New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-08
TIE OVERsEER CLASS.

TIE OVERSEER GLASS.
Few persons remember that the over
seer takes his title from the same deriva
ton with that of the meek and lowly
bishop. Yet, as if to mark the vast diff
ference between the original intent and
actual perversion Of terms, it is so. The
overseer was an institution which has
brought more reproach upon slavery than
everything that was ever perpetrated by
the slave-oxners themselves. The over
seer, in the planting districts, was a.
coarse, brutal and energetic compeller of
labor. He was, in many sections OF the
South, indispensable to the inability or to
the necessities of the planter Were the
planter and his family at Saratoga or in
Europe; did the mortgage demand an
installment or threaten foreclosure, the
most truculent overseer, with the most
ruthless bull-whip, became a necessity,
and the master sighed as he turned over
his slaves to taskmaster who had no
other ambition than SO many bales or
hogsheads to the hand.
The influence of interest and Of human
ity was in one direction, the pressure
of necessity, and inaptitude for business
in another The o7erseer left in charge
of the sugar or cotton plantation of an
amiable absentee, or of a prolonged
minority, came to use all its agencies as
his own, and not uncommonly by econ
omy and judicious use of his per-
quisites became the successor of an i'm
provident or unfortunate proprietor. The
large proportion Of blacks over whites in
some districts, with, perphaps, excep-
tional displays of cruelty on the part of
these irresponsible agents, created feel
ing Of uneasiness which justified the
habitual carrying of weapons. That these
apprehensions were not well founded was
shown by the subordination Of the blacks
when the white men were absent in war
The overseer class were, however, mimi
cal to the negro, and seemed to dread the
approach to social equality, in the grant
Of suffrage, and capacity for Office.
In those slave States in which there
was no cotton or sugar produced, the
cverseer was not q necessity; mas
tiers worked with the negroes, and re-
lied on negro head man for the simple
culture of grain or the care of cattle. They
could not afford to employ the overseer,
and relied more on the increase in value
of the colored people, than on the amount
Of labor that could be exacted from them.
AS this somewhat patriarchal relation ex-
listed in those States, the relations of
master and slave were more kindly, and
have adjusted themselves with more
readiness since emancipation. In those
States in which the planter purchased his
slaves and mules as an industrial force,
committed them to an overseer of the
bull whip and revolver, the relation has
been far less kindly, and the hostility to
the negro far more pronounced. The
ex-overseer is enraged for the loss Of his
indolent employer. He is angry with the
negro because his labor is no longer fur
nished as a capital to be administered
by energy and enterprise. This en-
nifty of the overseer to the emancipated
negro has been continued and diffused,
and the Coushatta and Feliciana bull
dozers represent the exasperated compel
Ter Of labor, called an overseer. We have
heard the largest ex-slaveholders say that
they have experienced no incivility or
insult from the emancipated. The kindly
relations between these two classes has
not been changed, but wherever the
large system of gang labor existed there
seems a jealousy that ga niger" should
be allowed the same political or legal
rights as white man. The arrogant and
dictatorial manners Of the overseer have
been transfused into politics. The
White Lacquer looks upon his followers
as the hands upon his political planta-
ton. His oaths "pop like bull whip
He follows an absconding Democrat with
the bloodhounds of defamation, and he
attacks those of different party with the
most improved firearms, as if, in exer-
cising the rights of action and opinion
given them by law, they were in actual
instruction against him, the wielder Of
the political bull whip.
This arrogant assumption of authority,
this violent discharge of obloquy, this
murderous assault upon the colored voter
for his audacity of obeying the law, have
passed away in the more moderate society
Of other Southern States, and we may an
ticipate that the lawless presumption Of
the overseer class will be repressed and
put down By force of public sentiment i'll
Louisiana and Mississippi.