Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-03-13
THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO
RACE.

The following extracts from the re.
cent speech of the Hon. ". NJ. Rob
bins, member of Congress from the
Salisbury District, upon the Civil
Rights Bill, expresses our views so
nearly that we transfer it to our col
umns. Sooner or later. the truth OF
the position herein taken will be SO
thoroughly demonstrated by the logic
of events, that no man will dare dis
pute it. We have no enmity to the
negro race, but we have fixed opinions
as to the future and the fate of that
race. Mr.. Robbins in the course OF
his speech, said
Il is impossible to undo what has
been done, and nobody proposes to at
tempt that now, nor ever, unless by
common sense and common consent
and by peaceable means. But We can
avoid going further on the dOwn-hill
road. Sir, it IS time to recur to the
doctrine in which is bound up the sal
vation OF this country-the doctrine
that this is the white mans land and
ought to be white mans government.
[ wish l had time to review the record
of the great leaders of the Radical
party in the first few years after the
war, and show how Indignantly they
then spurned the idea OF making the
negro a suffragan and political power
in this country. They have long since
gone beyond their scruples then.
Party greed and ambition drove them
on and the same motive pushes them
still on to propose this last and most
ruinous of all their measures. If any
happy future remains for this country,
it must soon be delivered from that
party and its reckless policy. This,
sir, l repeat, is the white mans land,
and he is responsible for its welfare
The temple of liberty founded here,
and toward which all the down-trodden
nations turn their faces to pray for de-
liverance, is committed to his charge
Let all the gentiles come, if they list
Chinese, Indian, Malay, African-and
worship, and be amply and ch val
rously protected while they worship.
in its outer courts !; bat the consecra-
ted priest who ministers at the altar
should be only the white man.
In my opinion this is not the perma-
nent home of the negro. He is So
journiEg here as school boy under
course of tuition. He will graduate
after awhile and leave school. He is
not increasing in numbers. By the
census reports the African race in this
country during every decade before
the last. increased on an average,
about % per cent {; during the ten
years from 1860 to 1870, half Of which
period the negroes We're in their for
mer state Of servitude, they gained 9.
7 per cent. only, mnch less than half
the former rate. We may infer, then,
a i
fore 1860, ant! that from then to 1870
(under freedom} they increased none,
but rather declined in numbers. The
overshadowing white race is increas
ing rapidly i'll the land Tn any event,
then, the negro will in course of time,
be reduced to comparative insigniti-
cauce. But for the present he Is here
in sufficient numbers, and makes up
sufficient fraction of the people in
thirteen States to be tremendous
hinderance to the harmony and pro-
gress of the South, if this kind of leg
islatior is to prevail. But in proper
ton as the negroes become educated,
and their pride and self-respect are
developed, they will feel they arc in
land where, in spite of all laws and
pretenses, they are looked upon as
pariahs and interiors, and they will
pine for country where they can be
real, not merely the nominal, peers OF
all. Then will come the voluntary
exodus, whether to Central America,
or Cuba, or Africa (more probably) to
carry back civilization and the gospel
to their father land, where the white
man cannot carry it, will not venture
to speculate for the womb of the fu-
ture vet holds these things.