National Republican., 1880-12-16
The Negro in tho South.

The negro is to-day regarded by the
white people of the South precisely as he
has been for two hundred years. There
never has been time, since the founda-
ton of this Government, when the South
ern people, as people, looked upon the
negro as capable, in any degree, of self
government, much less as capable of
shaping or contributing in any manner to
the creation of laws and constitutions
under which he, in common with them
selves, was to live and prosper. That the
people of the South look upon the negro in
this lights not strange. From the day the
tirstcargo ofslaves was landed on the banks
of the James in 1920, down to the dawn
of reconstruction in 1867, at the fireside,
in the playground, in the field, in the
shop, in the press, at the bar, on the
bench, in the pulpit, on the public plat.
form, and in the halls oflegislation of the
South, the broad declaration was made
and insisted upon that the negro was an
inferior being, whose highest good was to
be found in serfdom. There never rose
a man of any political party in the South,
taking issue with this infamous declara-
ton, who was not silenced by public
opinion, and forced either to change his
views or withdraw from public life.
Nothing is truer than that Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe meas
ured fully the evils of human slavery,
deprecated its existence in the new Re-
public, and earnestly desired its cxtinc-
ton, Washington died before slavery
became the god of the South, while JEFF
ferson, Madison, and Monroe lived to see
the unholy institution grow into great
proportions, and were compelled to yield
to the demands made for its support and
extension. What is true of these great
men is true also of the statesmen of the
South, without exception. Few men ever
spoke words of more prophetic power
and import than Henry Clay regarding
the horrors of slavery and the blessings
of freedom. Yet even his imperial will
yielded to the siren song of the slave
power,
The early annals of abolition show that
at the close of the Revolution there ex-
listed in many parts Of the South quite u
body of citizens-notably among the
Quakers and Methodists-who were in
favor of the abolition of slavery; yet, in
side of forty years, this sentiment died
out entirely, and those among whom it
existed either lapsed into utter quiet or
sought country where the expression of
their views would not entail upon them
loss of social position, if not of life itself
May we not truly say that the South has
been educated to look upon the negro as
unfit for freedom, and necessarily unfit for
any participation in Government? When
the North freed the negro we struck down
faith the South had cherished for more
than 1.-TWO hundredyears. Whenwe clothed
him with the right of franchise we vio-
lated fundamental principleo of Southern
theories, and when we placed him in Off
cial position we outraged every cherished
idea and instinct of the Southern whites
Such being the case, the South to-day pro-
fessedly assents to negro suffrage, not be-
cause its people believe it is right to
which he is entitled, or which he is in any
way qualified or competent to enjoy, but for
two reasons first, they are powerless to le-
golly prevent it; and secondly, because by
conceding the negro the right ttovote, their
political power in the way of national rep
resentation is increased to a very large
degree. Hating the source from which
this added power springs, they still value
that power sufficiently TO protest against
the negroes disiranchisement Their first