New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-02-02
TIE CoLORgD RACE IN EXILE.

IL was in the Closing WOrus vi hiS ""
speech--a speech, be it said, which recalled inc
best days of the American Senate-that MI
ingalls, put the substance of that opinion which
is at once unbiased and intelligent concerning
the negro question. "Four solutions OF this
problem" he said shave been suggested
emigration, determination, absorption and dis
franchisement. But there is still fifth solu-
ton which has never been tried, and that
solution is justice. / appeal to the South 10
try the experiment of Justice. Stack your guns.
Omen your ballot-boxes. Register your voters,
black and white. And IL, after this experiment
has been fairly and honestly tried, it appears
that the African is incapable of civilization,
il it appears that the complexion burnt upon
him by an Indian sun is incompatible with
freedom. I will pledge myself to consult with
YOU about some measure OF solving the race
problem. But until then, nothing can be
DONE"
II is hard to believe that Senator Butler
was serious in introducing his fanciful Deporta-
ton bill. He could not have supposed it would
be so much as entertained by public opinion,
or that 1t would serve any other purpose than
ne a text upon which the Southern pol
lev of outrage would be indicted from
one end of the country to the other.
The absurdity of Senator Buffers suggestions,
even when they are regarded from his
own point of view, appears from the merest
glance at them. What he wants is to get rid
of the colored race The census shows that
the coored population has more than doubled
since the war. 1t now numbers S,5OO,OO0
people, How can the Federal Treasury endure
the burden of such gigantic Transportation
And yet, all must go, or practically all, II the
emigration cure is to be effective. To send
away less than all of a race which adds 30
per cent to it's returns every time the census
is taken, would be manifestly foolish. Sup
posing, then, that they were willing to go,
which they are not, where are the ships to take
them and where is the money to support them
until they are sef-supporting, after we get
them there?
II is only necessary to ask few such ques-
tions as these to render Senator Buffers posi-
ton utterly grotesque, and II the force OF ridi-
Guile is insufficient to remove him from it, let
us hope he will yield to that of moral consld-
erations. Let him reflect moment, if he has
the nerve to do it, upon the spectacle that Will
be presented to the worlds astOnished gaze
when this Nation. which has ever been pro-
claimed as the refuge Of the unhappy and OPP
pressed of every race and cline, undertakes to
Danish a people who have been here three
hundred years, not because they are malicious
for they are docility itself; not because they
are worthless, for the wealth of dozen States
has been wrung from their patient and all
unrequited labor; not because they are i'm
moral. for the family has no guardian and the
Church no child more devoted than they but
because-iust think of it -because their COM
pexion is dark Is this the attitude the South
would have us assume before civilization? Is
this the return it desires to make for the wealth
=; has taken from this lowly people?
To such a proposition Senator ingalls, re-
turned the fitting answer. The South must
make up its mind to concede to the negro the
civil rights so dearly purchased for him. This
proposition can neither be compromised nor
evaded. 1t stands as the organic law of the
| land, and no reason has ever been suggested
why it is not wise as well as just law. That
| the two races will remain and should remain
socially distinct in no way affects the political
rights of either, nor will that impression any
where be found except in the imagination OF
| Southern politicians and their personal follow
ing. Senator Blair told the literal truth the
other day when he remarked that it, instead
of exporting eight million negroes, we could
Danish a few thousand judiciously selected
whites. the whole difficulty would be settled,
|