National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-08-05
DUTIES or THE FREEDMEN.
foesissssl fren FsvH Peel
which hss ,esvn illslf Vie lla tfAslsal 10 The
On the Goth Of last April

when has gbevn ilIslf Wise and sfasIsal 10 The
On ihs sSth q LAST xpFii
TIE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION,
. bsnsyelslt ioelety, which has hitherto doss no
hsS %ssss ssnpo.sd q m snaas s:s.s
fies ana some bali dozen teachers and pfeaehers
at Atlantis, ds., 70 consider, according 70 az,
condition Of the soiihsTn blacks. The pfopoIi.
tons are presented In the following order and
u. Ths attitude Of the whites IN the South In
regard 20 the sduestion OF ths negro. \
q, The condition and prospects o. the blacks as
IS. The results Of experiences as to the best
methods OF promoting the educational work.
-. The results ofexperience as 70 church work. 4"
teachers and preachers, as am informed, in ad-
vance, and the meeting was opened BY the most
minds his co-laborers that the North Is the great
begging field Of the association, and what Is now
needed Is bottom-fscts, thos, which will move the
the war, as the records Of the treasurer Of this
society must show, of late has been waning.
This condition Of things must be overcome. To
startling title, 'The Country stIil in Danger
cunning msnipuistions Of this socfety, the
columns Of the Chrfstian Union and the New
York Independent have been filled with the most
and educational condition Of our smancipated
classes, especially those in the Gulf States.
These statements are Endorsed, too, as we'll IS
inspired, by the association; for they are repro
duced by 1t with favorable comment in its
monthly for June, 1875. In the international
Review" foT September last y 70 be found an
Georgia, entitled ''The Negroes in the Gulf
States" Mr.. Winkler, ameng other things,
"In dealing with the ballot-box the negro has Q
guide.
WHEN HE Is IN THR JURY BOX
he has none. Should the case submitted TO him
touch his poli,ical or social prejudices In any
the law or the evidence may chance to be. II
OF the same race is tried for an ofense against
white man, the dusky juror STANDS by his
'If one of the advocates employed is of his poll
ties the juror stands by his party. If the conflict
speech wins The victory. This, indeed, is so well
understood that the negroes in such an emergency
prefer to be tried by white men. If the case in
wolves the computation Of accounts, the princi-
pies Of equity the juror is too bewldered to make
anything out Of the affair. Hence lawyers prefer
to plead such cases before Judge in chambers, or
to settle them by compromise or arbitration. The
cOlored juror Is failure. He knows but little of
the principles Of justice and the system Of law, and
cares less. But not only by his caprices and par
processes Of justice his verdiets also influenced
by hts peculiar code Of morals. In his estimation
the two capital crimes are murder and witchcrnft,
the latter being the more reprehensbe. Theft,
perjury and adultery are minor II not venlal Of.
lenses. they are assigned to the category Of lndls
pose that they have been condemned by the scrip
tural requirement that we must bear one
or The number of these offenses which are
steadily on the increase the public records afford
us no adequate idea. Comparatively few ever
come Refgfe the courts Of all, Perjury, FOR
selves pass u by, the eolqred witness has no
sense Of the sahetlty 9t an oath On the contrary,
isSd s s.Iss as ssp as s whs Tyaa
mfhe negroes here, as IN Africa, are adopts IN
stealing A planter who ls most considerable
isfiy with them, assures tis writer tkaT he YsFss
net lake two negroes t6gethef into the st9fehaHse
where he keeps be supplies, being sure that while
FebbiHE him, egtIeR and corn are stolen IN large
g gd.a from lhs asids usually o plight S5
n S asssv % 1hs ss
anu the Reighb0fs cannot, suppress"
''THB SUBJECT OF F#H SEXUAL RELATIONS
y too delicate 10 sdmit Of nee report, We esa,
me our slatements 70 fact pF two, There is liz
ts regard fot personal purity, and little eonesp-
dlsllpguithed southern minister was asked 70
Rss' tm mspsgs service y freedman AZ
presented himself with woman on sit6sr arm,
to BOTH The reason Of the ssussi the man could
not appreciate. II he was willing and the women
were willing, he could not see why any body else
p q, the right TO object. Hadn't freedom come
Arc these statements of Mr.. Wrinkle false,
There 10 no difference as to the testimony offered
informed, free from prejudice, and without sell.
nsh object to accomplish. What say you, then, Of
the following assertions Of the IndepsIdsnt OF May
sionary Association, presented under the title,
1.-THE GREAT NEED OF THE soUrHH"
The following are the statements:
THE frightful fact stares US In the face on
every side that the great bulk Of the negroes in
the Gulf States have no education, no religion
and no conscience. They have churches in a6un-
dance, excited singing and shouting, but no re-
ngion IN the sense IN which we use the word. We
States are filled with colored Baptist and Metho-
dist churches in which drunkenness, theft and
and communion. We have In our own land-not
on heather shores, but in these United States
millions Of citizens, Protestants We call them,
Of religion as that Of the Sicilisn bandits, who
murder . traveller with prayer to the Virgins
2. Those who are trying to christianize the
We most earnestly wish that every Christian
in our land could see the evil and the necessity
Of correcting It.. There has just been hold in
Atlanta, Georgia, convention OF the mission
aries and teachers working for the American
Missionary Association. 1t was desired to get
the opinion Of the best-informsd men as to the
true condition and needs Of the negroes over the
South. There were representatives from nearly
every portion OF the South, except Virginia,
where We are glad to say the whites are laborIng
reasonably we'll for the elevation Of their
colored citizens. The laborers came from Ten
nessee, from South Carolina, from all the Gulf
States, to tell what they had seen and what they
felt to be the need Of the hour"
"a correspondent writes: "For three nights and
two days, Of ten hours session each day, did
this great, strange mission field. could Iiken It
to nothing but river, deep and broad and foul,
with occasional sweet and clear tributaries
the bottom truth Of their experiences and opinions
as to the Southern situation, and hence the
turbid stream: Every heart was full and over
flown with the burden Of
THE GREAT WORK TO BE DONE
8. "Tenyears of freedom has only begun to break
through at q few points into the terrible moral
and Intellectual darkness. Gross darkness and
the lowest forms of vice and sin are well nigh uni
versal, while few, blessed with exotic missionary
schools and churches are rising in morals and gem
eral culture, the many without these helps, TAX
ing advantage of the large liberty freedom
slavery drive the people to God, while the sweets
Of liberty allured them to indulgence. Having
little assistance IRON any source they become an
protect them. The doctrines Of Christianity come
to the heather as something new and fresh, and
for this reason have an immense added power to
reform the life and reclaim the people. The now
elty alone is startling. But among the freedmen
we have no such help. The story Of the cross is
The cross and their vices have lived together
in their thought and hearts for generations, and
II is next to impossible to dislodge either. They
practice their religion and vices together the
about as much as the other. If they had never
heard Of the wonderful doctrine Of the Christian
religion, these would De more power than now
to overt brow their inherited vices.
4. "Does this picture, drawn by the,most compe-
tent and most sympathetic Of all observers, seem
black? 1t is very black, and were hopeless If we
could not believe that the hearts Of Christian
people ut the North Will be opened to do vastly
more than they now DO to plant at the South 3
Christianity that will include morality. emust
treat the mass Of Southern colored churches as
hdeous travesties Of Chi tlanity, and overthrow
and replace them. They must be reformed from
without by planting true churches, whose chief
test shall be obedience to the ten commandments.
The conference at Atlanta agreed that the negro
Toes not need college education, but that the work
Of the valued institutions at the South must for
long time TO come be mainly that Of fitting CON-
mon school teachers and giving theological in,
,truction."
THESE AND SUCH sTATRMENTs ARE FALSE
and without foundation in fact. They are cruel
SANDERS OF an inoffensive and condding, strug-
Cling and comparatively helpless people. A peo-
pie who, as class, have shown themselves faith
less and unreliable neither In the use of the bal
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