Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-05-14


Douglass in Baltimore, we make the follow
ing extract;
We have been more unsettled by schemes Of
colonization and emigration than from any other
cause First Hayti, then Jamaica, were our Ca
mans. Next came Nicaragua, and that would have
been " Niggeragua," while Liberia has been a
standing land of Canaan. am against this going,
The moral and social power, strong though invis-
ible, is being to the manner born. The men who
made Rome worth going to see were the men who
stayed there. II we could stay in the South in
slavery, we can stay now. We have advantages
there which we could have nowhere else Our
people in the South have monopoly of the labor
market. They are the arm, the muscle and the
hand, with the vantage ground of the constitu-
ton behind them, men sympathizing with them
in every state, and the power to say, Give us
fair wages, or your fields will go untitled In
the North and West they will have no such ad-
vantage They will be confronted by Irishmen,
Germans and Chinese, who can do all kinds of
labor, even to handling the woodsaw and the
whitewash brush. II the negro has not wit and
wisdom enough to combine for higher wages in
the South, where will his sagacty he when he
goes North Capital is not Invested of its CEN
trail attribute there-that OF getting labor as
cheaply as it can. If you go North you will have
to take yourselves with you-your qualities, your
efficiences and deficiencies. Sympathy may be
yours for time, but it will soon change into
tempt, scorn and detestation, unless You become
self-supportng and self sustaining. dread the
influence that will come by emptying thousands
of uninstructed people, covered with rags, in a
northern community thus making enemies
say these are the men whom radical rule would
place over the Southern white men. The South
knows u.s. 1t does not shrink from our rags, be
cause it used to keep us in them. There is not
| much fear, however, that the movement will con-
tnue, and do not wish to see among us the crea-
ton of that detestabe class from whom we are
| now so free, tramps. We will never change our
| relations to the white people until we become
| more economical stick to our employment and
live within our means If you do people will re-
spect you. Other races, notably the Jews and
the Quakers, worse situated than you are have
fought their way up. The question is, will the
colored man be AS good servant to himself as he
was to his master? We must be truthful and
honest. We are religious and want to shun the
wrath to come, but what we need is absolute
truthfnness of character lie is only intended
to deceive, and when it ceases to fulflll its pur-
pose it is of no value to the liar. Slavery taught
us to steal, but we know it is wrong and destroys
the motive of those around us to acquire anything.
The pulpit must not keep us the high wave OF
apocalyptic vision, but on the rock Of practical
righteousness. want when lay down my life
TO say that have seen my people, once ignorant,
now intelligent; once degraded, now elevated
| once despised, now honored | see the elements
at work for us, and in every bar OF iron, every
ship and locomotive, the electric wire and tele-
phone there are certain signs of the ultimate
success of our race in this mighty nation.