The Sentinel. [volume] (Trenton, N.J.) 1880-1882, 1881-01-29
SATURDAY, JANUARY 90, 1881.
BEN HILLS LIBERAL SENTI-
MEMS,

yesterday morning, that erst consid-
cred fire-eater, gave utterance to SELL
tlments which sound mere like the
thought Of iberty-loving Massachu-
sets than that of the recently slave
cursed Empire State of the South.
Speaking of the Federal appoint
ments in the South, he said: cit has
been matter OF surprise to me that
the administration has not appointed
competent and deserving colored men
to positions rather than the adven-
turers who have gone South merely
to hold the Federal Offices. The ad-
ministration would strengthen itself
and increase the respect of the peo-
pie for the government by such ap-
pointments. 1t has been a mystery
to me that they have not seen that
before"
This is fact which is patent to any
unbiased observer The colored peo-
pie in the South form the bulk of the
Republican party in that section, and
yet but very small portion of the
Federal patronage has been given
them. They have hewed the wood
kept the party alive in that section,
often at the risk of their lives, and
very frequently the rewards have been
given to their enemies. Continuing,
the Georgia Democratic Senator ex-
pressed the opinion that 1.-The Fed
eral offices must be filled, not with
Bourbon Democrats or Republicans
having no material interest in the
welfare of the section in which they
reside, but by men of character and
position, respected in the communi-
ties in which they live, either white
or colored. There are many compe-
tent colored men, as [ said before,
who enjoy much greater degree of
confidence and respect among the
white people than two-thirds of the
men filing Federal offices now"
In relation to the education of the
freedmen, he said "They have a
marvellous thirst for knowledge, and
take great pride in sending their
children to school We are hamper
ed very much in Georgia, as in all the
Southern States, by the want of suffi-
cient funds to properly develop our
educational system. The school fund
we have is divided, according to pop
ulation, equally between the blacks
and the whites, and every opportu-
nifty is given the blacks to educate
their children"
If, as the iberal-minded Georgian
says, every opportunity is given to
the blacks to educate their children
in that State, it is more than they
have in some parts of the North
more than they have in Trenton.
When asked if the colored people
in his State voted the Democratic
ticket, he replied Naturally, they
do when they have no candidates of
their own in the field, but the ten
dency of the colored man is, of course,
against the Democracy, and he does
not vote their ticket of his own mo-
ton. Still, so long as there is no Re-
publican organization, his vote will be
cast with the most liberal element of
the Democracy, or with the one which
best represents the material interests
of the State.
These are commendable utterances,
coming as they do from the lips OF a
man who has always been held up to
the Northern gaze as the very en-
bodiment OF Southern prejudice and
Southern proscriptive ideas.
It is earnestly to be hoped that the
opinions Which be expresses are sim
cere, and that the bulk of the South
ern people are becoming imbued with
the same progressive spirit. But the
evidence of facts give little ground
for the realization of the hope.
Mr.. Hill may be honest in all that
he says, so far as it relates to himself,
but it will take a good while to con-
vince the North that a people who
yet make lady ride in a smoking car
because she is black, and sentence a
negro chicken thief to twenty years
imprisonment at hard labor, while his