New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-08-11


number of idle lazy negroes. and secondly,
the great advance which even these have
made in intelligence and knowledge since the
war. Their old masters find them still dumb
and stolid, and rate them in consequence as
hopelessly stupid but to a Northener they
are not afraid to show themselves as they are,
and he is amazed to discover how keen has
been their observation and how just and
sound their conclusions on their own relations
to the whites and the probable results there
FROM They rank fairly to-day with the ma
jority of emigrants who come to this country,
both in natural powers and information.
Capitalists going South to begin the manuiac-
ture of any goods find the blacks more ready
and steady wOrkmcn for time than the poor
whites, but only for time. Their teachers
boast at first that they learn moro quickly
than the more fortunate race; then they
complain that, having brought them to certain
point, they can be cOaxed or driven no further
Their friends who hoped to see them, once
freed from Slavery, press steadily and unln-
terruptedlv on to the highest level of civiza-
ton are discouraged. begin to doubt whether
they are are not indeed children as their
masters claimed, and would not fare better
under patriarchal rule.
The truth is, that neither their friends nor
enemies consider as they ought the limitations
of the negroes nature, as they habitually do
that of the white. There is all the difference
between him and the AnglO-SaxOn that there
can be between the growths of tropical and
temperate zones. One is a reasoning. the other
an emotional animal; take a mixed class of
,,b;to on1 cnlnral hovs and van shall find no
latter will learn by rote most rapidly, or will
be fired and touched by any story which
appeals to their Imagination. but will be un-
able to receive or retain as do the white lads
any sequence of ideas, or be moved by logic.
The occupations which they choose ii left to
themselves are light and those which require
little exercise of reasoning power. They de-
mand, mentally and physically, more intervals
of relaxation, excitement, enjoyment than we /;
and whatever the nature of a man or people
requires, they generally take, despite of cir
cunlstances. They are (by force of nature, not
circumstances an affectionate, humble minded
people, not fond of retaliation. We think it
safe, therefore, to judge of the future of the
South from these inexorablc facts of character
and temperament rather than the abnormal
thrown by ill-managed government. If the
black is presumptuous. insolent, overbearng,
lust now, it il the effect of the intOxication
of sudden elevation. Ten more years will
suffice to sober him and adjust the races in
their true position. Emigrants into this country
take rank as individuals, high or low; our
colored brethren Will do the same They will
not prove to be nation of Toussaint POWER
lures or Fred. DOuglasses, any more than the
German or Irish will furnish us only with
Seizures or Sheridans. They will not. as some
political philosophers predict. sink into brutal
"ityn en- masse, or "perlsh IA the weaker race
"must, before the stronger"
WHY should they' Pork and corn bread
dealt ont by an oyersner are not easier OF di-
gestion than pork and corn bread bought with
their own wages. In fact the mass OF idle
blacks enjoying their new chance of ldleness
prove with how littlc wages they can live.
In ten years the lazy negro will at least have
learned how to better himself by work if he
chooses and the industrious negro how to de-
mand other wages than the five dollars month
and starvation ratiOns for fourteen hours OF
daily labor, which he is too often forced to
accept In five years, when the ladder of pO-
sition is fairly set before them, as before the
others, they will be found here and there on
every rung. precisely as with the others. The
most hopeful sign of the future is the anxiety
shown by the majority in the South to buy an
acre or two. and SO make place for them
"selves." Give the colored man education
and ownership in the soil which he worked as
a slave, and he will soon prove his right to
suffrage and the respect of himself and his
neighbor.