The daily gazette., 1876-05-18
From the World.
The Catholic Church and the Negro

From the World.
The Catholic Church and the Negro
Mr. Edward w. Blyden, whs is a
full blooded negro, a university gradu
ate and the head of a prominent edu-
cational institution in Liberia. contri-
butes to an English magazine re-
markable article on "Christianity and
the Negro Race" a companion piece
to his "Mahometanism and the Negro
Race" published last fall. In his intro
ductory recital OF facts connected with
the history of American slavery, he
recalls the slave holding record of
Penn, Whitefield and Edwards, the
careful training of generations of
Puritan or Hugucnot decent in the
belief of theGod given right of enslav-
ing the negro, and the teaching of the
negro himself by Christian divlnes Of
all shades of opinion, of the duty of
submission. He received the Gospel
travestied and diluted, and his morality
grew all awry. Since the civil war aud
the abolition of slavery, social and
moral progress has been made, though
necessarily it has been slow, mainly
because the nego is taught not to be
himself, but to initiate some oAe else,
to copy the white man in all.
From this general introduction Mr.
Blyden passes on to discuss a question
in which Americans will take special
interest-the relative claims of the
Catholic and Protestant churches to
the respect and allegiance of the negro
tax 10 ha ri Il 1,,hliohnA ~ ha
independent by Bishop John NJ. Brown
of the African M. Il. Church, warning
the coloIed people against the agrees
sions upon their ranks of the Roman
Catholics. and the reply of George r..
Downing controverting the Bishops
position. Mr.. Blyden's comments are
marked by frankness, and acuteness
and appleness of information. He does
not believe that the thoughtful and
cultivated Protestant negro can read
history without being impelled irresls-
tably to acknowledge the deep debt of
gratitude his race owes to the Catholic
Church. The only Christian negroes
that freed themselves and maintained
their position as freemen-the Hayti-
ans-were Catholics, and "the great
est negro the Christian; world has
i" yet roduced-Toussaint POWER
turc"- was also Catholic. Rome
has canoniZed many negroes, male and
female. but Professionalism has no coll
ored saint. A negro in the sixteenth
century rose to be Professor of Latin
and Greek in the schools attacked to
the cathedral of Granada, and married
lady of that city, who erected a
monument to his memory in the cathe-
dral; in what Protestant university has
negro been tolerated? Benjamin
Banneker, says MIR. Blyden. is the
most distinguished negro produced by
Protestant country, and the only
literary recognition he ever received
was in an appreciative letter from JEFF
ferson, a eeputed infidel. All the his.
torians of Brazil extol the name of
Henry DiaZ, the negro general. Bor-
ros, the Portuguese historian, rates the
the negroes, as soldiers, as preferable
to the Swiss. The blacks WED with
the French in the defense of Guada-
loupe and Martinique. When, on the
other hand, has there ever been ne
gro general in Protestant army. or
have Protestant negro soldiers proved
as eflicientg In 1872 Martinique sent
as her delegate to the French National
Assembly, a negro, NJ. Pory Papy; if
the British colonies were represented
in the House of Commons, would the
people of Jamaica or Barbaboes do as
much. When in the Episcopal. Com
vention held in this city in 1874 it was
decided to consecretea a negro Bishop u
of Hayti. the English Bishop of ia
maica, DR.. Courtenay, dlssented. ale
ging that after two hundred years of
residence in Christian Jamaica and
forty years of freedom, the island had
not yet procuced priest of purely
African race. that mo negro in holy
orders could command that respect
." in Jamaica which white priest
could command"
Under Protestant rule, Mr.. Blyden
concludes, the negro is kept in such a
state of tutelage and irrespensibility
that he can scarcely fail to be con-
srantly dependent, and therefore, in an
emergency, useless. He had in his
previous essay shown that. as compar-
ed with Mahometanism, which admit
ted the negro as an equal, educated
him and conferred responsibilities on
him. the same thing was true of Chris
tianity. He finally notes that as rule
the truest friends of the negro among
Christians have been foued outside Of
the orthodox denominatIons,C Claiming,
Parker. Garrison, Phillips, Emerson
Longtellow, all were Unitarians, and
the most constant and ::uncompromis
| ing defender of the colored man IN
England has been the goddess Westmin.
sster Reyiev.
Counterfeiters Arrested.
Jefferson 4. Brolaski, clerk in the Hi