Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1870-03-31
From Lippencott's Magazine.
THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH.
BY EDWARD A. POLLARD.

The writer has to confess that he WAS
educated i'll that common school ol
Ouiuion in the South that always INSIST
ed OF regarding the negro as speclnc-
ally inferior to the white man-a lower
order of human being, who Was lndeot-
! ed Tor what he had OF civilization to the
tuition of slavery, and who, taken from
/ that tuition, was bound to retroSrade
1 and 10 relapse into bar"arism and help
lessness. The writer was even advanced
in this school. He had been fond OF
| writing his opinions Oh the suhject-that
the negro was an inferior species OF hui
manity that by the employment OF ms
| Initiative facilities he had obtained his
maximum liberalization in the condItlon
of slavery; and that TO emanclpate him
would be to put him on the high road TO
ruin, Educated thus to dlsesteem the
negro, yet always having compassion
ate interest in him-admiring III him
| his extraordinary qualities OF ht.mor
and tenderness, indulging- number OF
poetic fancies in him, yet constantly IN
| sisting that he was poor, intellectual
| Iy helpless creature, who never could get
along out side the leading-strlngs OF
slavery-the writer was prepared 10 VII
ness with pity what the whole South ar
ranged itself to see-the misfortune anu
inevitable decline of the negro from the
moment his emancipation was declar-
ed.
The South has seen no such thing.
Whatever may be the vanity OF opinion
which compels men to persist In error,
or yet more frequently to be silent un-
der con nviction, the writer comes sharp
ly before the public with this confession !:
VII nf the negro were
wrong, that the results OF emancipation
especially have been the reveise OF. his
xpectations-a surprise the force OF
which he can neither resist nor contain.
So keen has been that surprise that
from the very intensity OF IT the writer
is moved to communicate it 20 the pub
lie. He feels more like eXclaID1lnS, A
discovery p' than writing in any more
deliberate mood of The proofs he has OBJ
tanned concerning the new condition OF
the negro. 1t is that singular question:
able creature has shown capacity iof
education that has astonished none more
thapihis former masters; thathe hasglven
proofs of good citizenship which are
constantly increasing; that his develop
ment since emancipation is u standing
surprise to candid observers among the
Southern whites themselves; that hls
condition since then has been on the
whole that of progress, and In the lace
Of difficulties that would soon have test
ed and broken down that progress had
ii been facticious or dishonest; and that:
SO far from being stationary barbarian
ora hopeless retrograde, the formerly
despised black man promises to become
a true follower of the highest civilization,
a new object of interest for the world,
and an exemplary citizen of the South.
Every year since the conclusion OF the
war have been in different parts of the
South have converSed with all classes
of people there; l have enjoyed the CON
ditions of good observer. j have OBJ
served the remarkable good order in
civil life which the negro has maintain
ed since the day he WAS emaHclpateu Il;
have seen that he Is sober, law-abldlns
that he has gone into his new condl-
ton with All adoption little less than
wonderful; have witnessed the zeal
with which the black people are avail
ing themselves ofthe schools and means
of education L have observed ID South
ern cities the animated daily routes of
their children to the schools ; | have no.
ticed the industry of the negro-Iis
steady ,undenid6Leincrease i'll the South;
[ have wondered at the remarkable
Di " H6 II iOll Ills
scanty wages not only livelihood, but
degree of comfort and adecency of
dress such as he had never known be-
fore l have been pleased to see his mani
festaJions ofselfrespect, the pride shown
in dress and manners; and, above all, L
have found in him sense Ofimportance
and responsibility conceived from the
idea that he is on trial before the world. |
The results of these observations L have |
put against the weight of a theory that |
had formerly persuaded me of the hope
less defect of the negro, and his worth
lessness as subject of intellectual eX-
periment-the old ultra shareholders |
theory that negroes without masters are |
cannibals all !; and the consequence is |.
simply that 1 have decided to follow af |
ter the evidence of my eyes rather than |
to pursue farther the ingenuity of spec
ulations.
On the conclusion of the war the |
ofthe negre was regarded
by the Southern people AS shief among |
the terrors that were to be inflicted upon
them by the loss Of the struggle. 1t had
been habitually painted as the most |
dreadful feature in that death s. head of |
"Subiugation" which for years had been
held up in the Confederate newspapers
to nerve to desperation the arms of the
South The common representation was,
that the negro, wild and intoxicated by
a change of condition SO sudden and
vast, would be no longer manageable;
that he would go through the South
and plundering, taking re-
venge OH his former taSkmaSters; or
that, less violent, he would die and rot
in the byways, nuisance and an eye
sore, until his own vice had consumed
him, or until the animoSity of race had
him from the face of the earth.
How haveall these raw-head-andb bloody
bones stories now disappeared, even
from the imagination of the South The
negro has been secu TO accept his great
and sudden gift of liberty with sobrie-
ty and q moderation tha: history will be
to record, since it is without
example, so far as l know, of a people
thus surprised by change of condition
as radical as can be possibly imagined,
whose fortune did not hurry them into
excess. What of promise there was in
the negro was Immediately shown when
he accepted without violence, and even
without vanity, the gift of his freedom
going into his new place with i facility
of adaption at which we have not yet
ceased to wonder, taking up with quiet
thankfulness his new career; and even
SO little disturbed by the conceit of his
new condition thot to- day it if the COM
mon testimony in the South that the
white people suffer no more from the
nsolence of the blacks than they did in
The days of slavery. History owes here
an extraordinary tribute to the negro for
his conduct on an occasion so trying.
He has accepted his liberty with self
"a decorum and facility that
some of the most cultivated and polite
nations might envy in an emergency
where such good fortune had been i'm 1
posed upon them. The promise which
he has given in conduct SO wise and ,
nnderate [ helieYe he is NOW fulEllinn