Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-08-05
The Capacity of the Negro for Self
Government.

AS in this country the experiment is noY
being made on large scale of entrusting the
powers of government to the'n negro, it becomes
u matter of interesting inquiry (says the
Charleston Me,cwy) to know what capacity
be has ior the task. To judge of this cor
rectly; we should not confne Gun Inquiries to
the negroes Of the Southern States, who have
Ilor.ycars been under the compulsory training
of the whites. The superiority Of the South
ern freedman of to-day over the wild African
of hundred Years ago from whom he is de-
scended, only proves that the race may be
taught, not that it will learn of its own ac-
cord that it can be compelled to improve,
not that it has the elements of progress with.
in itself, or~even that it would voluntarily fol-
low AL example of improvement. This Gould
only be proved by an instance of a progres.
sive country controlled by negroes. That
instance is wanting. History is all the other
way. The negroes of Hayti who became in
dependent fifty years ago with teerable
share Of civilization acquired by training, and
the advantage Of a slight mixture of Circas-
sian blood. now have government scarcely
better than that of Dahome or Egba. Our
freedmen are mostly the descendants of West
Africans. and the nations, or rather tribes OF
that psrt of the world are now as barbarous
as When the FIRST cargo of slaves was shipped
to America. IF W, j. Whipper, the most
intelligent. pure blooded negro in the Colum-
bia Legislature, were to visit Dahome at the
present time, he could easily find the coun,
terpart Of his great, great grandfather, save
only perhaps that he would be armed with
musket instead of Il how and arrow, wear a
calico rag in place OF q grass tie, and drink
blood from al earthenware tea cup rather
than from skull If negro rule is allowed
to become an established fact in South Caro-
lima, we have no reason 10 doubt that Whip
per's great, great grand Child, will also be an
excellent counterpart Of the venerable ances-
tor already mentioned.
In confirmation OF these views we take the
following extract from Routledge's Natural
History of Man, work prepared by Rev.
y. G. Wood, NJ. A. f. IS, &C., &c.
There is a very rer arkable point about the
true negro of Western Africa, namely, the
use which he has made Of his contact with
civilization. 1t might be imagined that he
would have raised himself in the social scale
by his frequent intercourse with men wiser
and more powerful than himself, and who, il
perhaps they may not have been much better
in moral point of view, could not possibly
have been worse. But he has done nothing
of the kind, and, instead of giving Up bis old
barbarous customs, has only increased their
barbarity by the additional means which he
has obtained from the white man.
Exchanging the bow and arrows for the
gun, aud the club for the sword, he has en-
ployed his better weapons in increasing his
destructive powers, and has chiefly used them
in fighting AID selling into slavery those whom
he had previously fought, and who respected
him as long as the arms on both sides were
equal. And the strangest thing is that, even
considering his caplives as SO much property,
the only excuse which could be found for the
savage cruelty with which he makes raids on
every town which he thinks he can conquer,
he has not yet learned to abolish the dread
ful.a custom" of human sacrifices, although
each prisoner or criminal killed is dead loss
to him.