The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-20
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
Rditortat Opinions Of the Loading Journals
UpOu Cdrrent Toptcs-ComDiIed Every
DRv for the RveuIng telegraph.
THE NEGRO AS A JUROR.
'ittSburg Commercial


sidered as a dangerous and very troublesome
malady among us. The person thus afflicted
was supposed to be quite disqualified for
ercising sound judgment in regard to many
subjects of great practical Importance.
Though the disease has disappeared, except
sporadic case here and there, the memory of
it's disagreeable symptoms is still fresh, and
perhaps exerts an influence unfavorable to
dispassionate and Impartial consideration of
the class whose claims once gave rise to such
morbid effects in their advocates
But these colored people in great numbers
form part OF our compatriots; their con-
dition in the future is a matter that forces
itself upon the attention of the present, and
there is no wisdom in refusing to look at
the subject because it may happen to be un-
pleasant or because we may think that too
much has been made of it in the past.
Though the civil relations of these people
concern the South more than the North and
though there is good reason to believe that
many of those among us will gradually seek
a warmer climate, still, many of them will
remain here, and long time must elapse
before our population will be left
quite without an African element.
Hence, on several grounds, we of the
North watch and ought to watch with
keen spirit of inquiry the social processes
of settlement and arrangement of the two
The subject is one of considerable theoretical
as well as practical interest, and it is not i'm
probable that in time to come the results of
the vast experiment proceeding in those re-
gions will be referred to as illustrating some
of the most obscure problems in etbnology
In view of these considerations and others
that might be mentioned, the following ex-
tract from the Fi0rida Banner of the 18th of
November will be read with general satisfac-
,u 81 oho Ill.
the Grand Jury Of Marion county by Judge
Goss:-
"The doubt with people was, whether the
( reedmen (as jurors) would find according to the
acts-would ever convict one OF their own race of
crime particularly Of larceny crime against the
whites During the two former sittings of the court
in the five counties OF this circuit there have been
multitude OF Offenders put upon trial before mixed
juries and In some instances OF black men excu-
sively very large majority Of such offenders have
been black men on trial for offenses against white
men, and upon the property OF white men. In al
most every instance, certainly in majority OF cases,
where the evidence was clear and Conclusive the
Jury has found the prisoner guilty OF the twenty n
or thirty convictions obtained at the former sittngs
OF this court very nearly all were black men con-
yicted OF oenses against white men, and convicted
by black. mixed jury In such cases is almost
10 arrive at Just conclusion"
We have assumed that this statement will
be read with general satisfaction, because we
suppose there are few who will regret to see
their own sinister respondent anticipa-
tions in such matter falsifed by facts 1t
is another instance added to the multitude
known before, which show that, in regard to
races of mankind as well as distinct classes of
society, charitable judgments are usually the
soundest, and that the spirit of sweeping
condemnation is as foolish as it is wicked.
In the days before the war; the negro in the
North was an object of contempt to one sort
of people and an object of compassion to an
other sort. Cities and neighborhoods could
mentioned n mn
ber of persons concerned themselves about
him, and had come to conclusions favorable
upon the whole to the African character.
These benevolent inquirers were generally
Quakers, and their friendly theories
we're not allowed to remain nero
,heor;es. They became facts in
he form of schools reading-rooms, and
other institutions, by the use of which pros
Oerous or at least comfortable African COM
munities were enabled to show, on q small
scale, their susceptibility of civilization. The
Quaker testimony regarding their sable
proteges was, that they were fairly intelligent
and more than fairly thankful for kindnesses
received. In the South, there was much di-
versity of opinion in regard to some straits of
negro character, while his intellectual and
moral inferiority to the white man was an
almost universal article of faith. Yet ladies
interested in slave property were often heard
TO affirm that negroes were very affectionate
in disposition and capable of forming very
strong attachments, not only to one another,
but to their owners and their owners families.
The lords of these ladies we have
heard confirm this witness, with the reserva-
ton or explanation that these attachments
we're always short-lived, vehement but tran
sient. This notion, even when sincerely en-
tertained, might be suspected to have origi-
mated in the obvious utility or desirableness
nf ipnif N
holders would naturally feel less compunction
in rending attachments which they believed
to be destined to a speedy termination at any
rate, or in dissolving connection known to
have been formed under the prompting of
transitory sentiment. With respect to
another moral trait of the African there was
truly admirable concurrence of opinions among
the Caucasian lords of the soil and their white
retainers The negro, they said, had no re-
spect for property, the difference between
mine and thine was a difference which
could never be impressed upon hii
moral nature Why, he would occa
sionally steal even himself! We ma,
add that stealing has been the vice of slave
of all races and in all ages In Roman
mouth the same word denoted thief and
slave; each was fnT, or ''man of three let
ters." But the Southern theory referred tn
vice to the original constitution of the Afr
can And science, in the persons of Messrs. Not
and Ghddon, came forward to sustain tn
doctrine with the "Types of Mankind
book, by the way, which seemed to Alexande
Humboldt to exhibit science in its lowest de
graduation. These notions of negro characte
prevailing, no wonder that little good VIZ
expected of him as a juror. But slime
the great innovator;" tried in war as a traine
soldier, and in peace as juryman, he ha
in both characters justified the prediction