The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-07-13
THE soUTH.
Gen. sIekIe.' Address 10 the Freed
men.


The following, says the Charleston
Mercury, is an authorized report of the
address delivered by the Major General
Commanding this Military District TO
the freedmen who called on him on the
4th:
My Friends-I am happy to receive
Z your demonstrations of regard. It is
gratifying to observe your hearty ap-
tpTeciatiun of this anniversary. For
I you the Declaration OF Independence
/ had Il peculiar Significance. To the ma
Itiou ii brought liberty, but to you 1t
2 restored manhood. II is true enough,
your race has waited almost a hundred
I years for the fulfllment of the pledge
mnde Co civilization by the Immortal
authors Of the Declaration of lndepend-
ence. Jefferson and his colleagues had
more faith in humanity than their i'm
mediate SUCCESSORS. The statesmen Of
/ the epoch OF the revolution desired TO
| form n permanent union OF States, to es-
tublish justice, 10 insure domestic tran
I guilty, and secure the blessings OF lib
erty to all the children OF the republic
! To-day the musical bells of st.
I Michael's celebrate in fitting chimes our
progress in The work begun century
\ ago by the fathers of the republic. To-
I day the flag which floats unchallenged
/ throughout the CaroIiuRs is the symbol
masters and you begin. to know each
other better. Ii is with you aud them
| as with the North and South-hetter
acquaintance promotes good under
standing. Every day more kindly feel
I ings are expressed towards yon as free
men, az laborers and as citizens Er-
rors and illusions are passing away.
7 In 1866 was admOnished not to per
1 nit you to celebrate your holidays in
muititudes, with professions, ana ban
ners, and music, and marshals, and bon
I fires, and firearms, and fireworks.
! Why? Because 1t was said You would
| rise in inSurreCtion. Against whom
| for what? 1 demanded. Not against
theauthority OF the United States, for
l that authority has made them free.
I Not against their former masters, for q $
slaves thsy did not rebel. Not against
me, for / am here to protect them from
Injustice. No; I was told the scolOTed
\ people would have land. and they
/ would seize it and drive away the law
I fll owners of the soil. Times have
chunged; insurrection is only ramsm
I bered as IL nightmare. Whenever a
cOlored man wants land, it is seen that
[ he buys it from any one willing TO sell;
or hires land, II he can find any one
willing to lei il 10 him. Here L will
offer a suggestion. There are many
plantations in these States not cult
waited at all, or only half cultivated. If
I the owners, vino can neither plant nor
afford to keep their lands idle, would
divide their useless lands into small
| farms OF twenty acres each, and sell
Them at fair prices to honest. industri-
| Gus and thrifty laborers, the cry of
"contiscation" would soon be lost in
the glee of busy labor, the noise of
landless agitators would be hushed in
the repose OF contented ana happy
peasantry. When was sent to the
Carolinas 10 the autumn OF 1865, was
told that tine freed people would not
I work for wages-that they could not be
Z made to understand what iI was TO
work for wages. Now, 1 hear differ
ent complaint-that the freed people
will not work without wages. was
told, also, that il would not do to admit
colored people to the courts of justice,
to assert their rights by suits at law, or
to give testimony in controversies be-
tween man and man; for il wns said
YOU could not comprehend the mean
ing and obligation of an oath, or the
forms of judicial proceedings. Now,
hear that unless al coloTed man has a
lawyer and lawsuit, he does not con-
slider himself Il respectable citizen. L
was told, also, that il would be useless
to establish schools for the instruction
OF the blacks; it was insisted they
were not capable of learning-thetr
| heads were too thick, and their
brains too small. Now, hear that so
many free schools Tor colored children
are filled with colored pupils, taught
| by cOlOred teachers, that public opinion
I is aroused 10 the Importance OF provi-
ding for the education of the poor
l whites! Nay, more; in some places the
school houses for the colored rHce need
| the protection of my bayonets; and L
am sure, il colored people could not
| learn, society would not hate their
teachers nor fear their schools and
n
their school-houses. L was told, also,
| that it would be absurd to make cil-
zens of the freed people, because they
would never know anything about pol
itics; that they would be led to the bal
lot-box like sheep TO pasture without
caring whether they were voting for
l friends or foes. Now hear that the
colored people divide their spare time
about equally between religion and
politics; and that they are almost as
/ particular about the politician they
| trust as they are about the preacherthey
choose TO pray for them Here, my
: friends is the leSSon-I wish to impress
upon your minds. You have to prove,
as you are trying To prove, that your
race is capable OF progress, and then
/ YOU will share, AS you viii have the
| right to share, in all that belongs to
civilization. Aud to those who look
with distrust and fear upon your ad-
vancement, let me say to them that ed
| ucation TO you, as to them, and to all,
/ is more than pOWer-it is security, it is
| wealth, il is refinement, IL is virtue, IL
! IL peace It Is useless TO tell me that
Jamaica, Hayti, and st. Domingo, and
/ Martinique, prove anything else than
that the French. the Spaniards and the
| English fail in their colonial adminis-
| tration. These United States, Spanish
| America, Algeria, and the Indies ase
amPlified illustrations of the same his
/ torical example,. As we'll might IL be
l said the pale race of Mexico and Para
| Ouay and New Grenada are unfit for
\ civilization, because their political sys-
tens are in constant ierment and tur-
/ moiI. You will succeed because you
are Americans 80 ari
] IL may be the destiny Of your race to
carry back to the unknown tributaries
or the Nile, the amenities of a civilian
! tion better than that which tolerated
/ the barbarism OF the bandits who tore
1 your fathers from kindred and cOun-
| try and bartered men for gold. II seems
/ that neither servitude nor freedom,
7 neither cruelty nor wrong-war nor
| want, time or separation, have no more
changed the elements of your oriental
character than the climate OF the Tenn
perate Zone has altered the native hue
OF your African complexion. To day
the cOlored race of the South are the
coufiding, faithful, and contented peo-
/ pie that would rather bear than resist,
\ that would rather trust aud wait than
/ hasten and compel. Your patience
and faith have been rewarded. Still
/, have patience; never Waver in the faith
4 that the same gracious Providence that
/ has borne you harmless and in triumph
out of bondage, will in good time lead
/ Won to the promised land of regenera-
tion. Political events are near at hand