The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-03-22
The Political and Industrial Relations
of the Southern Whites and Blacks.

Senator ReVelS, OIL MISSISSIPPI, III MS malu-
en- speech in the United States Senate, de-
nies that an antagonism exists between the
whites and blacks, and very properly sug-
gests that this idea of rooted hostility be-
tween the two races is fostered and eucour-
aged by those who have not conscientious
desire to further the interests Of the whole
South.
No man who looks to the substantial in,
terests of the colored people, and who has
at heart their advancement and material ele.
vation, can doubt that these ends are most
easily secured by an union with the intelli-
gent white men OF the South. There is q
certain mutual dependence between the two
races. The whites have amongst them, in
their cities and in their fields, four millions
of colored people who enjoy the same civil
and political rights that are possessed by
themselves. Theirs is the right to vote and
hold Office without exception, while too many
of the whites are excluded from all partici-
patton in public affairs, and it stands to rea-
son that it is for the advantage Of the whites
to promote the political and industrial edu-
cation of the blacks, so that these last may
use for the common good the powers which
they hold. Nor do the blacks forget that
the whites possess the land, and the capital,
as we'll as public and economic knowl
edge. Political missionaries may be at
tractive in their way, Lut they cannot give
the freedmen acres to cultivate as owners,
or to work as laborers. 1T is natural that the
land-power and the capital-power and the
labor-power-the trinity Of force-should
join together for the common good and for
the benefit Of the South.
And yet there is, at this time, at least
GOODNESS Of feeling, sentiment Of distrust,
which hinders the cooperation Of the two
classes in the one great work before us.
This coldness and distrust is as much the
fault of the whites as Of the blacks. The
white people were loath to acknowledge,
and slow to admit, that their former slaves
were their civil and political equals. This
natural feeling caused them to hold aloof
and to refuse the colored people counsel and
assistance when these most were needed.
The mind Of the freedmen was as plastic as
wax; it was ready material for the hand of
the just and honest worker. But the white
men of the State gave the colored people the
cold shoulder, and the newly enfranchised
class was thrust into the arms Of the politi-
cal hangers-on who follow in the train of
every revolution. These fomented the bitter
ness Of the ,colored people, and did hope
that they had succeeded in making the blacks
the implacable foes of the white race.
But now the course Of affairs is changed.
The whites remember the conduct of their
slaves during the war. What does Senator
Rerels say of the behavior of his people:
"They knew that if the gallant corps of na-
tive soldiers were beaten back, and their flag
trailed IN the dust, that it was the presage of
still heavier bondage. They longed, too, as
their fathers did before them, for the advent
Of that epoch over which was shed the hal
lowed light Transportation ITSELF They desired,
too, with their fathers, to welcome the feet Of
the strangers shod with the peaceful prepara-
ton of good news. Weary years of bondage
had told their tale of sorrow to the Court of
Heaven. In the counsels Of the Great Father
of all they knew the adjudication Of their case,
albeit delayed for years, in which patient suf-
fering had nearly exhausted itself, would, in
the end, bring them the boon for which they
most blessed Gift to his crea-
tures-the inestlmable boon of liberty. They
waited, and they waited patiently. In the alb
sence Of their masters they protected the rir-
tue and chastity of defenceless women"
And every Southern soldier knows that
the colored people, during the entire war,
were singularly docile and faithful; and he
knows, moreover, that since the close of the
war they have been calm and temperate in
the face of almost unexampled temptation.
Mere want of knowledge and want of organ
ization will not account for this. The freed
men had knowledge enough to be able to be
had they so desired. They had
enough to enable them to make
our homes and families insecure, had they
30 wished. They were not mischievous or
lawless, and the reason is stated by their
representative in Congress in these words:
II maintain that the past record OF my race
Is q true index of the feelings which to-day
animate them. They bear toward their for
mer masters no reVengeful thoughts, no hatred,
no animosities. They aim not to elevate them
selves by sacrificing one single interest of
their white fellow-citlzens; they ask but the
rights which are theirs by Gods universal law,
and which are the natural outgrowth, the log
ical sequence of the condition in which the
legislative enactments of this nation have
placed them.
And now the barrier which divided white
aud black in South Carolina, has melted
away. The white people admit and guar
antee all the rights and privileges of the
colored people. They promise them full and
protection in the exercise of their
daily work. They pledge to them an enjoy
mcnt OF the liberties OF citizenship upon the
same footing with themselves. And the
Southern white men-and the colored people
know it-never break or evade promise
once made, whatever its character or terms