The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1879-04-10
LETTER IRON WV. :. PHILLIPS.
= he Meaning o. lheCol, red Exodus
Negroes Fleeing From the Sou:h
Reca0se Nothing Else Kemaias FOR
Them 20 de-A Lesson Which IL Will
New York Tribune.1

New York Tribune.l
SIR: Political events are not always
under the control Of political agents. 1t Is
one thing to make Governors and Leeisls-
lures and Congresses and LAVE, it lie another
thing to make history. Both houses Of
Congress have Just passed into the power
Of the Democratic party, and when l say
d mocrstic party, mean the party that
carried the country into rebellion eighteen
years ago. Our political Rip Van Wrinkle
has come back to ia with the same ideas he
hal when be laid down in his drunken
spree with the ghosts Of buccaneers, around
the shadows of Fort Sumter-the "Consti-
tuition as it was' The eighteen years of
Republican rule are as horrid nightmare
The grandest page in the history OF the
country is stiguatized as usurpstion, q
dsspOtIsm, reign OF fraud.
We have four and a half millions
OF colpred people, one-tenth at least, Of the
population. but negro representation has
disappeared in the House, and when Mr..
Bruce's csse can be reached in the Senate
he will cease to speak for bis race, and
JEFF Davis will probably speak for those he
can best represent. In the Congressional
distric :, in the South where the great color
ed MI jprities existed, the power Of these
reople mas disappeared under a system
which can be explained in two words =
'fraud and violence" Thoss who Guild
not overthrow Republican liberty by the
sword have overthrown it By intrigue. The
strength Of what il called Democracy to day,
is not IN its ideas, but in lis predjudicss
il il in all things a reactionsry party. Ia
the Northern States the party means organ
ization merely. 1t scarcely ventures to as.
sumo the responsibility Of one progressive
living idea. In the South it means a par.
~ to bring back all tine war overthrow
Tissue ballots, false certificates, and false
| counts and secret political societies, bull
doing, the outlawry Of Republican leaders
all these are the foundations
OF the system they brought
about. Nearly all Of the greats acts OF the
Republican party are under ban-the over.
throw of the State Rights hsresy, the main.
tensrce of the Union by force of arms, The
abolition Of slavery, the enfranchisement OF
the negro race. 1t would be folly to expect
that they would take kindly TO measures
they in every stage cessele-sly opposed.
have nothing to cay OF the causes that
led to this state of affairs. IL is Of little
consequency who was responsible Tor il
What We have to do with is the present
condition OF the country, and events are
shaping themselves, and there are irrtsi-ti.
bic laws in the government Of God that
mock all human oontrivances Corfeder.
ate brigadiers ~ho claim to speak for the
negroes Of Mississippi, OF Louisiana and
Carolina, tell Us that the negroes are sstis.
fed. The carpet bsgger has fled, corrup.
ton in the South has ended, all charges
about fraudulent elections are lies. AL
looks fair to the Democratic vision. Just
as they are uttering these hypocritical
platitudes, there comes an utterance from
the colored people Of the South to which il
behooves the people of these United States
to listen. The negroes are fleeing from the
Southern States. \ strange, unexpected
unorg anized, illogical exodus. Why?
Let us examine this phenomenon con-
| siderately and wisely. There may cone a
time when We msy look back upon it with
reproach and regret. have said it wss
illogical; it is more, for under ordinary
circu Instances ii Is a most unnatural emf.
grafton. Their ancestors came from re-
gions of equatorial hest. They are about
the only lab1rers whose work hiss been per-
manentIv profitable in the gulf or cotton
States. Cotton, rice and tobacco are among
, our most valuable productions, without
| shich the balance of exchange would be
sgain-t us, ard We have no way of produc.
ing them without their labor No coun' ~
| can ever afford to expatriats its producing
classes. The negroes are fleeing Nortn a.
fast "a they can get avsy. From the low
wet lands and tropical heats Of Mississippi
snd Alabama they seek the bleak, cold
prairiss of Kansas and Nebraska. Every
steamer soing up the Mississippi or Mis-.
souri, carries crowds of this strange emf era,
ton. Old ard youug-meD, women and
children dusty. travel-woru
and sore, with their little bundles, huddled
together, reticent and suspicious, they seek
an unknown promised land. Why? hey
cannot stay in Mississippi That is all
They hsve no-land, and are at the mercy OF
Landlords. They tell us that in cases they
have 10 pay ten per acre, and at the price
of cotton they cannot psy it. They
We're given the ri,ht Of suffrage
hut il has become mockery
They were told they We're to have every
right the whites had, and they cannot ex.
eccIse Them without mourning bodily peril
Between their poverty, the landlord, the
storekeeper who supplies them at e1orbitanr
rates the necessary things TO raise a crop
ere the crop is gathered it is all swept
away. These are the outside causes, but
there are other causes. Those who think
the American negro has not been improv,
Ing are mistaken. The facilities Tor edu.
cation are not good in the Gulf Ststes now
that is for negroes, but they are learning
A far and as fsst az they can they dress
like ether Americans, and thus, az their de
mands increase, the necessities Of earning
something more and better increase. The
family has become something more with
them. Ii il a creditable fact which il
patent, that with slavery persisted mIscege-
nation. 1t is hard to cure deep rooted
habits, but the change is wonderful. The
constant inf TX Of a vile class of white wo-
men into the Southern States for some years
past leads to fear that the other party to
those offences has not become equally vir-
tuous The truth il, the American negro is
developing into a condition which renders
his present situation in Mississippi intoler-
able.
Some of the white peop'e have been
specializing as 10 whether We ought to give
the franchise few even doubt the sxpe-
diency of emancipation. Let these doubt
ers wait and see. Republican Frsnce, gov
erned by general principles, emancipated
the slaves in St. Domingo. Complaint was
m ade that the productions of the island, at
least lis exports, had fallen of. The ne
gres employed themselves in making homes
and gardens. Napoleon attempted to re-
enslave them. We do not need to be told
what followed The labor of half CEN
fury could not atone for that mistake
Emigration may and we hope will teach
Southern planters a lesson, but emigration
will not settle this question. All the emf
grafton that is likely to occur would hardly
carry of the increase. Moreover, "a the
men get richer and stronger, as their knowl-
edge OF their power increases, they will go
back sgain. 1t behooves the States where
these wayfarers 90 to treat them very
kindly. Prejudice drove them out. Preju-
dice should not stand with 3 flaming sword
at the gate OF every State. Thsy have suf-
fered much and the American people owe
them little consideration. We have an
nounced to the world with a fourth of
trumpe:s that we made them American
ciIiz ms in everything. Let US not dwarf
our grandest act by groveliDg in predjIdi-
ces. These modern children OF Israel were
required to make bricks without straw
They have gone out toward the wilderness
We see no Moses, but their cause il lust,