Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1870-05-31

rejection of'the Scalawog Constitution, dis
.trancAising t,eenty thousand Of he most
Intelligent citizens of the STATE, ,ettch Con-
st'tuhon scas gOted dozen Jytte colorca pote
an June, 1865.
My ooLoRED FRIENDs:-I appear here
to-day in your interest alone. The white man
is able to take care of himself and as you
can all see, | have not one drop of white
blood in my veins [laugater.1 am regular
old-fashioued, plain, corn field niggsr, and
! have not the capacity TO instruct white people
! as to their duties, even if had the will
! / was slave from my birth-I always en-
deavored to serve my master faithfully ac>
cordng to that letter of the Bible which reads ::
|. "Servuuts. be obedient unto your masters; for
this is right" aud | eau lay my hand upon
my heart to day and say, before God, that
| entertain no i'll will toward any white man on
earth, and least of all toward my old master
| aud his sons whom loved as my own brothers,
and Will, whom played in boyhood. In all
| our neighburhood ronps aud frolics aud fights
| (for boys will iisht,) they stood at my back,
as / did theirs, whenever, it came te the pin CHI
laughter ! and thank God I will do so yet,
will staud by them so long as they stand by
me, whether the oppression comes from the
Nankees, or from wherever else it may
Whenever it comes TO my making choice be-
tween whitG men, shall prefer those of mine
own section to all the carpet baggers in the
world. Laughter and applause There
amt very much difference between white
men and Yankees laughter, and whenever
you find it at all you'll! end it in the white
mans favor. White folks are all cut pretty
much out Of the same cloth and both sections
have made their love tor the niggers subserve
their owu interests, as all men are selfish by
nature and can't help it, aud | can't blame
them.
When the late war broke cut, am free to
acknowledge l @as mighty glad of it. some
how felt that my freedom was going to come
out of it some way or other, and as | am,
perhaps, as selfish as Il white mau, tell you
| Gidn't-wel. didn't cry much at the pros.
rcct Well, when the first company lett my
county for "old Virginia" to flht the Yam
KEGS, enlisted with the balance Of them, and
went along as first cook aud head waiter for
one of my young masters. had pretty
good time. tG0 Tor while the white folks were
out fi.hting and watching and suffering aud
dying, was laying back with the meat and
bread Wagons. Laughter [ tett for once
III my life. it was pretty good thing to be
let Inc fight alongside of him. and, after |
heard the first shell 20 off, God knows wasn't
very anxious to do it either. iicuewed
laughterI know if | lad becu along on
the Yankee side [ wouldn't have had such an
easy time. for as selfish as the Yankee is. he
never objected to getting somebody to 90 his
fighting for him Whenever he could. Not he.
Loud lauehter.] Some FOLKS say he vas
willing enough to let the South do it all during
the Mexican war. Applause
I used to be right smartly amused hearing
the white folks talk. My young master came
in one night after battle. and says he,
"Heury, we've Just had hig six hours fight.
We whipped the Id Yankees like suroke
aud drove them thiFty,six miles" Thinks 1
to myself, "Elumph pretty good driving
all in six hours, too But heap OF people
think the niger is fool.
Well, I sorter thought maybe, the Yankees
woro really fighting to free the niggcrs. But
they did not keep the wool over my eyes long.
I watched em mighty close. Que day the
news came iuto camp that Mr.. Lincoln had
done issued his proclamation, saying that if
Mr. Davis would lay down his arms and come
back into the Union aud go to paying tariff
again the Southern people might have their
niggers! Thinks l, humph! Mighty poor
chance to get any freedom from you, Mr..
Lincoln. Laughter tell what had the
blues so bsd was almost black. Laughter.
think in two weeks | must have fell of
twenty pounds. | was SO 'iraid Alr. Davis
was going to do it couldn't sleep. But by
and>by the good word came that Mr.. Davis
said he'd be Id if he'd DO any such
thing amt fighting for the niggers. Let
the niggcrs go. Tn after my own freedom
first before anything else in the world" I
tell you my heart Jumped right up in my
mouth Thinks /, bully FOR JEFF. Davis =
He's my man All. my friends, if the Yam
KEGS had been in Mr.. Davis place, you'd
been in the cotton patch to day, with the whip
after you, instead of sitting up here in this
court house hearing me speak. Laughter.
But don't you see the difference between the
Southern man and tie Northern man. The
Northern man never missed the chance Ut
taking care of the dimes first.
And the Garnet baggers come here and tell
us they are our friends and the Southern peo-
pie our enemies. They tell us they set us
free. Oh, yes. they've done it all no doubt.
They set us free about like they set the mules
free about like Ben Butler set the spoons
free. rImmcnse laughter and applause. l.
They done it all to help the Yankee, aud to
| 1nJure the Southefan man. 1hey can lool
this niggcr l know who brought the niger
to this country, in the first place the North
ern man brought US here, and when they be-
gan-to lose money the niger they put the
nigger in their pocket: sold him down South,
and then, to keep the South in the Union to
make her pay taxes, they turn around and set
the niger and the mule and the spoons free;
and they wouldn't have set anything free (ex
cepting spoons) if they could have got the
South back into the Union without it.
They promise him the forty acres and the
mule" know I've niggers that starved plum
to deth waiting for that mule and that forty
acres. Laughter. I'd like TO know where
the carpet bagger got his forty acres You
| all remember the devil took the Lord up in