Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1868-10-15

Woih UP OutToSeS W suit tueii
views. But many of the best
members are imposed upon by the
stories of the vagabond negroes
and, full of sugar-pastry for the
colored man, swallow everything
they hear as Gospel"
This will enlighterr many .s
reader as TO the facts. and enable
them in future to reason correctly
on the subject AS for the law
less conduct of these negroes, the
planter said:
"The white men from the Nortl
are at the bottom of the whole
trouble. l believe in my hear
and soul that you would never
hear of any wrong doing by the
negroes if they were lett alone t.
themselves. Now / am one OF
those who feel that the negro i,
inferior to the white men; tina
they can be moulded into good o.
bad by asuperior mind as easily
asa pinwheel can be turned by s
child. If bad men get a hold OF
him and fill his mind with all sort.
of ideas as to his rights, and in
duce him to look upon his ole
masters as so many monsters who
should be killed at sight, what car
you expect of him? Did you ev
er hear of the negroes committing
the depredations they have done
since the war before the politician:
from the North got among them
and completely turned their
heads?"
He adds to this the following
striking remark:
1.-The good, steady workers, who
have all they can wish for on the
plantations, and are eontented
with their condition, look up to
us with the same Difference and ODE
dience as they did when bound to
us as slaves. And | will say OF
this kind of hands you never
hear aught that is bad. They are
not of those who commit outra-
ges. The vagabonds and rascals
who live without work and are fed
at public expense are the worst
characters among the blacks
We may infer from this why
the Freedmen's Bureau is called
a political institution. The "vag-
abonds and rascals" it feeds and
clothes will not work, but do cleo
ton duty for the party that SUP
ports them at the public expense,
and rob and outrage industrious
negroes as well as the white peo-
pie, on other occasions. This
planter, by the way, is not opposed
to giving the negro the ballot. He
thinks they will all be entitled to
vote yet, but adds:
81 am decidedly opposed to CIV
ing the negro suffrage in the South
at present, He is not fit for it.
He has no opinion of his own, nor
can he form one. The first white
man who lays hancs on him can
count upon his support, no mat
ter which way the white man
wants him to go. Witness the
carpet-baggers intriguing. Those
who go for the Radicals are SO filled
with the idea that they are to be
again if they don't vote
for the carpet-b oggers, that through
fear and ignorance they go with
them. On the plantations where
the masters influence is felt and
obeyed, the negro VIII go just the
other way"
We have no doubt that the
planters remarks will apply about
as well to the other reconstructed
States as to our own. They pre-
sent US, therefore, with a reliable
picture of life in the South as it
exists at the present moment, and
with such view of it before him
every man can Judge for himself |
bow much the reconstruction pol
icy of Congress is entitled to pub
lie confidence. Three years and a |
half nearly have elapsed since the
lose Of the war, and by this time
he late rebel States might have
been, under judicious manage
nent, the most tranquil, most
promising portion of the Union,
md making such rapid strides to
prosperity as could not but be ben
.fcially felt in every community. |