Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-10-29
For the Spectator
The Negro, and the Principles OF Present
American Politics,


cestors of the negroes of the South were proWl-
ing about in the jungles Of the wlids OF Africa
born under tropical sun, and affected by other
climatic influences, peculiar mental and phys
ical constitution, either independently OF or In
| accordance with the Divine curse, was, IN the
course of centuries, impressed upon the race
We leave the philosophy of these facts to the
discussions of theologicans and ethnologists up
on biblical and physiological principles; as Tor
the present we have only to deal with the facts
We believe, however, in the unity of the hui
man race, and that the pecullarltieS OF the men
tai and physical constitutions OF the different
races of men are In great measure due to Iooo,
climate and mode of life. Yet we do not take
it upon ourselves to affirm that the negro race,
through some representative pair, did not orgl-
nate from the immediate action OF the Divine
curse, though to act through natural laws, is
| more in accordance with the methods OF the
| Divine Government. We assume the normal
condition of the negro as fact simply without
regard to its philosophy.
| The negro, then, in his first estate was saw
age of the grossest kind. Physically, he was
tar inferior In symmetry OF form and agility to
| the North American Indian, whilst intellectu-
| ally his mind never rose above the stocks and
stones, nor to the contemplation Of spirit land
| in which the one Great Spirit was supposed to
| exist as the Father OF all created things. The
whole continent OF Africa, though known tor
centuries, and the dwelling place of the race for
ages past, is still shrouded III mystery, and seems
| still to be under the ban which prevents the
| light OF civilization from piercing its dark and
gloomy wlids. Thousands of the race still dwell
| 10 Its deep forests and wide wastes Ignorant OF
Divine Truth, and even OF the existence OF the
great Yankee Nation. lmpenetrabe to the en-
| hghtment OF the nineteenth century, the future
| of the negro race is still clouded In obscurlty.-
From this low y condition OF barbarsln and even
OF cannlballSm, IN the course OF Divine PrOvl-
dence, many were transported to America where
they were clad with the raiInent nurtured with
| the food, and taught by the accumulated intel
hgence OF the Caucasian race. Here they Ell
tered upon new sphere of life, under more au-
splclous circumstances, effectively, than ever
fell to the lot Of those nations which from innate
principles OF energy emerged from the barbarsm
of the past. Nor can it be denied that whilst
the abstract principles of human liberty, in the
apOtheOss OF which fools and fanatics override
the practical questions of social life, were vlo-
| lated In the enslavement OF the race it has been
benefited and elevated every year since the first
| cargo was landed upon our shores. The en-
slavement was due principally to the love Of
gain OF enterprlsing Northern men, the innu-
merable benefits accruing to the negro were due
to the care and sympathy Of the Southern slave
| negro race was practically great good, phys
ical advancement and a moral good, all the viz
! tue of which, as to its accomplishment, was ia
| ken away by the dollar and cent motive which
| induced it.
| The Divine Government is administered with
reference to practical results and In its demands
| liberty is not confounded with freedom from all
law, either in the moral or physical world =
Every thing Is adapted, and made to conform
to the nature Of things, and to the great good
| of practical results. Man is considered not so
much in his relations to this world nor to the
amount of enjoyment he may attain to- but in
relation to higher life and future destiny
Not SO with the Yankee mind all nature must
| bend to preconcelved abstract doctrines of hui
| man rights and human liberty without regard
| to the nature of things. The Yankee people,
| instead of dwelling upon its own deformites,
instead of cultivatng habit of introspcction as
to its own motives OF self interest, regarding it
self as the authorized expounder of ali the great
principles OF human progress, has, for want Of
| practical, philosophical knowledge, and from
| the sin OF SeitrlghteOuSneSS and self exatatlon,
assumed the task Of raising the status of the
negro race, by one single effort, in single point
OF time, to the highest standards enlightment,
| dreamed OF by the Utopian philosophy of its
| visionary teachers of divinity and its crack
| Drained politicians.
Everything is to be made subservient to its
notions Of the Quid oportet, and though the
goal is to be reached by shedding rivers of
blood, though ali the world should suffer the
| throes of a revolution, though widows should
wall, and fire and sword desolate the land, vet
! the condition of a peculiar people must be ele-
waited to Its abstract standards by Que bold
sweep at every cost and every sacrifice 1t is
simply one phase in the development of the
dollar and cent philosophy; the condition of
| man as an individual In this transient world, is
made the highest of all human expectations;
his future existence in the Yankee materiastic
philosophy is inseparably bound up with his
worldly exatatlon, and the idea prevails in the
Yankee mind, In somewhat latent form, that
In the next world the true representative man
OF the Yankee spirit Of progress and philan
thrOpy, may calm an entrance into the portals
OF the holy city as a natural right. This im-
macuate people, like all other people or sects,
that are tanatica in their tenets, is carried SO
TAR beyond the limits of justice and christianity
| III the attempt to embOdy its abstract ideas in
a concrete form, that of necessity its most cher
lshed theoretical principles are no where so fla.
| GRAVITY Violated, as by those who advocate
| them. 1t attempts to build up one interest up
on the ruins of another That which does not
promote the attainment of contemplated good.
however utopian it may be- and however dimly
DHSA - PiooPSNIi'Ct Aiuot US iulUOaLcU upon
the altar Of pseudo philosophy, of the unm-
peded progress, and pertectibiiity of man.
The term r0dtcdtsns, is tar more SYNONYMOUS
with destruction, than with either construction
or reconstruction, and hence we shall ALWAYS
find, that though it may destroy the most cher
ished institutions, though it may discover the
ties which bind communities together, it is
powerlesS either to adopt better systems, to re-
pair the Injuries it has inflicted, or in any way
compensate society for the crimes it has COM
mitted.
But there are laws of nature that cannot be
violated with impunity the great Ruler of
| the universe SO constituted US, that our rela-
tons to external nature, and to PSYCHOLOGICAL
laws, and the relations OF man to man In socie
ty, present problems very difficult of solution.
ihe progress OF man to enlightenment and civ
llIzatlon has, from the nature of the case. been
gradual, as predetermined by established phvs-
zeal and moral laws The men who in attemnt-
ing to realize the Quid oportet in the fulfillment
OF human destiny, lose sight of the aud est
with all Its checks and want of adaptation, are
the merest tyros In the philosophy Of govern
alent, and lnfilct upon society untold evils
evils, the consequences Of which they have
neither the power to avoid, nor the practical
sense to mitigate by perception of sound phi
losophy.
On these principles we account for the pres-
eent state OF affairs in this country; the negro
has been suddenly emanclpated, and as if the
new condition OF things resulting therefrom did
not present problems sufficiently difficult of So
luton, the spirit of radcaiism combined with !