The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-05-11

be pleased to have an expression OF
your views in reference to our educo-
tional and political interests.
Hoping that you will favor us with
reply, we are, very respectfully,
Your obedient servants,
John Morrison,) Trustees of the
Henry Bird, Brunswick
James Blue, Colored School.
BRUNSWICK, GA, April II, 1867.
My Colored Friends 81 Your note of
to day has just been handed me. ]
appreciate sensibly the compliments
you make me, by this expression Of
your confidence That confidence is
neither mistaken or misdirected. You
are right in your belief. ], in com
mon with all the Southerners, with
whom it has been my lot to exchange
expressions of opinion, do feel live
ly interest in the welfare of the col
ored people. Born and reared togeth-
err, and accustomed from infancy to re.
ciprocate the services and kindness
of social life, il would be most unnat-
ural did we feel, or had we ever felt,
, otherwise.
/ am in favor of extending by every
possible means, every aid towards the
intellectual and moral advancement of
the colored race, and think that pecu-
liar circumstances authorize me to as
sert, with the most entire confidence,
that such is the almost universal opin
ion of the Southern people. TWAS my
fortune during the late war, in the
Southern army, to command
young men from almost every
section ofthe South. They and their
parents are my friends and have been
in the habit, wherever 1 have met
them, of unfolding their views with
great freedom to me. on these and all
kindred topics. / assert without res
ervation, that / cannot recall an in
stance of exception or dissent to the
uniformity of these expressions OF
kind wishes towards your people.
Nor have / found one who, when
questioned as to his wishes in this re-
gard, has not emphatically declared
that he would not vote you back into
slavery, had he the power to do so.
They VINO assert or insinuate the con-
trary are themselves the victims of the
blindest delusion, or actuated by the
worst motives in seeking to make a
different impression.
Associating with you from child
hood, we have not to subdue the
prejudices and antipathies to your
race, that belong to other sections.
The white man Of the South ought to
be, is and ever will be. (unless some
strange delusion should enter the
brain and poison the counsels of the
one or the other party,) the best
friend of the colored man in the same
section. Why should it be otherwise
Acquaintance, past association, in
many instances, mutual gratitude and
affection, as well as the mutual de-
pendence of daily business relations,
all conspire to bind them together
He who teaches you to regard our in
terests as conflicting, is not a friend to
your race. Our interests are identi-
cal. If the white man is oppressed,
his colored neighbor must suffer with
him. They are embarked together,
and the one cannot swim if the other
sinks. If Federal legislation should
against the labor Of the
Soulful for instance the Congress
should exempt the great Northern
and place a tax of I
three cents per pound on the cotton of
this section, is it not. obvious that the ;
tax falls on the bale raised by the col {
pred man, as on the ten bales grown !
BY his white neighbor? If discrimi- {
hating legislation Expresses and i'm
ooverishes the one, does it not there t
BY, and to that extent, impair his I
Utility to employ or aid the other?
These truths are too obvious to your t
)wn good sense to make 1t necessary Z
hat / should dwell on them. You G
hould regard him as your worst enc I
ny, whether born on Northern or f
southern soil, who seeks to SOW dis I
rust or to ALLEVIATE the one race from t
he other. The people of the South n
re not hostile to the Northern man il
Who comes among them to identify h
himself with the interests of our sec il
ion. Nor are they so illiberal as to '
SIX that you should not appreciate t
he efforts of Northern men who hon n
silly seek your permanent welfare Il
they will welcome such to their Sec d
ion. But cannot too earnestly warn Il
-ou against those agitators, many of 6
1hom make loud professions of friend p
hip for your race, who at home can r
ot brook your presence as neighbors, n
nd perhaps are fresh from States that "
ven forbid your residence on their
oil.
The friendship of your race of which
have spoken, as alike the conviction
nd sentiment of the people of The
outh, is confirmed by a very tangible
roof to-day. The Grand Jury, of
yhich / am a member, land the bur -
en- and confinement of whose official =
uties prevent more careful express a
ion of these views,) before the re-
option of your note, recommended a.
that all the funds in the .
treasury, raised or to be raised for b
hat purpose, be equally and impartial h
' expended for the education of the 81
wo races, irrespective of color. No !; l.
lore emphatic proof of the kind SEN 4
iments of the white community to- q,
yards you could be given, than is fur n
ished by this single fact.
As to the subject of political In
erests" on which you ask an express
ion of my views, it would perhaps at pl
his time be premature to give advice. in
he enactments of Congress, impos- p
lg military governments on the States 81
nd divesting the most distinguished rs
itizens of the South of the right of &c
uffrage, are, by the constituted auth IA
rites of those States, regarded as la
The Governors of he
hese States have, therefore, appealed pa
, the Supreme CouFt-thc final arbi- ?.
or to decide this question. Its de- An
ision will be speedy. In the mean ra