO exist
IA Jamaica.
When. we regard the sudden transition
of these men from the dead weight and
fearful bondage of slavery 70 the glori-
Gus excitement of freedom, and the
moderation universally shown at the
change, we are lost ia admiration at
their unex ampled seIf-conrOl, and feel
the greater abhorrence for those who
would falsify this history to perpetuate
the degradation of the same people
here There were isolated cases of Cruz
elty and idleness and debauchery
among the freed men or those colonies,
but no more than there are among our
free whites, and even these cases are
clearly the continuance Of habits con-
racted while in slavery
Let Judge Thurman read history be-
fore he illustrates his speeches from its
teachings Let him build his argument
on the foundation o. truth, If be would
have it stand. This assertion of his
about the failure of emancipation has
done duty in ali his speeches during the
campaign, and il is high time its fa sity
was shown, There are other assertions
equally false in his Auglaize speech,
which need exposition, and should not
long go unanswered C0tJt1Rb5ts Jour.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS TO REBEL
PRIsONERs AT CANT CHASE" III
V0a e0aHi money, borr0l0 Of our friend.
Judge Thurman. /"
"Ifyou want advice, ask our friend,
T-lw. Nam-r,,v %