National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-09-20
THE NEGRO as AN INsURRECrIONIsr.


surrectionary being. The curse of Canaan
has rested upon him since authentic
history began; and yet there is no in
stance in which he has asserted him.
self in the character of an insurrectionist
throughout all the historical ages. In
Egypt, at the beginning of history, he is
known to have been the principal factor in
the construction Of stupendous works, which
still remain the chief amaZement of man
kind, and although the children of Israel
rebellcd and fed the land Of their Egyptian
taskmasteTs, there is 40 record of resistance
or even protest by the negro against the
burdens, greater than those of the Jews,
which he was then and there made to en-
dure. The history OF the African continent,
so far rs it is known, is not one of rebelliOns
and massacres, or of blood and carnage. 1t is
simply one of passive vassalage and bondage,
and Of traffic in humIn beings The Eng
lish and Spanish settlers of the West In lies
and American continent first tried the eX-
pertinent of enslaving the aboriginal race
which they found in the New World. But
these people either struck back" and fled
to the interior forests, or they chafed to
death under the cond tiOn which nature
had rendered intolerable to them. This
experiment having failed, those settlers re-
sorted TO Africa for substitutes-taught by
all history that the negro was a race docile,
patient, laborious and long suffering W hich
would not rebel, and from gentleness of
temper an amiable passivity Incapable of
instruction. The truth of history on this
subject was again vindicated. The expert
ment was wonderfully successful. By
means of African slavery the colonization
and civilization of the New World was rem
dered practicable, and was successfully &C.
complished.
Ever since this eventful experiment was
first inaugurated, through the long career
of wrong and oppression, misery and suf
fering, torture and tyranny which the
negro slave endured, continued for two
hundred years, one touching fact stands
forth in striking relief from all the rest,
and that is, that the negro bore his hard
fate without complaint, without anger or
resentment, without thought of or attempt
at revenge-returning still harder labor for
repeated blows, affection for brutality, and
loyalty for oppression. at last, when his
masters were called to account before the
bar of nations for the cruelties and infamies
of the negro slaves condition, and their
slavery cursed country was invaded by hos
tile armies for the very purpose of over
throwing the e1ecrated STAKEHOLDER and re-
leasing his bondsman from the yoke which
CALLED and crushed him, even then, the
negro left his cause to others, and rejected
the role of an insurrectionist. Let it be
said, to his honor, that the supreme motives
which, during that civil war, held him
true in loyalty TO the white man, were
IhUse strong ureCI1Uus which Urorruled in
him all the instincts of resentment, and his
loyal attachments to place and person. His
patience and amiability are facts of all time;
and it is just as impossible to unteach the
lessons Of history which ascribe them
TO him as 10 reverse the ordinations of na-
ture herself which has planted them in
him. The negro is not an insurrectionist.
Nor can he be any more than the leopard
can change his spots or the Ethiopian his
skin. He cannot so reverse and belle his
moral and physical nature as to become
that for which neither has fitted him, a So
cial insurrectionist.
Yet the miniOns in Georgia and Missis-
sippi Of the White League and Ku-KluX
Klan endeavor to falsify history and deny
the decree of nature by attempting to palm
upon the American public the bald pretense
that the League and the Klan, and the COM
munities in which they dominate, are en-
dangered by negro Instruction. 1t is the
old story Of the Wolf and the Lamb, the
Wolf being the endangered and complain
ing party. 1t is the appeal of the rufian
against his intended victim. Their story
might possibly find credence but for the
denial which all history gives it, and but
for the existence of that law of his nature,
as old as the race itself, which makes the
negro incapable, in his moral and physical
constitution, Of assuming the character of
aggressor upon the rights of others. In
the whole two hundred years of negro sla-
very on this continent there is but one in
stance even of outbreak against the domi-
nant race on the part of the negro. We
allude, of course, to what is called the MAT
Turner InsurrectiOn," which occurred in
Southampton county, Virginia, in 1881.
But that was an outbreak which lasted less
than twenty-four hours; which was the
affair Of petty neighborhood in single
county; which had no plot or premedita-
ton, and which involved the lives of but
two or three individuals. 1t was emphati-
cally an instance Of an exceptional case,
proving the general rule. This outbreak
itself furnished proof of the total incapacity
of the negro race for any real or formidable
insurreCtiol. 1t was the ebullition of few
without plan or preparation /;
spasmodic and emotional the result of a
local excitement It was in
spired by none Of the motives of hatred and
which usually work up race ca
pable Of fostering them to deeds of blood
and desperation.
We repeat, that when the White League
or Ku-Klux banditti ask US to believe in the
of instruction anywhere in the
South among the negro race, or even an
aHi71us in the negro mind,
they falsify truth. outrage history and libel
nature herself They insult the intelli-
gence of the American people by asking
them to believe what the very existence Of |
the League and Khan presupposes not to |
exist. The members Of those cowardly |
associations know that the negroes can be |
terrorized, though largely outnumbering
the whites. They know that the colored |
man will not Strike back" They know |
that their victims will not retaliate by FORM |
ing counter organizations. Their own
bloody organizations are formed on these |
very postulates. If the negro was an in
being; il he, too, were vim
iictive and malignant enough to form |
leagues and klsns for the purpose OF burn
ing peaceful dwellings at midnight and
shooting down their inmates while escap-
ing from the flames; of scourging women |
with rods upon their bare back; OF cutting |
the throats Of helpless and unofending |
children for the crime Of color; of binding |
themselves to deeds of murder and arson By |