The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-09-25
THE WHITE MAN RULES.
SOUTHERN JUSTICE AND HUMANITY
70 THE BLACK MAN.


These are the headlines Of n single morn
Ing 8 news ia the daily papers OF the nfst
Monday in September. 1889. On the day
before there had appeared the report oil
committee appointed 10y a colored emigra-
tion convention in North Carolina. assert
ing that 10000 colored peopls lad slgnihed
desire 10 remove from that State alone,
because OF the conditions which Affect
them there. On the next day appeared an
account OF the burning at tho stake OF
colored man by moo in Kentucky. on the
charge OF rape. This Is the third case OF
burning reported during the present year.
The number OF negroes killed by white
mobs during the ficst eight months OF the
centennial year OF our nation outnumoers
the tale OF murders during ten years OF tho
Irish troubles. and almost equals the rec
ord OF victims of one year OF Bloody Mary's
reign.
This is the story OF Southern justice and
humanity during half year OF profound
peace. with the rule of the white man UNI
disturbed and unqu 9stioned. On such
record the "White-llne- Democracy OF the
South ask the civilized. Christian people OF
the United States to confirm them in an un-
lawful usurpation OF power and approve
their absolute subversion and control OF a
race their barbarous humanity 10 which
has for a hundred years shocked tho COM
mon sentiment of humanity.
Will they do IL? The hearing has only
Just begun and the record of the first
three days of September is one of the argu-
ments upon the Southern side or the ques-
ton.
The manufacture of sentiment against the
negro is an habitual function OF the South
ern press and politicians, because IL oilers
sure and safe road 10 popularity. AMI
mostly toward the negro has become an in
herited attribute OF by far the la ger part OF
the white people Of the South-not that
they are all cruel or intend 20 be Just,
hnpnIlEp
prejudice makes IL well-nigh impossible for
them TO recognize him as man entitled OF
right to equal privilege and equal protec-
ton under the law. The relation between
master and slave was very often, perhaps
generally, one of kindness. but it was
merely the kindness Of grace and favor
which one extends 10 pot animal. not ary
recognition OF a right based on manhood or
inhering in "A slave as a member of society.
On the part Of the master this feeling was
natural. and is appreciated by the Northern
mind with out specific explanation. 4 man
who buys and sells another. who demands
of him implicit obedience and unrelaX-
ing service, controls his family relations,
refuses him the right Of marriage. forbids
him 10 defend himself. strips MS daughters
virtue Of any legal protection, forbidS him
TO acquire knowledge. and shuts him off
from oPportunity-such man may be kind
TO his dependent as one Is kind to horse
or a dog. but he has no conception OF that
dependent as a man capable Of possessing
or asserting the rights OF a man-an auto
matte element o. human society. The pop
ular phrasing OF a noted judicial decision,
that the colOred man had mo lights which
the white man was bound TO respect" was
true and accurate paraphrase. not merely
OF the decision, but of the whole law of
slavery. The slave could appeal to the law
for bt one thiHQ-hiS liberty. This was all
he could ask. If not entitled TO that. he
could not be heard TO ask for protection or
redress of any other sort. He was emphat-
ically dumb before his MASTER
Even the tenets of Christianity were I'M
consciously modified in their application to
him.
How did you ever get over tho injunc-
ton. Do unto others as YOU would they
should do TO your" asked the Bystander
once in candid conversation with one who
had been noted rs a last but rigorous mas
ter and devont believer.
We did not have 10 get over it," was the
reply.
But did it not require you TO act toward
the slave as youlwould have desired a mas
ter TO acttoward you had you been save?"
-Undoubtedy-as a slave. And so we did
or tried TO DO" he added. modestly.
If you had been slave. would you not
have desired to be free?"
NO doubt"
Then did not the fundamental rule Of
Christianity demand that you should give
freedom 10 your slaves?"
Not at all.
We'll. because 1 am not a 'nigger. If God
had. made me II negro. and assigned me to
condition OF slavery. L should have had
no right to wish TO be made equal TO
white man. His duty us a Christian would
have been TO treat me as / ought to have
wished 10 be treated in my natural position
as a slave. Besides" he added, thought
fully, 1T was for their real good. child
wants many things that Christian parent
is not bound TO give o il. / believed then,
I hal hat
the negro to be slave than TO be frse-to
belong to good master than to be his own
Niger"
The assumption formed bomb-proof
behind which the Christian conscience
rested secure from attack.
This conversation occurred in those early
days when the Bystander was feeling his
way toward a comprehension OF that most
obscure and difficult OF questions-the race
problem in America. The man who pro-
mulgated these views was neither weak
ling nor a hypocrte; his name was eminent
in church and state. The view which such
a man naturally and almost unavoidably
takes OF the negro in stats OF freedom is
not hard to inier. Its justice or propriety
docs not depend Mt all upon his sincerity.
Now, as then, IL Is simply question
whether his view OF the negro's right is the
true one. The question underlying the
race problem is one OF fundamental right:
is the negro entitled to tho same rights.
as a man. as IL he were white?" Either the
Affirmative or negative of this is true.
There IL no middle ground. This question
American Christianity and American
craftsmanship must settle before this great
problem is solved.
But the question is often asked why the
sentiment Of non shareholders at the South
is so hostile to the negro?
The attitude Of the non slaveh older OF
the South toward the negro is as much mis-
conceived by the average Northern man as
was his relation 10 the Confederacy. II has
been generally assumed that the on slave
holding white OF the South was dragooned
into the support OF the Coniederacy by the
power and influence OF the slave holding
class and sorcly against his will. This was
the case only to a very limited extent. No
considerable portion OF the non slave
holding class OF the South was i'm favor of
emancipation. Even OF those VINO were
opposed TO rebellion the greater number
were bitterly hostile TO the freedom OF the
slave. This was but natural Slavery was
based on the essent al postulate OF the ne
gros inferiority 20 the white man, and the
nearer the white man approached the ne
gros condition the more jealous he became
OF the two things that marked the distinc-
ton between them-color and liberty. To
be n white man was 10 be PRONUNCIATION
and accepted as of course-to be free. IL
constituted. therefore. a certain rank, an
order of nobility. as IL were. which was all
the poor man Of the South hadsto boast
o.. He naturally and almost unanimously
favored the Confederacy. and felt himself