The Opelousas courier., 1892-02-27
a Negro Bishop on the Negro
Race.

N. o. Picayune.
The Picayune, yesterday morning,
printed at length the address Of Bishop
Grant, of the African Methodist Epis-
copal Church, to the members of his
annual church conference in session ID
this city for several days past. y
Bishop Grant is d negro, aud the con-
gregation addressed was composed
chiefly of the negro preachers Of his
religious constituency. His sentiments,
if not apostolic in their form and ex-
preston, were at least those OF a maj
imbued with q deep sense OF the de-
mands Of Christian civilization upon
his people. He preached both religion
and morality and dwelt on the necessl-
" for zeal, visible, tangle good works,
quite as much as he did on the neeessI-
ty for a mysterious, intangible, mex
plicable spiritual faith He showed
that AZ a tree can only be properly
Judged by its fruits, the only proper
test Of the honest virtue OF a man Is
the way he lives. Christianity which
! makes loud professions but brings forth
u no oeuaine beneficial results is a very
poor article according to the standard
set ap by this very practical Bishop ,
who breaches a gospel of work, OF
honest, faithful labor, of good citizen
ship, Of virtue and honesty IN all pub-
lie and private relations
But ID addition to all this We are
much struck with his hopes, aspirations
and ambitions for his people. Said the
Bishop:
This country cannot dispense with us, be-
causo we are indispensable to the develop
ment Of the southern portion. we cahhot
get along without the wealth and intelll-
gence Of the other race, and they cannot sue
eecd without our muscle. we must make
the sugar, with our strong, black, iron con
situations, cultivate the swamps OF the MIssls-
s.ppi Valley and enrich them with valuable
products
We do not wish tor devote all our energies
t., the cultivation of cotton, SO as to over
stock the market, but We want to raise a lit
tie more meat and bread for our own con-
sumption, which would lessen our account
with the merchant. Our interests require
that we should live in peace aud union with
our white fellow-citizens Our wants and de
sires ought to be mutual, ana we shouid as
sist each other.
On the Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1867,
they had separate cars for negroes. Bishop
Aruett tells me that in 1864, when he went
to Washington city, he was compelled to
| IIuG III u EHDdEdbE VI HEEto EptA b"t Wy GAhiASf
industry, intelligence and wealth, that des-
%cription Of a car has been swept from the
track as completely as snow before the sun.
Law can never regulate these things. DO
Won hear me- Law can never regulate such
questions. There ia an unwrltten law that
they who own the soil will rule it.
Whenever the negroes of this country ae-
quire wealth, become educated, refined and
polite in their manners, things will be differ
emf. The railroads of America employ 1oo,
600 men and have S9,900,O O0,OO0 OF capital IN
vested with $50, 600 miles of track, whenever
the negroes own a good portion of the stock
throughout the land and with the. education to
manage it, all the unfavorable laws that are
passed would melt away as the dew before
the rays of the sun.
Everywhere, We bear the wheels of pro-
gress in the click of the telegraph, in the
roar of the locomotive, in the whistle OF the
ocean steamer, in tho Sabbath bell, in the
children feet on the sidewalk going to
school, in the tramp of the gathering millions
from the Old World. We are all one great
family, enjoying the blessings of a common
Father, whose sun shines upon all ailke
There is not a nation on earth but what shall
see her own children returning to their native
land with the message of delIverance. The
Swedes viii go back TO Sweden, the Danes
will return TO Denmark, the Italians to Italy,
the Chinaman to China and the negro to At
RIGA.
Some of the people of our race get frighten-
ed every time it is mentioned about going to
Africa. Europe has 265 merchant ships hug
cling the shores of Africa annually. Liver
pool alone maintaines 48 steam ships for the
purpose; and why not America put a few
vessels afloat in the African trade-as we
have a larger body of negroes on this soil
than any between New Orleans and the Con-
go river
/ am ia favor of the Butler bill, introduced
in the United States Senate, which proposes
to appropriate So, 900, 900 to open up nayiga-
ton between South Carolina and the Congo
river, and let all GO who desire. The negroes
have already cost this country $200U each,
and vet they have brought a great deal OF
wealth to it. Why not appropriate a few
millions and give them a chance to return TO
their native land Whatever progress that
We may make here and that we may do we
must do as all other races have done 1t we
would be respected by other races we must
establish a government OF our own, have our
ocean steamers, have our armies and navy.
have our Tag, have a republic, and then other
races will respect us.
/ think it is but Just to the South to say
that, while the South did much to retard our
progress in the past, she is now paying forty
millions u year to educate our people. we
are approaching the fact and by our labor
are contributing to the prosperity OF the
Southern people. Two million two hundred
thousand bales of cotton were shipped from
New Orleans last year, which were cultivated
by the negroes. The negro muscle Is india.
pensable Id tie cotton and cane tiefds, and
the wealth OF the other race is also indispen-
sable.
We fully absolvs the Bishop for fail
ing to mention that, but for the circum-
stance that his people were preserved
and fostered in. the mild state of sla-
very which existed in those Southern
States for so many years there would
have been no great body of civilized
and Christianized negroes here capable
of raising up and maintaining church,
with its important organization and its
clergy with such a bishop as he. The
future which the Bishop hopes for
would be absolutely impossible but
for the discipline and training which
the American negroes received il the
past. We wish all possible good for
the negroes. But they a only attain
it by living on the lines laid down By
their Bishop as civilized and Christian
people. BY such lines they will gain
not only the esteem and friendship Of
all other people and races, but their
own self-respect, which IS quite as i'm
poTtant,
Some ore has said that a poor mans purse
may be empty but that he has as much gold
| in fha sunset and as mt1ch silver in fhp moon