Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1873-11-04

pliances necessary for success in the ordinar.
avocations of life. The history of the world pre-
sents no more striking example of national in
Justice and ingrattude. Every consideration o
humanity and fair dealing required that som,
| substantial aid should be afforded to a peopl,
| who were thus without any agency oftheir own
/ deprive ed of their homes and thrown on the char
| ity of the impoverished Souther people, desti
tute of food, raiment or shelter
| And how was the mute appeal OF this su1er
| ing race responded to by the government OF the
United States, which had cast these burthen'
| and responsibilities upon them? By a marvel
lous display of generosity and magnanimity, the
| ignorant negroes were invested with the right o
suffrage, and rendered eligible to Office. And
even this poor boon was granted, not in the in
terests of humanity, but for the purposes of par
| ty!
| Has not the petition for bread been answered
| with stone?
| By the act of emancipation the government OF
| the United States voluntarily assumed the rela-
| ton of guardian to the freedmen. 1t was bound.
| by that relation, to opt such measures were
necessary to enable its wards to live, and fulfil
| the duties imposed on them. But what substan-
| tal aid has been rendered to the colored popu-
| lation T? What has been done by the govern
| ment of the United States towards their educa.
ton, as to enable them to exercise the right of
suffrage intellgently, and to fill with credit the
offices. to which they were nominally made eli
gible? What steps have been taken toward pro-
viding them with homes. or tools, or food, or
clothing, or in any way to enable them to earn
an honest support?
THEIR NEGLECTED CONDITION.
In the absence of such provision, the negroes
have been compelled to remain in the Southern
States, in contact with their former masters, un-
der circumstances peculiarly unfavorable to
their higher development-ln climate not
adapted to their physical condition, and where
they are destined like the American Indians,
to waste away, and, ultimately, to perish as
race, In the stern conflict with the more intelli-
gent whites
Is this such fulfllment of the obligations
which our country owes to this unfortunate race,
as becomes just enlightened, and christian
people?
1 think not And this brings me to the con-
sideraton of the only branch of my subject
which remains to be discussed.
THE LOGICAL RESULT.
1 think 1 have been successful in maintaining
the following propositions:
1st. That the presence of two incongruous
races OF people in our country, who can never
be united as one by social bonds, must always
be an element of national weakness, tending to
produce jealousy, discord, and in certain con-
tingencies, to endanger domestic tranquility.
End That the continued residence among US
Of so large class of laboring population whose
wants are few and simple; who are content to
work for wages barely sufficient to provide th g
means of present subsistence; who have no
piratiOns for the future, and are careless of ma
king provision for the education and advance
ment of their children, is serious injury to the
great interests of labor, as represented by mil
lions of intelligent white working men of our
country.
3rd. That the interests Of capital and the STA
blity of our free institutions, which derive their
support from the virtue and intelligence of our
people, are endangered by the infusion into the
constituent body of so large mass of ignorant.
non property holding voters as are introduced
under the recent amendment ofthe Constitution
of the United States
4th. That great injustice has been done to the
negro race by leaving them destitute Of homes
and of the means of earning an honest support
in the country in which they and their fathers
had been held in bondage for more than two
centuries-where all the prejudices of race exist
in full fOrce-where every noble aspiration must
be repressed by consciousness OF inferior So
cial position, and where they can have no op-
portunity of giving shape to their own destiny
by their efforts.
The question, then, confronts us, how are
these wrongs to be righted, and how are these
evils to be corrected?
THE REMEDY.
These are grave and important questions which
invite the serious and immediate consideration of
the American people. The country is anxiously
awaiting an answer to them. Various expedi-
ents, looking to temporary relief have been sug-
gested But none of them are satisfactory Pub
lie opinion demands the adoption of q bold ard
manly policy which will strike at the root of the
evil In my opinion, the only efficient remedy
will be found in
A COMPLETE SEPARATION
of the two peoples-into two distinct communi-
tles-in different localities, and under indepen-
dent governments. This policy has been adopt
ed in regard to the Indians, and l can see no
good reason why it should not be extended to
the negroes.
am aware that this is startling proposition.
In some quarters it will doubtless provoke hos
tile criticism and in others be regarded as Wis
ionary and impracticable. But, / believe, that
after careful consideration, 1t will commend it
self to the good sense and patriotism of the peo-
And am gratfed to know that the opinion
which have expressed has the sanction of some
of the wisest statesmen our country has pro-
duced. To some of these will briefly refer.
OPINION OF THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Mr.. Jefferson, one of the earliest and most
earnest champions of emancipation, nearly
a century ago, after expressing his regret
that the public mind was not then prepared for
prospective emancipation, used this prophetic
language: yet the day is not distant when it
must bear and adopt it, or worse will follow
Nothing is more certainly written in the book of
Fate than that these people are to be free; nor
is it less certain that the two races equally free,
cannot live under the same government"
Mature, habit, opinion, have drawn indellible
lines of distinction between them. It is still in
our power to direct the process of emancipation
peaceably, and in such slow degrees as that it
passW filled up, by free white laborers If, on
the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human
nature must shudder at the prospect held up -
We should in vain look for an example in the
Spanish deportation or depletion of the Moors.
This precedent would fall far short of our case"
DANIEL WEBSTER,
the great statesman of Massachusetts, speaking
on this subject in the Senate of the United States
said IF any gentleman from the South shall
propose scheme to be carried on by this gov
ernment, on large scale, for the transportation
in the world I should be quite disposed to incur
almost any degree of expense to accomplish tn e
object"
HENRY CLAY,
the eloquent advocate of colonization, and OF
the interests of the white laboring classes, in q
speech delivered in the House of Representatives
in 1857, said 'Of the utility of total separa-
tion OF the incOngruous portions of our popula-
ton (supposing it to be practicable), none have
ever doubted. The mode of accomplishing that
desirable object has alone divided public opin-
ion Colonization in Hayti for time, had its
partisans Without throwing any impediment
in the way of executing that scheme, the Amer
| ican Colonization Society has steadily adhered
| to Its own"
VIEWS OF OTHER STATESMEN.
| On the 9Th of December, 1859, Senator Trum-
BULL of Illinois, said. in the Senate of the United
States: when we say that all men are equal,
| we do not mean that every man in organized So
| ciety has the same rights. We do not tolerate
that in Illinois. know that there is a distinction
| between these two races, because the Almighty
himself has marked it on their very faces and in
my Judgment, man cannot. by legislation, or 9TH
| erwise, produce perfect equality between these
two races, so that they will live happily togeth-