Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-09-30

J ing-preaeh TO him new and more truthfI
tidings of a bet er freedom-Offsr him a clea
} garment Of loyirg righteous1ess restore biz
and his household clothed and in their rigt
mind 10 their masters mansion-and thus edu
cate them to feel. that though we will not ben
with them at the same shrine. we have com
mon God and a common cOuntry-that one ha
commanded love and the other kneels to US 70
| peace.
As / undertake to<day to tell you only "wha
think" are the real necessities. duties AM
| Gesunles OF the citizens of that grand Tennessee
Central Basin of varied and fertile soils. so fiat
terlngly Commanded by the late able report .
our State Biologist and within one-half mile o
the exact centre of when 1 now stand. viii
propose no theoretic precepts or policies fol
| other PEOPLE. whose surroundings and facilities
are less valuable and prolific than ours.
| Let others who will. seek where they Will. fol
| heip TO dig out of mountain mines the coal fol
| our fires, the iron for our plOws and money fol
| our purses, that they may pay us literally for
their subsistence, which We wi be able to spare
/ TO them out of the abundant surplus of grains
| and meats and fruits, which, without the pres
| ence of single stranger within our gates, our
| cultivated negro labor can be taught to develop
| nom our fertile fields.
| Our friends of the SUMMER SOuth-G0d pity
| them who are everywhere surrounded by
| wide waste fields from which the raging blasts
OF war have swept together both master and
slave, and where malarious pestilence each
year levies an unrelentiug tax in kind on the
lie OF labor. have no other alternative but to
invite from abroad other labOrers however
worthless and savage, or abandon entirely the
homes of their choice and the only heritage
they have left for their children.
It is terrible, but possibly an unavoidable
necessity which brings more barbarous Afri-
cans and filthy idolatrous Chinese to their foot
stools even, much less to their ballot-boxes and
their jury benches.
But with what consistency can re thu same
agricultural people We have ever been, with the
same masters and the same servants and the
same pursuits. begin now TO call for new labor
for better labor, for foreign labor when we
and our fathers before u for near hundred
years have guarded our closed gates against all
the people Of these same nations, have dariugly
asserted IN the face of reprOving AbOlitiOnism
and all other isms and faiths, that negro labor
that our negro labor, was the perfection of all
LABOR. that our slaves were our best friends,
that loving care for the comfort of their
bodies and the safety of their lives was ever the
most christian delight and the chief pleasure of
our citizens and law makers. that ali the earth
must burn their pref udices on the altar of our
social economy, and ceasing to chide begin to
prais US. inasmuch, forsoOth, as we were every
day christiaLizing the negroes savage natures.
ennobling them with new wisdom and loftier
hopes, and that we and our pOsterity after us
were pledged and able to protect and care for
them properly in life. and return them, puri-
Ted OF much unzodilness, and perfected as the
curse of Eden would allow. to the benefcsnt
Maker who h4d given them TO us for our good
and their own.
Have we forgotten how orthodox we all were
then In that creed? Have we no memories left
of the boosted projections of harmony between
master and man. between child and nurse, be
tween the protecting white and the grateful
black? Was the record burned with our bills of
sale? Have we no shame, both preachers and
people, in admitting that these our same most
christian and beloved slaves, have been de-
bauehed so soon and SC wholly. that they must
be driven away from as to the uttermOst parts
of the earth, that few hundred struggling
Yankees. with deceitful hearts and lying
tongues, that evsn the negroes knew 10 be
false, have come into our very presence, and in
-. I'll r
hearts and memories of a whole race every YES
tize of that faith aud truth and gratitude
which our glorious civilization and exalting
Christianity had been so boastingly planting
for nearly century.
l remember all those things in which we then
gloried and then believed to be true, and what
1 now think about them" Is, that when the |
few remaining hours are over, in which vice
that judieious treatment on our part, based |
upon the two important facts that
they are free and must inevitably continue to
dwell among US, Will restore the fealty. the use
fulness and the protection they have lost: and |
that with few drops of the inexpensive Elixir
of f0rgiving kindness. we can and will heal them
of the delirium tremeus they have imbibed with |
the intoxicating peisons of liberty. loyalty and
other licentiOusness, while reyeing in the de- /
bauching courts of Radicalism. |
We must carefully deal with their faults With
out Impotence with their future and without |
reseB tment for their past for | know they are /
greatly demOralized by the events Cf war and /
TIE bogus peace that is no peace" which is /
following il, and so am l. and so are yOu-saints
and sinners. But l do not think that the virtue,
the goodness, the brctherly kindness, and the |
charity has been so wholly scOuTged out of the /
hearts and lives OF either race. that our duty |
destiny and mutual desire will not enable us TO !.
live together In such renewed peace, as will /
more successfully than any other plan recon-
stTuet the prosperity Of both races.
AS we are socially organized to-day, we find /
our white race, with all the capital and nine |
tenths of the intelligence and the blacks With |
mere 1.-THE of intelligence and nine-tenths of |
the labor, and this capital, intelligence and
labor make up our world and if The proverb is
true which says. "All the worlds an oyster "
let rs proceed at once to open ours, and not
stand hagg ling around 1t till spoils.
Destiny has thrown US together irrevOcably
for good or Ill, and it is full time all contention
should cease between the races. for the victory
of either will prove tie overthrow of the pros
perity of all.
every day. we assert TO each other, to the ne
gro. and to the world. that all the good people
mean to render him justice. If our promises
are not meant like dead sea fruit to turn TO
ashes on our lips. and we mean to offer him JUS
tiee at all, let it be generous, not niggardly
or niggerly justice justice placed upon the
thought that God has breathed into him living
soul, that his crimes and fOllies have stamped
him man, that he is not mere human inven
ton, patented by past generation, and trans
fer ed to ours, to become the tool of The politi
clan, the dupe Ofthe de igning, the victim 0fthe
vengeful, the = ey of the desperate and the |
Knocked at and despised of ali the earth. He
who permits oppression, shares the crime" l |
think that policy, principle and good will to
man, will soon take the beam and the mote out |
Ofthe eyes of both races. and enable all to see
and welcome the ray of light which has pierced |
the surrounding clouds and 'harbingers a rising |
sun" Of thought, and that, when the full day
light has dawned, all will find the ripe truth as
easily and as naturally as sch9Ol-bOys find ripe
apples and peaches.
/ think the negro will then realize that the |
blue lights of the loyal league that cast the fas-
cir shadow a n m n
wall, will not be visible in the new sunlight,
and that the Yankee riding off in the distance
on the expected mule. has left in lieu of the |
promised title bond to the fiat, fair and forty
acres" a binding contract for ten dollars a
month and ragiOns. upon one corner of which his |
y mark is as imperatlvely and inevitably de-
manded as is the revenue stamp upon the other.
l think the white man will see in the new day
tb at the shadOwy light Of the ku~klux lanterns
(peacs and blessing on The memory of the dear
depatted) has never enabled him to see clearly
befOre-that the negro Is free-free through and
thrOugh-free as the wind, which gOeth with
his fragrance where he listeth in the Melish-
free TO do evil if net trained to do wel-free to
fellowship with advisers who will teach him as
falsely as Paracelsus, that IF God would not
reveal the secrets of truth, IL Is perfectly jUSti
fable to consult the devil"
Then for our own good mainly, and for that
of the negro sJcOndariy, tor my platform OF
equal rights has two stories-ORe right dboUe the
0ther-l let US begin new era of teaching him to
do well-let US quit our seuseless poutings, and
ing bosh and balderdash about negro equal
ty" and along with those who sqabbingly pirate
about it because a consciousness of their own
wOrthlessness forces them TO doubt their WI su-
periority, t0hich IS really only stin deep. and in
dividually and collectively undertake every eff
fort that gentlemen can afford, to elevate the
negro to a position so high that from it he can
clearly perceive that the truth is scattered broad
cast all over the earth for which he has been 50
long seeking at the bottom of the we'll.
Raise him up, that he can see clearly as we
see, that everywhere the best negro has the
most friends, and that every good man Is the
fighting friend Of the good negro, and every man,
both good and bad. black and white, is the mer-
ciiess enemy of the moan one; that he can look
all over the world and realize that the curse of
color and the calamity of caste, bestowed upon
him by his Maker and not by man, Is nov, and
has ever been, and must ever remain the badge
and brand of the inferiority Of his race and that
the only credtable ambition offered to him by
his Creator or his fellOw-creatures, is to excel
the best of his own creed ana not to seek equal
ity with the meanest of ours. Let our light so
shine" before him, that seeing il. he may recOg
nize US as his first love, from which he has been
seduced by faithless tempter, and let its kind
ling rays penetrate, illuminate, and restore its
lost love to his reminding heart.
Get his confidence and give him ours. and
the work is done. Prove to him by example as
well as precept, that our race has no more an
tagOnism to him practically than it has theo-
retically, aud my word for it, the rebellion that
is now raging within him will find its Apo
mattOx within an hour. Let him fairly aud
truly appreciate the facts that, as his bodily
health and strength and toll belong to our cap
Ital collectively now, as thoroughly and perpet-
ually as when he was part Of the ehattels of
the individual, also will We, as surely as
then, sympathize and sustain him in his sick
ness, will beautify and brighten his leisure,
divide and Tighten his burdens, If he will con-
fdingIy trust to our integrity. and you will see
that the sunshine Of hope, and the genial at
mOsphere of trust will cause roses and all
bright flowers to spring up spontaneously in the
soil of mis- understanding, where now only
thorns and thistles thrive.
These things are now already understood and
maintained by the hundreds of good negroes
for whom we all entertain feelings of the great
est kindness and relative respect, because they
have been blessed by the varied and valuable
intelligence that has been impaired to them by
friendly advisory contact with the hest of us,
and of what inexcusable folly will we be