Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-06-02
.Arn1oA ron TH1 Arn1oAHa'


"AFRIcA FOB THE AKRIoANA"
The above is the caption Of a notice
of a late meeting Of the American Col
onization Society In New York, a
which four doctors Of divinity were
reported as making addresses. The
drift of these speeches was favorable
to shipping off to Africa, as extensively
as possible, the colored people Of this
country /; that Is, as many Of them as
can be found willing, whether by per-
suasion or otherwise, to emigrate
.thither. Moreover, the speech Of one
Of the doctors at least presented 1t as a
duty belonging to American Christians
to cooperate In this enterprise. Now,
we feel ourselves obliged to enter our
demurrer against any and all such doc
trines as this. II the question be
whether we should send Christian mis-
sionaries to Africa, colored or white,
we agree that this would be as proper,
and perhaps as much the duty Of Amer
loan Christians, as to send them to
other heather countries. But II, on
the other hand, 1t is urged as our duty
that we dispatch colored people as
such, and as colonies to Africa, as be-
ing their native country, and as being,
according to the caption we have quoted
above, their proper place as well az
their native home, then we do not only
demur, but we enter our solemn pro-
test against any such doctrine, or any
attempt to carry 1t out in practice.
0Africa for the Africans" Is it3 Why
not generalize this sentiment, and say
SGermany for the Germans" "Ire-
land for the Irish," Norway for the
Norwsgians, ~ and so of the rest? Why
single out for colonizing, to their "na-
tive country" the colored people, and
them only? 1t Is a fallacy to assert
that this Is not their native country. 1t
Is as much their native country as 1t Is
that of white people; as q country 1t
belongs to them as much. The colored
people in America, with but few excep-
lions, were born on American soil. So
also were their fathers and grandfathers
born here. 1t Is true the ancestors OF
our colored people came hither by
wicked compilsion, but they took no
part in that wickedness. They would
never have come but by compulsion.
There Is no voluntary immigration
from Africa to this country now, and
there never has been, and is not likely
to be. Over 1000, 900 of colored people
now here are, in the proper sense, no
more AFRICANS :" than so many white
people who, with their fathers and
grandfathers, were born here. They
are Observation-Disclosures born and
bred. They have the American YER
naculsr and language, and know no
ether. They have the American relig,
ion the American air is their own
native element; American hills and
wales, groves and plains, are their own
native home. There Is not a single
class of people, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, more fully and completely
rooted In the soil Of the United States
than the colored people. Ne people
are more ancient here, with the single
exception of the Indian. They came
with the earliest of the whites-not
that they wished to come, but that
they must come. Through long gen.
erations they have dwelt here; toiled,
suffered, and wept here have been
permanent contributors to the nation
al wealth; have helped to fight the
battles Of the country have been for
ages a part of the body polite, and
recognized as q part-though without
their own choice or beneft-of the po-
litical as we'll "a the physical power Of
the country ; and yet, forsooth, they
must still be designated and stigma
tized as "Africans ;" as = foreign ele-
ment; as not belonging with us; as a
race distinct as we'll as degraded; as
we'll nigh a nuisance which 1t would
be well for the country to be rid Of!
1t Is pitiful to contemplate the inces-
SAINT and tremendous struggle that has
been necessary to lit this poor. OPP
pressed, and wronged people up to the
position Of "fellow-citizens Of the
household" of freedom. Alas for the
bloodshed and suffering that were re-
quired; for the enormous hate that
must be ~combatted; for the mighty
and incessant struggle that had to be
resisted /; for the agitation and shaking
Of this whole country, that these col
ored people might, at last, climb up
into the atmosphere Of American lib
erty and take possession of their birth
| right Of American citizenship!
LEVEL ON ONE THNa.-At last good
No,oroth Tho uoara