The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-01-05
The V1RerSIA eNsdno ANFs Nero Sur

THE VIRGINIA sNsdRo AMI Micro Sur
sRAaE-A NoHrHEFas Mass orlsroE.
The editor Of the Lancaster (Pa.| Inteui-
gencer has recently made q trip Through
some Of the southern States. he was NOT
favorably impressed byss close Inspection
Of tho Virginia Negro, for hesssys:
The negroes In Virginia seem to be more
disconnected than thoee Of the other States
that We have been in--at least, we saw more
of them idle, and more complaining Of rates
Of wages end want Of work. This may
have been owing to the season Of the year
during which our visit was made. The
rate Of wages ranges frem six TO tendollars
per month in all the southern States. To
this is added ration Of three and half
pounds Of bacon and q peck Of meal per
week, o hut to live in being also furnished
them and very little work do they do for
the money. We presume northern farmers,
who would go into the fields themselves
and say to the negroes come," might get
more work out Of them but they ara con-
stitutionslly opposed to labor, and require
constant driving. We were greatly aston
ished at the immense profundity Of their
ignorance. They do not really seem to have
An idea above an oyster, and are, many of
them, in intellectual calibre, but little above
the beasts of the field. .s-,,.s-,.,.
They are utterly improyident and unable
to take care Of themselves The rags in
which they are clothed would astonish the
most accomplished beggar in Italy. They
are expecting the Government to do great
things for them, and have got an idea into.
their heads that from this source they are
each to get forty acres of land, mule, and
farming implements,a and provisions enough
to last them until they car make crop off
of their land. They Gomez We that the Go
vernment owes them this. Ii they get that
mule it would not live tire months, but
would die of starvation half of the ne
groes would be, even too, careless to lead
their animals to water. The planters can
trust very few Of them with their stock,
and they require constant watching. 1t
seems incredible that any human being
would let his dumb beast die for want Of
water, yet we are assured that 1t is often
done by negroes who attain the ownership
Of q horse.
John Randolph of Roanoke tried this
experiment Of fitting out freedmen with
farms. By his will he freed his slaves and
directed that they should be settled IN a
colony in Ohio-each to be provided with q
house and lot Of ground and farming i'm
Elements. They we're, moreover, to be
under the care of experimenting white
man until they got fairly started in their
new career. 1t was all done as directed,
and to-day, after the lapse Of twenty or
thirty years, not one of those freedmen
owns the lot that was given to him.
What mockery it is to give these crea-
lures, with their present degree Of educa-
ton and intelligence, voice in the admin
istration of our Government. Negro suf-
frage South, fortunately, is SO great farce
that it will not long continue TO be a reality.
1t may exist in name for . few years, but
even then the negro vote will be but the
echo of that of the white man. The freed
man always agrees to what white man
says; in ell our conversation with him We
we're never able to meet anything but the
most ready assent to every proposition
which we advanced, no matter Of how con-
Trajectory or absurd character.