The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1869-03-04
The Other Side.

Mr.. W. W. Brown, (negro) re-
Gently lcctured in Chicago on "Han-
nlbal" which afforded the Times an
opportunity to vent its spleen On the
African race, charging that they are,
and always have been, and always
will be, barbarians, incapable now,
as in the past, to produce any great
men.
In letter to the Times Brown
gives tho other side of the picture in
the following strong manner:
"You say: The only progress the
negro has ever made is found in such
civilizing tendencies as connected
him with slavery among a superior
race This, sir, is the cid doctrine
of The south. The Shareholders al
ways maintained that theirs was .
civilizing institution. The same
n ;ght have been said by the Romans
when your ancestors were enslaved
by them. You may have forgotten
the fact; permit to refresh your mem.
ory. Go back few centuries, and
we find your ancestors described in
the graphic touches Of 1acitus and
Cesar. See them in the gloomy for.
ests of Germany, sacrificing to their
grim and CORY idols; drinking the
warm blood OF their prisoners; quaff-
ing libations from human skulls; in
testing the shores of the Baltic tor
plumber, robbery, and murder; bring.
ing home the reeking scalps of
enemies as an offering to their king.
Macaulay says: "When tho Brit>
ons first became known to the Tyrian
mariners, they were but little better
than the Sandwich Islanders" -
Hume says: "They were a rude and
barbarous people, divided into nu-
merous tribes, dressed in skins OF
wild beasts, and they were very su-
perstitious."
Caesar, in writing home, after the
conquest of the Britons said: "They
(the Britons) are the ugliest and
most ignorant people | ever CONCUR
ed"
"You should not the ignorant ne
gro desplse;
just such ycur sires appeared in
Caesars eyes"
Cicero, writing to his friend Atti-
Gus, advised him not to purchase
slaves from Britain, '.because" said
he, "thsy cant be taught music, and
are the most degraded people ever
saw" us SEs .ssa.
HAM this picture up alongside Of
the one sketcked by Homer and
Herodotus of the Ethiopian, and say
whether the Anglo-Saxon or the ne
gro has reason to boast the louder OF
his lineage.
|. / give you these facts, Mr. Editor,
because tho whites never think OF
their own low origin, while they al
ways remember tho origin, as they
term it, of the black man.
As to your assertion that no full
blooded negro has ever risen above
mediocrity as a warrior, statesman
or philosopher Now, sir, you sho'ld
not forget the fact that this race
have been the slaves of nearly every
race, and that all tho avenues Of
learning have been shut against
them. Yet, more than so years ago
Benjamin Banniler, Il full blooded
negro, blacker than yonr hat, distin-
guished himself as q mathematician
and was highly complimented by
President Jefferson. l need scarcely
remind You of the splendid military
talents OF Toussaint L'Ouvertnre, the
hero of st. Domingo; the man who
rose from slave to be a governor, &
general, aud defeated the ablcst off
GERS that Napoleon could send from
France; the man who beat his enc
mics on the field of battle, turned
their own weapons against them
liberated his countrymen, and made
the island free. I know that facts
like these are hard for Americans tC
remember, and this is not strange
when we consider the great prejudice
against the negro
! WM. WELLS BROWNE