Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1868-03-06

and ignorance Of the white man, with whom
he should bo upon equality. The negro has
been, and still is, thoroughly misunderstood.
However severely we may condemn the horri
bic systcm of slavery, tho results Of emanoipa
tion have proved that the negro does not appre
ciate the blessings of the freedom; nor doe.
he show theslightest feeling of gratitude to
| the hand that broke the rivots of his fetters.
His narrow mind cannot embrace that feeling
Of pure philanthropy that first prompted Eng
land to declare hersolf against savory, he only
regards tho anti-slayery movement as proof
of his own Importance. In his limited hori.
zon ho is himself tho important object, anS
as sequence to his solfconceit, he imagines
that the whole world is at issue conccrnin.
tho black man. The negro therefore bcin.
tho important question, must be an importan
person, aud he. conducts himself accordingly
-hc is far too great man to work. Upo,
this point his natural character exhibits itsel
most dctcrmncdly. Accordingly, he resist
any attempt at coercion; being free, his frs
impulse is to claim an equality with thos,
whom ho lately served, aud to usurp Lignit,
with absurd prctensions, that must ineytabl,
insure tho disgust of tho white community
lll-will thus ongendcrcd, hatred and jeal
ousy is established between tho two races
combined with errors that, in such conditions,
must arise on both sides. The final question
remains. Why was the negro first intro
duccd into our co!onies-and to America
"The sun is tie great arbitcr between tn,
whito and the black man. There arc produc
tions necessary to civilized countries that car
alonc be cultivated in tropical climates, whcr
tho white man cannot 1.-Two exposed to labo,
in the sun. Thus such fertile countries as
the West Indies and portions of America Re
ing without native population, the negro
was originally imported as slave to fulfil the
condition of laborcr. In his own country
he was wild savage, and cnslaved his broth
er man he thus became victim to his own
system; to the institution of slavery that is
indigenous to tho soil Of Africa, and that has
not been taught to the African by the white
man, as is currently reported, but that has ev.
or bcon the peculiar characteristic of African
tribes
"In his state of slavery the negro was COM
pcllcd to work, and, through his labor, every
country prospcrcd where he had been intro
duccd. lie was suddenly freed and from
that moment ho refused to work, and instead
of being useful member of Society, he not
only became useless burden to tie commu-
nifty, but plottcr and intrigucr, imbued with
deadly hatred to tho white man who had
generously declared him free.
"Ncw, as the negro was originally impor-
ted as q laborcr, but now refuses to labor, it
is sclf-evdent that he is lamentable failure.
Either ho must be compelled to work. by some
stringent law against vagrancy, or those beau
tlful countries that prospercd under the con-
dltions of negro forced industry must yield
to ruin, under negro freedom and idle indc-
pcndcnce. For an example of tho results,
look to ST. Domingo
"Undcr peculiar guidance, and subject to
a certain restraint, the negro may be an i'm
portant and most useful being but if treated
as al Englishman, he will affect the vices but
mono of the virtues of civilization, and his
natural good qualities will be lost in his at
tempt to become white man,
The suggcstivoncss of these extracts is
almost irresistible, and no reader can fail to
contrast the condition, mental, moral and
physical Of the happy slave laborers Of the
Southern States, not only with the cruelty
treated native African, but with what we see
every day in the laziness, squalor, vice and
universal worthlcssncss of the freedmen, wo.
mon and children around us-As an old la
dy of the ancicn regime is cxclaiming while
l write. My Lord how they do miss an
oycrseer and good master Poor creatures
they are the most miserable, filthy wrctches on
the face of the earth, now that they are frce!''
Not even such bold and misnformed negro
phllists as Mrs. Harriet Becchor Stowe could
dare to draw the fabulous character of an
/" Uncle Tom," either from the native Afri-
can granting him the benefits Of missionary
instruction, or from the cmancipatcd negro
of the Southern States who, Withdrawn
from the influences that effected his advance.
mcnt, has already become nuisance to socie-
ty. If possible anywhere, it would only be
so under the humanizing and christanizing
Influences of slavery as it existed in the South