The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-06-15

"WEDNESDAY. .s.........JoSE 10 40, ioso's
,wuar HENRY RoTD TOLD THE THE
NEGROEs OF MISSISSIPPI
PART or A SPEECH DELIvERED,AT CAR.
ROLLToN, MISS, IN MAY, 1865, BY HIN;
KY BOYD (CoLoRED), ON THE sUByECra
. OF THE ADOPTION OR REJECTION Uf
THE SCALAwAG CONsTlTuI.oN, p 90,
FRANCHISING TWENTY THOUSAND VT
THE MOST INTELLIGENT WHITE I'LL
zENs or THE STATE, WHICH CONSTiIU-.
.lTIoN WAS VOTED DOWN BY THE Gu
LORED VOTE IN JUNE, 1859.
NV Colored Friends,--I appear here to-
s3ay In your interest alone. The White Haan
is able to take care of himself and. rs you
can ali see, have not one drop OF WhIte
lar, old-faShioned, plain. corn-heldnlsgeT,
and have not the capacity to instruct white
peopie as to their duties, even II had the
will. was slave from my BIRTH always
endeayored to serve my master faithfully ac-
coriing to that letter of the Bible which
roads =" Servants, be obedient unto your
masters. for this is right" And ] can hy
Inv hand upon my heart to-day and say, be-
fore God, that entertain no iil-wlh toward
any white man on the earth, and least OF all
toward my old master and his sons, whom Al
loved as my brothers, and with whom l
psaycd In boyhood. In all our neighbor-
hood ro,nps and frolics and fights (for boys
will fight), they stood at my back, as did
st theirs. whenever it came to the pinch,
Tlaughter]; and, thank God, I will do SO yet.
will stand by them so long as they stand
by me, whether the oppression comes from
the Yankees or from wherever else 1t may.
Whenever it comes to my making choice
between white men, shall prefer those OF
rny own section to all Of the carpet-baggers
10 the world. Laughter and appiause.1
There ain't very much difference between
white men and Yankees laughter], and
wherever you find it at all you'll find it i'll
the white mans favor. White folks are all
cut pretty much out of the same cloth, and
both sections have made their love for the
niggers subserve their own interests, as all
men are selfish by nature and can't help 1t,
and can't blame them.
When the late war broke out am free
to acknowledge, was mighty glad of 1t.
somehow felt that my freedom was going TO
come out of it some way or other, and as |
am perhaps as selfish Us a white man, l tell
Won I didn't-well, / didn't cry much at the
prospect. Well, when the first company
left nv country for "Old Virginny" to fight
the Yankees l enlisted with the balance of
them, and went along as first cook and head
waiter for one Of my young masters. had
pretty good time, too for while the white
folks were out fighting and marching, ana
the meat and bread wagons. [Laughter.]
felt for once in my life it was pretty good
thing to be niger after all for the white |
man would not let me fight alongside Of him, |
and after l heard the first she'll go of, God |
knows wasn't very anxious to do it either.
IRenewed laughter.l | knew if had been
along on the Yankee side l Wouldn't nave
had such an easy time, for rs selfish as the
Yankee Is, he never objected TO getting
somebody to do his fighting for him when-
ever he could. Not he. loud laughter.T
Some folks say he was willing enough to let
the South do it all during the Mexican war.
i ilsed to be right smartly amused hearing
the white folks talk. My young master
came in one night aftsr battle, and says
he, "Henry, we've just had a big six hours
fight We whipped the id Yankees like
smoke, and drove 'em thirty-six miles,
driying-all in six hours tooY' But heap |
of people thinks the niger is fool.
Well, sorter thought, maybe, the Yam |
KEGS were really fighting to free the niggers.
But they didn't keep the wool over my
eyes long. I watched 'em mighty close. |
One day the news came into camp that !
Mr.. Lincoln had done issued his procla- |
nation, saying that if Mr. Davis would hay
down his arms and come back into the !
Union and go to paying tariff again the
people might have their niggers
Thinks |, humph! Mighty poor chance to
get freedom from you, Mr.. Lincoln. Laugh
teri I tell you what, felt mighty bad for
a long time. had the blues SO bad was
nearly black. (Laughter.l think in two
weeks must have tell off twenty pounds.
/ was so 'fraid Mr.. Davis was going to do it
couldn't sleep. But by and by the word
came that Mr.. Davis said "He'd be id if
he'd do any such thing. l amt fighting
for the niggers. Let the niggers go. I'm
after my own freedom first before anything
else in the world" tell you my heart
bully for JEFF. Davis He's my man! All,
my friends, if the Yankee had been in MIR.
Dayis's place you'd been in the cotton patch
to-day, with the whip after you, instead of
sitting uD here in this courthouse hearing
me speak. [Laughter.] But don't you see
the difference between the southern man
and the northern man? The northern man
never missed the chance Of taking care Of
the dimes first.
and tell us they are our friends, and the
southern people our enemies. They tell
us they set us free. Oh, yes, they've done
1t all, no doubt. They set us tree about
like they set the mules free about like Ben.
Butler set the spoons free. Immense
laughter and applause. They done it all
to help the Yankee and injure the southern
man. They can't fool this niger. I know
who brought the niger to this country in
the first place. The northern man brought
us here, and when they began to lose mo-
nav IN kha 1,iOuor fhav mt fhp nil tror in
their pocket-s0ld him down South, and
then, to keep the South in the Union to
make her pay taxes, they turn around and
get the niger and the mule and the spoons
free; and they wouldn't have set anything
free excepting the spoons) if they could
have the South back into the Union with
out it. -
They promise him the s.forty acres and
the mule" i know five niggers that starved
plum to death 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 into high mountain and
promised If he'd fab down and serve him
he'd give him the whole world and the old
seoundrel knew all the time he didn't own
foot Of land on the continent. [Great
The carpet-baggers ask me to cast my vote
to keep the white folks down. Now, all /
everwanted was to get above him. They
say niger is better than white man in
Cincinnati. Well, that may be the truth
in Cincinnati. But it amt down here. 1t
is my interest to stand by the southern man,
and it's my wish, too.
Whatever law is made to effect the white
mans plantation also affects my little cot
ton patch In the same way. The three-cent
tax on cotton hurts ME worse than it does