Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-04-09
Freedmen's Emigration Scheme.

Twice already have we alluded to the re-
markable scheme of emigration which has
taken possession Of the late slaves dwelling
upon the lower Mississippi. As the stream
widens and deepens, the alarm increases
among the planters, and the movement
naturally awakens more general interest
throughout the West and North. Every
steamer from the lower Mississippi ports
bears large detachments of these emigrants
to St. Louis, where commendable efforts
seem to be making to aid them in securing
the best possible results in their enterprise.
Special pains have been taken by the Globe
Democrat of st. Louis, as band after band of
these eager emigrants has reached that city,
to fathom the real causes which are at the
bottom of the movement The enterprising
editors have not only detailed reporters but
employed notaries public to question them
and take their affdavits. OF course the ne
groes speak out freely under the existing
circumstances, since the dread of being as
sassinated by white leaguers in case they
testify against them no longer seals their
statements have now been made public, and
they form a most shocking and narrowing
story. This evidence shows that rarely in
modern times have human beings been
hunted and murdered so cruelty and brutally
as have the blacks of the South by the
old masters and their more brutal sons
Tales of horror are related by these wronged
and outraged people, which make the blood
run cold. AS to ever returning to the
scenes of these barbarities, negroes who have
escaped from them declare they would pick
crusts from the street first. No people fee
ing from bondage ever had more frightful
stories of suffering to tell.
The later arrivals at St. Louis are re-
ported in better circumstances than the
first. Many Of the emigrants have their
own horses and wagons, and push out from
the city with these conveyances. The col
ored citizens of st. Louis are doing all for
them that they can, and the whites are lend
ing friendly hand. Whether this help
will be adequate to all the demands of the
case can only be determined by develop
ments in the future. As rule, the exodus
leaves no stragglers behind in the city, but
about all Of them continue their journey to
Kansas. This is natural, as these emigrants
are from the agricultural sections of the
South and know their chances for success
are better in farming regions than they
would be in cities which are already over
run with cheap labor. The latest corners
report that the movement is still increas-
ingly active. Their neighbors are Fastening
to follow them, and they regard the exodus
as barely begun. No appeal of the leading
men of their own race, no pictures which
the Southerners draw in their own interest
of the probable suffering in their new homes,
no threats of vengeance by the bull-dozing
planters can for moment check the North
ward flowing tide.
This exodus opens a new chapter in the
history OF the negro race in America. 1t
may be short chapter or it may be long
one, but that it will be important whether
long or short there can be no doubt. The
enterprise is showing the South that letters
and shackles no longer circumscribe the
movements of the colored man. He is now
free. The world is open to him as it is to
Others. And though meek, docie and
patient people, the South is learning that
there is point beyond which cruelty
towards negroes cannot go. In the loss of
large numbers of laborers and the prospect
of losing many more the South is face to
face with an emergency of no ordinary
character. If she would not suffer irrepara-
BILE damage by this exodus she must
promptly take steps to check it. To do this,
the whole policy of the South towards the
negro must be radically changed. She
must no longer make him the target for shot
guns, nor make it almost impossible for him
to secure comfortable home of his own.
But if the South will not change her treat
ment of the colored people, and change it
promptly and completely, all that we are
witnessing now is probably only the prelude
to a still livelier exodus which will follow in
the immediate future.