Daily Kennebec journal., 1879-06-28
Phillips on the Negro Exodus.

At the meeting in Boston, Tuesday night
in sympathy with the exodus of colored peo-
pie from the South, Wendell Phillips spoke
in part as follows:
Is the Mississippi public highway, or
have the southern planters right to put
fence across it? Are the ngrocs free? Was
there ever rebellion? Did Lee really drive
Grant out of Virginia, and was it Jefferson
Davis who pardoned Abraham Lincoln? What
is the meaning of that pile of granite on the
Common Did the folks il commentaries
succeed in settling anything? or do their
graHs only mark the halfway house between
somewhere and nowhere? These are qucs-
tions thoughtful men ask themselves to-
day. The father whose son was starved at
Andersonvlle or lies 'buricd with his mig
gers" on some Southern battlefield, sadly
asks, did that death gain anything" What
hypocrisy year by year to decorate graves if
we make no effort to keep what that precious
blood bought! In constitutional governments
when fragrant abuse exists, or great wrong
is done to masses of citizens, Parliaments
and Legislatures appoint committees to find
the facts Has the great historic party which
binds the emancipation statute on his brow
its proudest plume, taken any pains to see
what is done or suffered in this emergency!
Are the numbers of the tugitives insignfi-
cant Why then do planters grow pale, and
boards of trade protest, and angry men rush
together in noisy conventions Only fifty or
a hundred idle and dissoutc negroes, such as
we are glad to get rid of Why then do boat
captains refuse to take their money and
carry them off? No; we have been told a
thousand times. and il is emphaticaly true.
that it takes an earthquake to tear the negro
from his home. What wrttchedness did he
patiently endure in millions of cases rather
than leave his birthplace !? Don't babble of
good treatment, and cotton, and wide breadth
of cultivaton--the theory don't explain facts.
Why does the negro fly, and what does he
brave such suffering and loss to escape from:
Thousands of men don't sacrifice their prop
erty and endure pteous suffering, discomfort
and disease to get away from happiness. Get
up, gentlemen, some other explanation; this
is not plausible-the poor lie cracks and goes
to pieces when stretched to cover the terrible
fact. When Southern men in 1865 argued
that a vote was not necessary for the negro's
protection, they said give him right to STAY
or go, and the law of population will be pro-
tected enough. If he thinks himself wrongcd
let him strike his tent and leave; that will be
shield enough. No sane community will
withstand that argument Yes, that is true
now. The time will come, in dozen years
or so, when quarrels among white politicians
protection, as it has long since clad an Irish
man and Catholic in complete steel; in
deed, made him arbitrator between parties.
But, meanwhile, the negro's right to leave is
his only weapon and protection. Until So
cety settles down after the late convusion.
into normal condition, this is his only safe
guard; without efficient protection this is
his only safeguard; without efficient protec-
tion in this right freedom is a farce.
Hardly any State in the Union has advanc
ed and is advancing so rapidly as Oregon,
which has many advantages over other West
ern States in the quality of the soil, the num-
Der of its navigable rivers, and the character
of its population. This is typifed by the
extraordinary growth of Portland, the princi-
pal city. where it is said that during the past
year, not less than 900 new dwellings have
been put up, and fully 10000 persons have
been added to the population. The immi-
huph