The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-07-15

ADVICE TO THE CoLoRED PEOPLE OF
VIRGINIA.
From the Richmond Whig
MoxRov1A. Liberia, Jan. 8, 80.

From the Richmond Wing.
MoNRovIA, Liberia, Jan. 3, 90.
/ | have lived now In this home of the
African nearly twenty years; but L have
not forgotten the old scenes in Virginia,
nor the kindness of many white friends in
/ former days. l wish it was in my power
to return for time, that my voice might
be heard by my colored brethren of the
| Southern States.
l am anxious for their fate. As | sit
here, on the shores of this continent filled
with native black population, and look
across the great waters over your CONT
nent filled with white men, l cannot but
be fearful in regard to the future of the
few millions of people of my own blood
in the South, now left TO their own re-
sources. L see a tide of white men pour
ing over those fields which have hereto
| fore fed them; tide coming from the
overlooking populations of the Northern
States and Europe | remember how
! that tide, when slow and feeble, swept off
the native Indians, and now, as it rushes
in its might, what is to shield the trans
planted African from its waves l can
think of but one hope for him.
If, as body, the colored people Of the
South shall identify themselves with the
white people who now occupy and hold
the soil, gain their affection and conf
dence, and become useful members of
their communities, they may float above
the torrent and still dwell in peace among
the associations of the past; otherwise
they must, in the lapse Of years, be
buried beneath it, or washed, like drift
wood, into the burning zone around the
Equator.
And yet the occasional letters and pa
pers we received here from the United
States tell us that political demagogues
from the North, peddling politics for their
own profit, are exciting our race TO hOstil-
ity towards the whites. If they shall be-
come the dupes Of such emissaries, their
fate is sealed. The scattered white men
on this continent of Africa might as well
array themselves against the native tribes
of black men, with the expectation of
meeting anything but destruction in the
pursuit of such folly. | feel some conf
dence that the more intelligent portion Of
the people of color will not be led astray
by Adventures who Will use them while
they reap any personal profit from pre-
tended friendship, and desert them when
they please But the mass have not had
time to learn lessons of political wisdom,
and the prospect fills me with sadness. If
| could but make them hear me, / would
appeal to them to make common cause
with the white people of their own land,
to take advice and counsel from such men
as have been known to them through
their lives for their high character and
honesty and intelligence, to seek the wei
fare of the people on whom they must de
pend through all time for their own pros
perity, to do no act which shall give to
the white population just cause for enmi-
ty, and thus identifying themselves with
the communities in which they dwell, OBJ
tain for themselves the most powerful of
allies against those forces which threaten
their very existence. Say this much to
them for me. 5. w. w.