The daily gazette., 1875-09-13
THE NEGkOES ADVISED TO ARM
(InLerview with Fred. Douglass in National
Republican

interview with Fred Douglass In Nationa
Republican
In reply to the question wha,
advice he would give, Mr. Douglass saidl
My idea is that but little advice i.
needed to the colored people. They are
docile and peace-loving race. They
| committed no outrage5 upon the hearths
and homes of their late masters when the
war gave them chance to do it with i'm
punlty. Human nature is not changed
| IN an instant. They are the same peace
loving people to-day that they were du-
I ring the war, and it would be q terrible
responsibility for any man to counsel vi
olence on their part; nevertheless, they
are men, and being men, they canno { and
| ought not to be expected to summit
tamely to violence and murder My own
impression Is" said he, that when the
Government will not or cannot protect
| the black man he ought to and will finally
, try to protect himself. There are scoun.
drels, midnight murdere-s, who have
respect for no moral consideration. They
are @carcely to be called human. They
! are wolves and tigers in human form, and
TO slaughter one of them is no more a
CRIME than to slay a real tiger when his
fangs are in ones flesh. My experience
| as slave impressed upon mo this lesson
| that no ls whipped oftenest who is whip
ped earnest, and that as long as the ne.
gro will tamely submit to be killed unre.
sistingiy there will bo bloodthirsty COW
ards enough in the South to kill him. Ii
the negroes mus. die at the South. nv
advice to them ia 10 sell their lives as
dearly as possible. Let it be seen sby
those cowardly mobocrats that in at
tempting to slaughter black men they
invite the knife to their own throats and
nre and rapino to their own hearth.
stones, and they will cease"
10 the important question concerning
the good will of the South, Mr.. Douglass
answered very deliberately
The representations of acceptance of
the situation given to us by mealy-
mouthed and asily-imposed upon North
ern men are not only shown to be abso-
lutely false, but they are. from tho ma
ture OF the case, impossible. Neither
the slave nor the STAKEHOLDER can so soon
get the better Of his antecedents rs such
representations presuppose. Two hul-
dred years OF slavery have ground into
the master class love of dominion
which Will require more than a decade
70 remove and extirpate, and two centu-
rle5 OF slavery have ground into the
slave spirit of timidity and submission
which Will require mrny years Of pro &c
ton by the Cover -lelt to srpp. mt
with manly independence becoming
freemen. The gentlemen who have re-
turned from the South with rose-colored
statements and gushing assurances are
in part responsible for the evil that has
now come upon the colored men, since
they have shown the gullibility of the
North. and the readiness with which our
people receive as truth what Southern
gentlemen are pleased to declare con-
cernlng their acceptance of the situa-
ton. They have strengthened, too that
class OF Journals at the North which per-
slstently misrepresented the condition
Of things at the South, and have seized
upon every opportunity to put the negro
IN the wrong Whenever collisions be-.
tween the white aud black have occur.
red"
10 the question " to the duty Of the
North. Mr.. Douglass replied,
he deemed it the first duty OF the
loyal north TO take possession of the
iidsrsnt State governments and drive
from power, politically, of course, the
Democratic party tine party OF slavery,
the party OF rebellion, the party OF
apology Tor every murder committed
against tho coloreI race by the lately dc.
teated Shareholders and re ,eip. No Ian !
EuaSe is adequate to express t'ts dimrn-
slons OF tho calamity whicA V v..ld befa ! |,
tae whole people, and espsoially hi. rae, (
from restoration 10 power in tne at . !
and IN tie ration Of the Dsuvr4;ie /
party.