Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-09-14
Why Should Not the Negro be
Wholly Free9

Wholly Frees
The one great boast of the Radical
party is that it freed the negro and gave
him the ballot, or as Ingersoll puts it
turned the hut of the slave into the
castle of the freeman" This sounds
pretty enough, but unfortunately it is
untrue The Southern black was freed,
not through the inclination of Radi-
calism, but through the necessity of
war. The Republican party never as
party declared in favor of emancipation.
It's platforms of 1856 and go contained
no demand for it. Its avowed policy
was only the prevention of the extension
of slavery, and though Lincoln at a
stroke of his pen set the slaves free,
he did so not so much because he ia
vored freedom as because of the expec-
tatiOn that thereby the COnfederacy
would be dealt mortal blow. He did
not and could not Justify his action upon
any other plea than necessity. Had the
South remained in the Union the negro
would have remained as he was, and
whatever causes contributed to bring
about his freedom the Confederacy was
the primary cause.
So, too, with negro suffrage. AS late
as 1855 Oliver P. Morton and John A.
Andrew, the war Governors" of In
diana and Massachusetts, respectively
declared against enfranchising the freed
men. Their arguments were convincing,
but when the party found its war
record capital diminishing it put the
ballot in the freedman's hand as meas
ure of political necessity. Upon what
basis then rests the claim that the colOred
citizen should feel gratitude toward Radi-
calismF
1t is held orthodox at the North that a
workingman should surrender his politi-
cal convictions in Difference to the iudg-
ment or wishes of his employer. If this
applies to the white man of the North,
why not to the black man of the South
But beyond this the Radical party is
committed to high taxation and extrava-
gance. Has not the colored citizen
an equal interest with the white
in economical government? Can
he be reasonably expected to be willing
to pay high taxes on the property he
secures, the food he eats and the raiment
he wears to show his gratitude to party
which hypocritically claims to have con-
ferred benefits upon him without view
to selfinterest? The Radical party to-day
simply regards the negro in the South
as an instrument to be used for the
benefit of every soIehead that knocks at
the door of the White House for sup
port, and with only right to vote as his
political bosses direct. Wherein then
is he truly free?
1t is time for the colored voter to ques-
ton himself. His freedom and his civil
rights are secure and will not be dis
turbed. but politically he is a conscript
and not volunteer. Citizenship does
not call for the blind support of particu-
lar men or a particular party. and no
citizen, white or black, is true to his
manhood who yields to the dictation of
any man or set of men. Nearly
twO-thirds of the educated PEG.
pie of this country believe in the wis
dom Of Democracy, and as the negro
advances In intelligence he will do like
wise. This is already shown by the
course of the New York Globe (colored
Organ), the ablest exponent of negro
thought in the country. Says that paper
in a recent editorial:
sin Pennsylvania, as the case will ul-
timately be in all the Northern and Mid
die States, the cOlored people will divide
into two classes. The intelligent and pro-
gressive class will side with men who
rise up to defend their rights and pro-
peTty, while the slaves of vice, and those
who eat the bread of the naughty bosses,
will oppose their strength, as is natural.
This has been true of all times. in all
governments, and with all classes. Here
tOfOre our strength has been thrown all
on one side, without questioning the
honesty or corruption of parties and
partisan leaders. but that time has Tast,
forever past. Henceforth the thoughtful
cOlored men will go their way, and the
thOughtleSs and handicapped cOlored
men will go as they are directed by their
vile and INSCRIPTIONS masters"
These are true words, and time will
vindicate them. There are bosses that
can be admired for their daring, their
ability and their responsibility. But the
men who boss the Southern negro in
the interest of Radicalism are, as a rule,
hired instruments that cajole, bride or
bully, accordingly as occasion may re-
quire. To such bossism no free man
who feels a spark of self-respect can
famalv subunit