New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-02-05
Edwin DeLeOn.

Edwin DeLeon, Of Louisiana, having been
called upon by the New York Independent,
as an expert, to give, through its columns,
his views of the present position and future
prospects of the Southern freedmen, has
essayed to do so, and in the Independent of
the goth ultimo, We find Shareholders esti-
mate of the negro. Like the overseer men,
bers of the House of Representatives, the
Hon. Edwin DeLcon, eX-slaveholder by
reason of the thirteenth amendment, tells of
the strong affection, the undying love, the
high regard that the negro OF the South have
for their former masters, and the earnest
recprocation by the master and the white
people of the South generally. Coming from
an expert, such as Mr.. DeLeon is thought
to be by the Independent, 1T may be consd-
cred empirical in us to question or to deny
the reality Of the loneliness and serenity pic
tured by the eminent artist and expert,
and to assert that the picture is an ideal
one only. Nevertheless, we feel con-
strained to make the denial and assertion.
The letter of the gentleman itselfis evidence
OF feeling other than of high regard for
the negro; and all through it we find the
idea held up that the negro is better off under
the supervision of the whites than he would
be if treated as man, and allowed to think
and act for himself. The white men who
have stood by the negro in the South are
denounced as carpet-baggers and interlopers,
who have pretended to be the best friends
OF the race. Mr.. DeLeon fails to remember
that the carpet-baggers, whom he so bitterly
denounces, gave substantial evidence of their
friendship by establishing schools for the
freedmen and their children, in order that
they could be instructed, and that at the
same time the Shareholders, whom he claims
have such high regard for the negro, and who
desire his education, and acquiesce in his
enfranchisement, were the formidable oppo-
nents to schools and the franchise, and the
leaders in the murderOus assaults of the Ku-
Klux upon negroes when exercising their
constitutional right of voting. The love the
eX-slaveholders and experts of the DeLeon
stripe have for the negro is nearly akin to the
love a person would have for dog, and the
position assigned to them by these loving
ex-slaveholders can be easily seen on every
railroad or steamboat in the South, and is
far more despcabe than that of the CANNES. |
AS slave, the love of the negro, by the
whites, is unmlstakable, then he is becoming
civilized and Chrstianized as a freeman. |
with ambition to become man, to ACQUIRE |
to exercise the rights of citizen.
to decide for himself what will best promote |
his happiness, he becomes miserable failure |
in the eyes of such man as DeLeon. who |
is so fortunate as to be able to use the COL
umns of the largely-circulatc Independent for
the purpose of intensifyng hatred of the ne
gro as freeman. Mr.. DcLeon's letter is
an illy-disguised attempt to show that the
negro must have a master. He attempts to
show that the freedman is making no progress
IN education and wealth, and for the reason
that he has been spoiled by the contact with
DeLeon forgets to assign
he reason for the attachment of the freedman
% the carpet-baggcr, and of his doubts and
ears Of the late shareholders we advise him
o make an honest examination of the cause