New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-04-03
Can the Proud ADglO.Saxon BE
Enslsvedf

The proud boast of superiority of race
made of themselves by the Anglo-Saxon race
is constantly dinned into the ears of the adj
vocatcs of the Acknowledgement of the negro.
The Anglo-Saxon has proven his capacity to
govern and to do everything that would indi-
cate the possession of grand qualities, say
these boosters, and what has the negro done :?
He makes an excellent and obedient slave,
does nc. care for freedom, will not strive for
it; the Anglo-Saxon cannot be slave, he
would ovcrturn, destroy, kill, and do all sorts
Of terrible deeds, and wind up with dying be-
fore lie would submit to the slavery of HIM
self or of his family. Most of the American
branch Of the Anglo-Saxon family firmly be-
iieve their boast as to the impossibility of
enslaving the Anglo-Saxon race to be true,
and thcy look down upon the negro with
contempt because of his having been a slave,
never thinking that under the same circum-
stances they would as tamely submit to OPP
preston as the negro, and sink rs low in
intelligence as the late slaves whose igno-
rance was enforced byl law. Let these boast
ers contemplate the terrible condition of the
Anglo Saxon farm laborers in England to-
day. In no respect is their condition differ
ent from the late slave of the South save
that they cannot be bought and sold at auc-
ton. This Anglo-Saxon farm laborer can
no more read and write than could the slaves
on Southern plantations; he has no voice
whc. in the Government, and is wholly
subject to the will of his employer who may
give what he plcases for his work, which is
never sufficient to provide decent meal for
the laborer and his family. A writer in Har-
pe~'s. Magazine for April says of the English
farm laborers:
"Tne rural laborers living on great estates
are unable to get any education, can rarely
read or write, and are fast chained to their
heavy task by the wolf that stands ready to
spring on any who attempt to leave it for an
instant"
One of the farm laborers, speaking for
himself says: eve will be white slaves nc
longer; and if as I have heard, our own
colonies are to be shut against us, the Uni.
ted States will be OPEN" AS the slaves Of
the South longed for Canada, so do the
Anglo-SaXon slaves Of England turn to the
United States as place of refuge from an
oppression that they cannot overthrow. We
believe that the present condition of the
English farm laboreris an affirmative answer
to the question at the head of this article.
How idle would it be to argue that because
Anglo-Saxons can be enslaved, and are in a
condition ofslavery to-day that they cannot be
elevated, that they are unfit for decent treat
ment in public places! Who dare assert
that as talented a statesman as Gladstone
could not have been developed among the
farm labor class had they been used as free
white men in the United States are treated
and all the facilities of common schoo
afforded them? Can it be urged that the
fact of the farm laborer being to-day slave
in England is evidence that such is his nor
NAL condition? 1t is not his normal con
dition, no man was ever made to be slave
and it is with pleasure we hail the evidence
of sturdy effort on the part of the English
farm laborer to throw Off the chains which
bind him in degradation as profound al
that of the late slaves of the United States