The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-02-12
THE NEGRO MEDIATION.

! The proposed negro migration to the
western States is occasioning considerable
+ comment, and uneasiness, in some sec
tons of the State. That there is such a
project contemplated appears to be GER
tain; quite number of families have al
ready left Kinds county for Kansas. 1t
+ is perhaps to be regretted that sucn
a movement has been agitated among
/ the negroes, who compose IN a large
measure the laboring class but we
know of no power to prevent it. We
/ fear that any combined effort upon
I the part of the white people to keep
[ them here will but add to the negro 5
desire to leave, and give impetus to
| the emigration movement. 1t seems
/ to be a part of the Negroes natu re
to believe that any thing the Caucas-
/ sian wants is just the thing it is
good for him not to do. When the
carpet baggers were grinding the very
| life blood from the State, large MAORI
ty of negroes aided with all their power.
Not for any any benefit that carpet bag
rule conferred upon them as a race, but
because the white people were oppressed
by, aud opposed to, it.
The negroes are free. With their
freedom necessarily they acquired the
right to go where they could, in their
opinion, better their condition in life
Unfortunately the low price of cotton,
and the general hard times has affect
ed them as it has the white people.
Their anticipations of wealth by a few
years of labor, have not been realized.
They find themselves as poor now as they
were when they were freed. 1t is useless
to tell them that white people have done
no better, that they have just been able
to hold what they had. The statement
will not be believed.
The negroes have heard that the West
is an EldOrado, land flowing with milk
and honey. They are observation-disclosures
they are poor, and they imagine if they
could reach this promise land they would
be better off. Distance lends enchant-
ment to the view. The white people
know that their condition will not be i'm
proved in Kansas nor in any other
Northwestern State or Territory. That
when they reach the promised land they
will find the same hard struggle for
/ braod an1 tho sop,a borl t;p,os III, =
they will meet the same disappointments
that have been left behind, with the ad
ditional evils of cold and rigorous eli
mate, among a people whose customs are
| different from those withwhich the negroes
are acquainted. These are facts, but
VIII it be of any use to tell the negroes ?
Being convinced against their will, will
they not be of the opinion still that they
will advance in worldly goods by emf
grafton
Perhaps a check can be put upon this
movement, now that it is in its incipi-
ency, if land owners will divide their
tracts in small lots, and sell them to the
negroes on easy terms and long pay
ments; but we are more inclined to the
opinion that the only thing the white
people can do is to make up their minds
to do without the negroes, and to use
every effort to induce white immigration
to fill the vacant places.
y few years ago there was a tide Of
negro immigration flowing into this State,
and Louisiana, from Georgia, South Car
DINA, and Alabama. The tide appears
now to be setting towards the north west.
There may be a reaction, but if there is
not, it will soon begin to flow steadily in
that direction. This may be the result
of the feeling which is implanted in every
human breast, to make an effort to i'm
prove its condition in life, engendered by
the hard times which have affected both
races alike Or it may be the first step
towards the disappearance of the African,
as has the Indian, before the advance of
the white race. It appears to be the
Heaven ordained fate of all colored races
to be unable to contend against the white
race.
Be the cause of the restlessness,
and a desire to emigrate, on the
part of the negroes, what it may,
the result for the present will be the
same. Their migration TO the west
cannot be prevented. If, however, it
prove to be from no natural aEtagonism
of races, but only to better their con
dition in life, in less than half a dozen
years the tide of immigration will again
set back to the Southern States, where
the climate, the customs and the general
take it easy" habits of the people are
better suited to the nature of the negro
race. Gu the other hand, if it is the re-
suit of a natural antagonism of races, as
many believe, in few years we shall
hear that the negro has again begun his
weary march, as did the Indians, towards
the setting sun, ultimately to disappear
from the American continent.
THE Baltimore Gazette suggests the
passage of another constitutional amend
II r y