The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1878-03-28

of the Brazos, or the attractivenes
of a coming city having an hsrbo
more perfect than that enclosed by Cap,
Cod. The river itself, overshadoweC
by majestic live oaks, cons titutes sucl
a haven, and the country along it
course is very paradise.
GOOD MEN AND THE EXTINCT
INSTITUTION.
How peoples conceptions of righr
and wrong change with the progress o.
years is illustrated in tie fact that
Jonathan Edwards, the profoundest
thinker, moralist and theologian of his
time, occupying the highest place
among Presbyterians, of those born in
America, giving fame to Princeton
College, was slave-owner. The good
Berkeleyowned slaves In Rhode Island
and, though he protested against uni
versal popular contempt for the poor
Africans, it never once seemed to occur
t the profound philosopher that slavery
involved moral wrong. When the
English king gave charter to colonists
in Georgia he expressly prohibited
slavery, but this clause in the organic
law of the embryo commonwealth was
repealed in 1749, and the great Metho-
dist preacher and phIlanthropist,
George Whitefeld, Wesley's peer or
superior, was most active and jealous in
securing this repeal. When coloHists
from Salzburg objected to the ownership
of slaves, they were gravely and earn
estly told ''if you take slaves in good
faith and with the intent of conduct
ing them to Christ the action will not
be sin, but benefaction," and there
upon Sambo was conducted to the cot
ton patch and rice field, and qualms of
most unreasonable consciences were
stilled to perfect repose. But human
ity, approving slavery, never ceased to
inveigh against the horrors of the slave
trade. In America the condition of
the masses of the blacks was infinitely
better than in Africa, and here progress
in capacity and good morals was steady.
In the process of years, though local
statutes regulating slavery" were un-
repealed, because of the outside vio-
lence of abolitionism, the rignrs of the
institution were constantly relaxed,
and t'slavery" became "servitude." !"
Therefore it has been said that when
the wan between the States was precip-
itsted Providence had prepared the
two races for its coming, and the
South's invaders, beginning with old
John Brown, discovered social and po-
litieal systems for which they were
wholly unprepared. While Southern
masters fought their servants cultjva-
ted the fields, provided for the women
and children, guarded their homes and
fed and clothed Southern armies.
When absolute freedom was conceded
it came like a summer cloud, hardly
casting a shadow or obstructing the
sunshine, and came and stood still and
was almost unobserved. The negro
was happy and the ex-master even
more perfectly blest in the consum-
nation. The change would have
been hardly noted as a passing
event if selfish politicians had
not interviewed. They ''corralled" the
innocent colored voters in loyal leagues
and ''herded" them in the Freed
mems Bureau, and ''tolled" them along
fixed paths to ballot boxes, using the
innocent creatures to rob every potato
patch and hen-roost in the political
system of the South, whether State,
municipal or Federal. But the spell
is broken. Negroes, in many portions
of the country, no longer trot behind
one another in pursuit of the white file
leader who grunts comfortably while
jogging along with the ear of corn in
his mouth. They have learned that
they, too, as we'll as taxpayers,
are losers by the investiture of
kuaYes with office, and when at last
they cease to vote as race and have
learned Co vote as individual men, the
greatest evil incident to the colo
cation and admixture of these diverse
populations will have disappeared.
The history of the relations between
the two races shows that the one has
been used as pedagogue for the other,
and Jonathan Edwards and Berkeley
and Whitefeld, as slave owners, were
the foremost of 5eneicent and wise
schoolmasters. The subordination of
one race to the other was palpably
most fovtunate for the negro race, as
shown when a colored citizen of to-
day stands beside native
African. The white man has
i.--Aas--4ha- nAalsz-laaaE th-1
process of training which the sons of
Ham have undergone. Therefore
books like Mrs. Stoves, however
truthful in special facts and characters,
as individuals were affected by them
and by the institution of slavery, are
wholly false as the fortunes of races
and of the many were involved. There |
were barbarous, brutal masters and in |
curably savage blacks, but if the regen-
Grafton of the African race and |
its elevation to equality with the An
glo Saxon be possible the consumma-
ton will be due to philosophers like
Jonathan Edwards and whitefeld and
and not to zsalots like Wen-
dell Phillips and Garrison. The task
viii be achieved BY those who, despite
The laws As shaped and maintained BY
insane party-leaders and pulpit fanatics,
slavery into servitudc and
partially prepared the negro for posi-
Ton into which he was thrust when
asIther the North nor the South con-
ends thatvere suddenly and
'iolentiy achieved.
Az ole Austin complaint has broken
INT in Vicksburg. The Herald OF hat
,ity savR