The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-03-17
An Important Matter.

The following thoughts and refcc-
tons, from the Richmond Times, will
commend themselves to all classes of
our readers:
AS the bayonet of the conqueror
has thrust negro suffrage upon us. it
is full time that the solution of the
negro problem was receiving the
consideration Of our ablest and
"isest men. Has the intelligent
Southern citizen of property and cha
racter never, during the last two
years, asked himself, s'why are the
negroes under the influence of q few
utterly debased and demoralized
white men? Why are people who
live IN our houses, wait upon our
families, nurse our children, work in
our factories, and are kept alive by
our money, arrayed in secret hostili-
ty against us by wretches who render
the negro no act of real kindness, but
who are the horse leeches who drain
hlm OF his slender earnings? Why
should there be this most unnatural
antagonlsm between the negroes and
their only real friends? Why should
the debased and abandoned Albinos,
whose associations with the negro
merely debases and demoralizes him.
be allowed to rob the poor negroes
and, at the same time, teach them to
abhor those who sustain them?"
We fear that we are very much to
blame for shis most unfortunate and
unnatural state of things We should
long since have taken pains to expose
to the unsuspecting black the true
objects and designs Of their white
parasites. The negro is fast becom-
ing the victim of unscrupulous and
degraded white men. because the iu-
telligent and respectable citizens of
the South have failed to come to his as
slstance with timely advice and coun-
sci. The most debased negroes at heart
greatly contemn the white trash
who are now preying upon them,
x2nd at the same time teaching them
~ hate those without whose assist
Nice they would soon die of starva-
ton. He has been taught to believe
that there is natural antagonism
between the respecta le and substan-
tlal white men Of the South and him
self, because, for two years, he has
been assured that such was the fact,
and we have not even condescended
to contradict our slanderers. The
most absurd and monstrous lies and
Misrepresentation, if repeated and
permitted to remain uncontradicted,
invariably make an impression upon
every educated and thoughtful peo-
pie. Is it strange, therefore, when
we have taken no steps to disabuse
the negroes, that they should believe
ISLANDERS which are repeated to them
once week? OF all races, the negro
is the most impressible, and the anti
dote to the poison of Hunnicut and
his associates is within our reach.
Abuse of such vermin does not di-
mlnlsh their influence with the freed
men. The duty of graphing with
these creatures in their stronsholds,
and of lnveiling the base Mokannas
before their deluded worshippers, is
indispensable to the welfare and
safety of both races. They must, in
the presence of their victims, in open
and fair discussions, if necessary, be
exposed, and their designs ventilated.
We must teach the freedmen that
their pretended friends neither feed
nor clothe them, and that they can
do them nothing but the most terri
bile injury.
The most important and vital duty
which we now have to perform is to
sweep from the mind of the negro
the delusions of which he is the vie
tiiii, and the task is an easy one. if
rightly commenced.
In several instances, educated and
intelligent gentlemen have sought to
rescue the freedmen from the clutches
of the parasitic reptiles to whom we
have alluded, and their efforts have
been attended with great success. We
directed attention, nearly twenty
months ago, to an instance of this
sort, and commended it 30 our ablest
men as worthy of imitation.
We think that Mr.. John l.. Marye
of Fredericksburg, deserves an ova
zion for having performed the mos
sensible act which any man at the
South has done since the collapse Of
the Confederacy. He is lawyer O.