Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1889-09-28

To the Editor of The Richmond Dispatch
II the years 1854 and 1856 the Hon. Ame-
ua NJ. Murray, maid of honor, I think, 10
Der Majesty Queen Victoria, visited the
U ..i,ed States, Canada aud Cuba, and after
yelis published her observations iu vol.
ume of letters. l read the work with inter.
at .yhen it first appeared, and, happening
% meet With it again ef.er lapse Of more
tcup thirty Years, am struck with some OF
n.r observations about the negro race. LIST
il be borne in mind that she came to this
country with the abolition views In which
she had been brought up in England. Here
is her sccount of her first experience with
uegro slaves:
Here (Baltimore). for the first time, l
see uothipg but black servants-slaves be-
lisye--but their manner and countenaDces
express conteDlment and cheerfulnes5. and
car ainly the relation of mistress and SER
want in the South has more agreeable az
Dect than that of the same station 10 the
northern States, which is commonly charac-
terizsd uy complaints of annoyance upon
one side and saucy indifference upon the
other. The dinner party at Mre. We g
was aereeable, and there met several pret
tv southern ladies'. Their voices and way
of speaking struck me as more refined and
gracafu! than those of the other States had
visited"
This was her first entrance upon southern
Territory
"Unce TOMS Cabin" was at this time
attracting much attention. From Charles
ton Miss Murray thus writes ut appears
to me our benevolent intentions In Engand
have taken mistaken direction, and that
we should bes;ow our compassion on the
master instead of on the slaves. The form
er by no means enjoy the incubus with
which circumstances have loaded them,
and would be only too happy ii they could
supersede this black labor By white; but as
10 the negroes, they are the merriest, most
coutented set of people l ever saw. or
course there are exceptions, bus sm In
clined to suspect that we have as much vice
and more suffering than is caused here by
m" unfortunate institution of slavery and
/ Very much doubt if freedom will ever make
the black population, in the mass anything
more han set of grown up children. :
Mrs Stowe's Topsy is perfect illustration
of darky character, aud many of the sad his
tories OF which her book Is made up may oe
true as isolated facts; but yet l feel sure
tbat ss Il whole, the story, however ingen
iousiy worked up, is an Unfair picture-a
line! upon tee shareholders as body. very
much 6oubt if real Uncle Tom can often
be found in The whole negro race, and If
such hsiug is or was be is as great rarity
a. Shakespeare among whites.
After further travels in the South she
writes Il now ses the great error we have
IN ade in assuming that the African race is
equal in capacity with the European, and
that under similar circumstances 1t ie capa-
oe Of equal moral and intellectual culture.
rhe history OF Egypt, R1me, of the Eoglish,
French, and Spanish colonies, ana the
experience CT African slavery, prove
the reverse No separate African civil
liz.tion has sprung up from centuries Of
contact. st. Domingo has relspsed into bar
barism except in the case Of some Of the
towns The other emanoipated colonies,
not excepting Jamsica, are retrogradipg fast
liz the face Of q white population, and not.
withstauding Government influence in the
United States, spite of more than hundred
years of white association, though they have
been made rather superior to their brethren
in Africa in intellect and moral character,
they reman-and ever will rsmain-infe-
ror to the whites believe, and must not
hesitate to confess my belief the negro race
is incapable of self.government and | sus
pect his present condition IN the united
States is practically the best that the char
acter of the negro admits Of"
After returning to Boston she wrote :"Per.
sonally. with all my love of freedom, I
would much prefer to be slave in the South
not in Cubal than one of those pariahs call
ed free negroes in the North. I am now
with an abolitionist friend, who, like most
abolitionists, has never visited the South
We can therefore sympathize only in wish
TO see those States free where black labor
can be superseded by white-and this for
the sake of the white race rather than the
black"
Had this fairer book been as much read in
the North as "Uncle Toms Cabin" section
al animosity would never have reached that
degree of bitterness which has been such
curse to our country.
PAST AND PRESENT.