Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-01-09
"The Freedman's Case in Equity

claimed it must be by foreign missionaries,
either in the form Of federal officials or of
northern school teachers 1t is hard to real
lie that there have arisen men in the South
who are willing to face the issues Of the day
squsrely, and that there is public which is
willing to listen respectfully TO their plain
speaking.
One of the most notable utterances upon
the southern question is to be found in The
Century for January. The writer, George
W. Gable, the distinguished novelist and an
ex-Confederate soldier, gives no uncertain
sound as to the present evils and yet gives an
insight into their causes and cure which could
only be possible to one thoroughly acquainted
with the people of the South and in sympathy
with them. We can only give a brief sum-
mary of some of the leading thoughts of an
article which deserves the widest reading
The picture which Mr.. Gable gives of the
present condition Of the negro race is not a
rose-colored one. He says, 1.-THE late south
ern slave has within two decades risen from
slavery to citizenship, passed on into political
ascendancy, and fallen again from that emf
nence." He finds that none of the we'll
uehut huu 0Nbu ubOcbbdIJ loBlblhtlOu lOE HIS
protection has been able to secure him equal
rights and privileges. 1.-THE revised laws,
only where they could not be evaded, have
met that reluctant or simulated acceptance OF
their narrowest letter which might have been
expected-a virtual gu ffocation of those prin-
ciples of human equity which their unwel-
come DEGREES do little more than shadow
forth. But in different regions this attitude
has been made in very different degrees of
emphasis. In some the new principles have
grown or are growing into popular convic-
ton, and the opposing sentiments are CORE
spondingly dying out, while again other sec
tions lean almost wholly toward the old SEN
timents."
Many incidents are narrated showing the
insults which are still heaped upon unoffend-
ing citizens simply because of their color
They are denied equality in the railway cars
in places of amusement, and even in courts
of law. The present situation is thus sum-
med up:
"Thus we reach the ultimate question of
fact Are the freedmans liberties suffering
any real abridgement? The answer is easy
! The letter of the laws, with but few excep-
tons, recognizes him as entitled to every
right of TN American citizen, and to some it
may seem uhimportant that there is scarcely
one public relation of life in the South where
ne is not arbitrarily and unlawfully compelled
to hold toward the white man the attitude of
an alien, mental and probable reprobate
by reason of his race and color" The
dominant class "spurns his ambition, tram
pies upon his languishing self-respect, and
Indignantly refuses to let him either buy with
money, or earn by any excellence of inner
life or outward behavior, the most momentary
immunity from these public indignities, even
for his wife and children. Need we cram
these pages with facts in evidence, as il these
were charges denied and requiring to be prov
en-? They are simply the present svowed and
defended state of affairs peeled of its exteri-
ors."
All this is simply a confirmation of what
northern observers have been saying ever
since the stormy days of reconstruction. The
northern mind recognizes the fact, but finds
it hard to appreciate the reason for it, We
are too apt to hastily charge it to a total de.
pravity which we imagine to exist south OF
Mason and Dixon's line When we have
ceased to cherish any such sectional prejudice
we have been satisfied 10 account for south
ern outrages" by looking upon them as the
last murmurs of the war. Mr. Cable thus
disposes of this idea
ut is the fashion to say we paused to let
the feelings engendered by the war pass
away, and that they are passing. But let NOT
these truths lead us into error. The senti-
ments we have been Analysing, and upon
which we saw tine old compulsory reconstruc-
ton 60 hard aground-these are not the feel
ings engendered by the war We must dis
entangle them from the feelings engendered
by the war and by reconstruction. They are
older than either But for them slavery
would have persisted of itself and emancipa-
ton and reconstruction been peaceful revolu
TONS"
Had the southern people been believers in
mere despotism, they might have had slaves
and yet not looked upon them as belonging
to an inferior order of creation. Under the
Roman empire freedmen often rose to the
highest stations. But the American people
were taught that there are certain natura
rights, and that political equality belongs Ia
all men. How could this be reconciled with
the institution of slavery, which existed be
fore the Declaration of Independence had
been promulgated There was only ont
way, and that was by the virtual denial o.
the manhood of the slave. He was not to b,
looked upon as man enslaved, but as dis
tinct order of creation, whom the Creator haC
branded with the inedaceable marks of ser
Witty. His natural inferiority was held to b.
the justification of his enslavement DurinI
generations of contact with a superior race
the African barbarian had adopted the reli
gon, the dress, and even, to a large extent
the civilization of his masters but the ide
of the impossible gulf between him and tn
ruling race became more and more intense
till it came to be looked upon as an instinct
Federal bayonets destroyed slavery, an,
there are few southern men, says Mr.. Gable
who would restore it il they could but III
recognition of the common manhood of III
black and white races is something of slowe
growth. To establish "the clean equities O
the issue" is the work which lies before III
, statesmen and patriots of the South. ODl
, when this is done will there be final recon
struction of society. We are assured tha
there is in the South public sentiment, whic
is growing stronger and stronger, in oppos
ton to the present injustice:
, There are thousands of southern-bor
"AAtO h4ch huu hOnout III lQ6 mlnOfltY Il
all these places-in churches, courts. schools
libraries, theatres, concert halls, and on steam
ers and railway oarriages-who see the wronl
} and folly OF these things, silently blush TO
them, and withhold their open protests onl,
because their belief is unfortunately stronRe
in the futility Of their counsel than in Ia
power of just cause. do not Justify thei
silence, but affirm their sincerity and good
y numbers. or late years, when condemn
, ing these evils from the platform in south
, ern towns, have repeatedly found that thos
, whom had earlier been told were the me-
and women in whom the community place
most confidence and pride-they were III
ones Who when had spoken, came forwar
with warmest hand grasps and expressions o
; thanks, and pointedly and cordially iustife,
my every utteranoe And were thew IN
young SOUTH Not by half The grew
boards OF the old times have always bee,
! among them, saying in effect, not by an,