The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-19
lCOLUMBI.A...
Sunday morning, July 10, 1858.
what Does che white Man Moan .

to avail themselves Of the ppportuni-
ties of education, and one pecnliarity
which has elected comment among
those not accustomed before the war
to know much of them, is their
knowledge of character. A cores
pondent Of the New York Times re-
fers to this trait in one of his letters,
and says that q very Intelligent color
ed Imam in South Carolina accounted
for it by saying: eve have been
Watching white men all our lives to
find out what they mean" It is a
matter Of congratulation to the color
ed race, at this time, that they possess
this faculty; and we may add that it
isa matter of hopeful augury to the
country. "To find out what the
white men mean" is more important
to them now than ever. With their
natural faculties of discernment, and
the additional intelligence which
they will. obtain from education, they
will be in d condition to make this
one of the most advantageous studies
of their leisure hours. Nay, they
ought to think of it when they are at
work, when they are ploughing,
wood-chopping, sowing, reaping;
when they are lying down and when
they are rising up, this should be the
great problem for their solution
'What does the white man mean?"
AS soon as they begin to read history
a little. they will have some light on
this subject. for they will there see
that the white man has always been
aggressive, rapacious of land and
power, belligerent and bloody in his
competitions with his own color;
whilst as to all other colors, he has
uniformly crowded them out of his
way, or enslaved or annihilated them.
No terms atall but through submis-
sion and subordination has he ever
conceded to Indians of the East or
West, to Africans, or any inferior
race; and, therefore, when the white
radicals of the North profess towards
the Africans of the South policy so
exceptional to all the traditions of
their color, the freedmen may we'll
inquire, "What do they mean? Is it
possible that they love us SO much?
Was the late bloody war fought al
together for our benefit? Are they
really going to give us those forty
acre farms? Is it because they love
us SO much that they give us the
right to vote and put us on juries?"
All these questions the freedmen,
with increasing education, will one
day be able to answer. They may
even now be wondering why it is that
the men who want to give them,
without preparation, sudden and un-
qualified suffrage, and a place on
juries, refuse it to their brethren in
the North, who have long been free
and educated, and whose numbers
are too small in the communities
where they live to be any cause of
apprehension. This is q subject
worthy their constant meditation.
"What does the white man mean" by
this, ought to awaken their serious
reflections. The Baltimore Sun very
correctly asserts, that the more they
reflect, the moro they will become
satisfied that he means good to him
self, not to them-that he means
political power, and that there is
also the amiable desire to humiliate
their old masters, by forcing their
former slaves upon them in the jury
box and in suffrage, whilst they will
not permit the black people OF the
North to vote, or to sit by their side
in juries. This amazing inconsis-
tency will not be lost upon people
who have devoted their lives to study
ing "what the white man means, +"
and their future conduct will be