Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1869-07-17
For The Register.


few OF them can 90. and there are still
fewer who ,couid 60 if they could. But
it appears from the reports OF the Society
tina, there is a small but constant stream
OF the mos. epierprizing OF the coIored
people setting towards Liberia.
The question is will an industrious COL
ored man be better Of in Liberia Than IN
J say Jefferson county. Virginia ! take
this county because there is no part OF the
country where these people are more re-
spectacle in character, or are living more
comfortably. Here and there one Is
property holder on a SINAI! scale, but near
ly the whole body are laborers and as
likely as ever to continue so. Ii Is iof
the interest O! the land owners and whites
generally that they should remain here
for their labor is wanted; but the question
for them 10 consider is what IL best Tor
Themselves. They may be permitted II
rote, and for party purposes aiew oil mem
may be put into office, but that they Will
be used politically for The benefit oil one
or other of The white parties and not Tor
their own, may be counted OF as certain
" as yea can count upon human nature
under any circumstances.
The lmmovable h!ndrance IN the color
ed mans way in this county Is his So
cial status as towards The dominant race.
| say immovsble, because, while we 20
no. undertake 10 decide upon the possibll-
lilies o. the futoIe. there Is nothing which
sensible msn can call prospect oil lie
removal. The prophecies made on this
subject before and during, and immediate
ly after the war, have proved already to
be- bu, wind. The man who does not
know this is no fit adviser for the the col
ored man who himself in mos, instances
is better informed. lis being founded in
unreasonable prejudice does not mend the
matter. The fact is none The less certain
or likely TO endure. And shall indefinite
generations be encouraged 10 make ship
wreck agains, il Or rather shall they
be encouraged 10 embrace providenllaI
opening Tor getting out Of lis way There
is now prosperous young country upon
the western shore Of Africa, extending Tor
COO miles upon the sea coast with no bar
TO extension inland or coasi-wise. Ana
there in Liberia, and there on ~ so far as
know in the world. are The colored peo-
pie really free. There are numerous
towns well built OF slone and brick, with
churches end school houses which com
pare fayorably with our own. Among
numerous products coffee and sugar are
cultivated with much success and profit.
Trade fourishes. Ship building is un-
dertsken, and land is so rich and cheap
tina. any industrious man can soon make
himself independent. The government.
is like ours, and quite as exclusive, since
no white man can there vote or hold Oh
fee. of which we certainly cannot COM
plain. Therefore il is true saying that
where there ID one reason for Irish and
Germans TO come in snch crowds to this
country, or for our poor people 10 move
west, there are twenty for black man to
90 to Liberia, even il there were no free
passage from his own door TO the new
and better one open for him in that cOun-
try, with six months subsistence alter his
arrival.
And here we nigh, stop. but for
much deeper view which remains to be
taken OF the subject. II 10 one indeed
which cannot be expected 10 have much
weight with the colored people at present
or with the majority Of the other race at
any time but il has had great and per-
manen, weight with the noble minds
which started the American Colonization
Society, and which have ever since be-
frended it. Theirs has. been work, II
more select in It's constituency, more e!e-
waited and farseeing in its purpose, and
freer from ianaticism, party spirit, or 9th
er vicious admixiure. than any which has
come under our notice. The man 10
whose brain and hear, we are indebted
for it's conception was MIR. Charles Fen
ton Mercer. OF Va. 1t was no sooner I'M
der,aken than il drew around il North and
South, but more especially at the South,
some of the choicest spirits, fall those re-
ferred to arc now dead which christian
charity ever produced.
But 10 come 10 tho deeper view-and
in order TO comprehend it, lot us enquire.
What is it tina, accounts for the depressed
condition Of the negro race here, and for
bids all presen, hope of social equality Z!
Is it slavery! So far from il, slavery has
elevated them. When ignorance, fanati.
cism and maIigniry have brawled them
selves TO sleep. i! will be seen that through
no one cause or all combined has their
race been go much benefited as by the
enslavemen, SO called Of a par, Of il in
America say "so-called" because the
slavery which the negroes came TO, was
liberty in comparison with tina, which
they came from. The man who makes
the cutlery that slavery degraded these
who came from Africa to this country, is
fit only to be an ngitator among fools.
Ills only saying what every body knows.
who knows any thing OF the facts 10 say
tina, there was not upon the face Of the
earth, and never had been, and apart from
the work which this Society has in hand,
| see no cause to believe there will ever
again be) four millions of their race, so
well provided for in the world, and with
such prospects for salvation in the next,
as The four millions OF them in American
slavery, when the process which ended
American slavery begun. One fourth Of
the whole professed to be Christians. rs
lar1a ,,onort;on IA make like Drofes.