Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-09-20
white-washed troops.,, not generally re.

exceedingly offensive to the soldier guards.
Amiable people are not always selected for
the Office of Provost Marshal.
The county of Mecklenburg, in North
Carolina, and several adjacent ones, were
chiefly settled by emigrants from my native
State. About the period of Braddocks de-
feat, the frontier men of Pennsylvania
driven in by the French and their North
ern Indian allies retired Southwark, and,
crossing the Potomac below the mountains,
took up land among more pacific tribes, in
what was then known as " the Barony OF
Clarendon"
A British King had bestowed large grants
in the so-called colony of North Carolina
to this nobleman, whose Scottish agents
shillings, proclamation money "a de-
scription of paper currency whose value
was proclaimed at the Court House equal
to sterling, or the sum of half dollar of
the we'll known standard of Spain. Some
aged persons described the condition of
these primitive emigrants from Pennsyl-
vania, who settled among the Southern
Iaborigenes "The men on foot with Their
rifles and dogs-the women on horseback
with their babies and spinning wheels. -
These ''wanderers were chiefly of old
Irish stock, intermingled with English,
Welsh and Scotch, many Germans, few
French and Swiss.
The names of such families may all now
be recognized in the Southern and Central
counties of Pennsylvania. Rudely carved
grave stones in some old church yards pre-
sent coats Of arms and clannish titles of
many European settlers on this Western
Continent.
These Southern colonists strenuously OBJ
jected to the importation of African slaves,
and strongly demonstrated with the moth
er country of Great Britain, whose author
tiles at that time insisted upon the policy
as beneficial. Both black and white SER
wants were sold into the Colonies before
! the American revolution. An English Earl
suggested to Charles II g to send his Queen,
Henrietta of Spain, to the American plan
tations beca,.s5 she had no children" This
shows the easy manner in which such sub
| jects were considered in Europe 200 years
ago An unmanageable tribe of Red men
were exported as slaves from an Eastern
colony to Malaga in Spain, because they
were found troublesome as servants by GER
tain serious people.
The Southern colonists, who, at that pc
Rod, possessed no ships, were forced to
purchase and to pay for wild Africans taken
as prisoners Of war, and disposed of to
! traders by their own countrymen, and were
obliged to teach them to work and to sup
ments for their constantly increasing fami-
lies.
The difficulties of this subject were man
ifest at the Declaration of American indie
pendence, and appreciated as a contradic-
ton to general truth then announced
The Africans, at this time, required q
double consideration, both as property and
as men. The common colonial laws with
regard to the property remained without
immediate change, but were gradually
ameiorated by individual States. African
slaves, without being thus named in our
Constitution of government, were person
ally enumerated for Congressional Repre-
sentation IN the ratio Of -ffths-w white
men being respected as units in the period
ical census. The natural owners of the soil, |
g untaxed Indians" were then regarded as
cyphers of no political value for national
representation.
AS transferable property, large invest |
ments in wild Africans were insisted upon
by the British government, and the colo
nists were obliged to yield to the existing
economy of that age. In those portions of |
the country where fire wood and winter
clothing were required for mere than half
the year, this kind of labor proved expen-
sive. A gradual accumulation of these SER
wants, therefore, tended southwark, where
they multiplied greatly in cogenial eli |
mate. Their increase eventually became
almost the only profit from the possession
of slaves. This was considered an objec- |
tionable feature with owners who regarded |
them with humanity, from the interference
with family ties in the sdivision of estates |
among widows and minor children.
An attempt to establish q separate Re- |
publican Government upon the perpetuity |
Of African slavery appears an error of prac- |
teal craftsmanship, because the institu- |
ton always had a feeble hold upon the |
hearts OF many persons in the South
Several religious associations specially OBJ
jected to 1T, such as the Society of Friends |
the Moravians and the Dunkers, besides
individuals of other creeds who conscien-
tiously abstained from it. The Southern
people often discussed its influences very
freely among themselves and in the public
conventions of several States. But as this
property increased in value and extent, and
became the foundation Of much CONNER
cial capital and credit, general emancipa-
ton was felt to be commensurately diff
cult by the people at large in every section
of the country.
In the meantime numerous Western
States and Territories were rapidly fllingl
up with a population from different ma
tionalities of Northern Europe, habitually
taught to resist every description of vassal-
age, 10 whom the pccullafltleSO OF negro bond
age were little known, but, nevertheless,
made highly Objectionable.
The great mistake Of Southern legisla-
ton was the desire under such circum-
stances to form a separate government,
while the original Constitution of the Uni
ted States was still regarded with respect
by large majority of the people. A dis
passionate, unprejudiced, independent look
er-on may suggest, from apparent facts,
that the Southern colonists, while claim
ing Africans as property under the law and
the Constitution, did not generally disre- I
gard their characteristics as fellow-men.-l !
For, although in several Eastern States I
acts were passed prohibiting negro slavery, I
still the colored freedmen were never invi- !
ted to assume the privileges Of the ballot
box and the jury bench. But as soon as !
the we'll hammered, respectable and intelli- !
gent Southern slaves were set free, they
Are at once considered entitled to ali such s
ndulgences like other "strangers in the i
and" Although, probably, not so intend
ed, this fact surely indicates high COM
ollment to the manner in which negro