Morning journal and courier., 1885-09-23
THE WEEKLY JOURNAL ---- Is PUBLISHED EyERK THURSDAY MoRNTNe
Wednesday, september 2s, 1885.
THE NEW SOUTH.

Some notable articles concerning affairs in the South have recently been published Among them are those written by MT. Cable and that of MT. Charles Dudley Warner These articles have attracted great deal of attention and given rise to much discussion.
 An interesting contribution to the discus sion is made by the Rev. R. w. Memminger in the new southern magazine called Dixie He says the problem which the South has to solve is a novel one-'tthe negro as a co-citi- zen with the white race under democratic government" He considers the instantane- ous enfranchisement of the slaves reckless experiment, involving 8 radical social revolution. He thinks it almost impossible for gray headed (white) southerners to adjust themselves to the changed conditions. They are not only unable to do so, but in most cases they are unwilling as we'll. They un- derstood slavery and it's relationships; they don't get the hang of the new order of things. ''The difficulty we of this genera tion now experience in dealing with such a problem" says MT. Memminger, ttis just what might be expected, because there is more or less of this spirit of bourbonism in all of us."
 MT. Memminger calls the present csndi- tion of affairs in the South "a state of siege" and he thinks the siege can be raised. Not, however, by analgamation. The true policy, as he looks at the situation, is that of laisssz- -faire, with some humane mod ifcations. eeDistinct and parallel self-devel- opment"-that is the hope for the negro, o,,l Fo,. &bo of oI, !, He is doing surprisingly well, considering that only few years ago he was slave, and that slavery is not exactly an ideal train ing school for fraednnn Tn th,sA h.,onna days he was held to be incapable of any ad- vance, incapable of education. After he be- came freeman, it was, MT. Memminger tells us, ia great surprise to many to find that he could be taught to read and write" Now, however, public opinion at the South has been reconstructed upon the point of the black mans capacity to profit by schooling.
 It is still prevalent notion among white southerners that the negro has very little moral sentiment, and that it cannot be in creased by cultivation. MT. Memminger doesn't share this notion. In fact, he says, it ''speaks very lilly for the intelligence of those who entertain it.''- Conscience grows by the discipline of self-culture, and what chance of that did the negro have under slaverys NIT. Memminger maintains that the ex-slave, since his emancipation, had made wonderful moral progress in circumstances where weaker race would have gone to the wall. "There is every reason to believe" says MT. Memminger, "that, if but let alone and allowed to take his own course, he will manage to evolve himself under the provi- dence of God into fit person te be citizen of the community, of which he is already legitimate member. When that time shall have come it will of itself be manifest. The fact will assert itself; it will require no enaotments to carry it into effect; the negro will naturally take his place and discharge intelligently the functions of an American citizen"