The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-05
AFRICA AND TIE NEGROES.
DIgHoP TURNER'S REYIsED views
ON THE EXODUS,

the missionary Bishop Of Africa Of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the strong
est branches of the Methodist denomination In
The United States. He 10 q self. educated man,
who has done a vast deal OF reading and think.
Eng. He was chaplain Of a regiment in the civil
war, and a very active politician in Georgia In
the reconstruction era. Like a great many cdu-
Gated mon Of his race, Bishop Turner chafes
under tho restrictions imposed upon Afro
Americans In the United States and has grown
Fashly impatient Of them. Ignoring the prog
Hoss which has been made and is being
made in all directions since the war and
the undoubtedly growing liberality of tho
public opinion Of the country in favor Of
the Afro-American .raoe, Bishop Turner do.
sires that all OF his people should regard
Africa as their ultimate abiding place, and be.
cause they have refused to do 80 ho has said
many harsh things about thom and their flu
ture. He does not think they have any hon
cradle future in this country, in which posi-
ton he stands almost alone.
BiShop: Turner loft New York for South Africa
In February last, and he has just returned to
Atlanta. Before he left Atlanta, where he
makes his home. he submitted to a long in
tsrview by the Atlanta EpeninD journal. in
The course of which he said:
The South African territories, being al
ready under white governments, are not as de-
utrablo for q homo for tho American negro
a. Libevia, where he has q government Of his
Own, makes his own laws, and runs things after
his " notions, but in any of the South Afri'
can colonies the condition Of the colored man Is
Q thousand fold better than in America.
Africa 10 not only the most desirable country
% which tho negro can emigrate, but 1t 10 the
emily spot on Gods earth where the black man
can hope to establish q nation and government
Of his own. It is his only chance, and you may
RAU0fk ma na anyinU that any neuro WIN thinka
OthOrwiso is nothing more nor less than a fool"
The good Bishop had only made several hasty
tripa to West Africa when he delivered himself
in ShiS fashion. He had been to Liberia, which
has . territory OF only $4,000 square miles,
and with the 1860 square miles Of Abys-
sinia In about the only territory In Africa, which
comprises q total of 1874, 900 square miles,
that remains outside of European occupation
or influence. And while Russia and Italy have
designs upon Abyssinia, Germany and France
are both eager to seize Liberia. the Govern
mont Of which recently commissioned Bishop
J. G. Hartzell of tho Methodist Episcopal
Church Of the United States to solicit the good
Offices Of Great Britain and the United States
to save It from being wiped of the map OF in
dependent States.
When Bishop Turner went to South Africa
he capne into close touch with the dominating
and exclusive and prejudiced rule of the Euro.
pO0ubf II u buub III d UoLtcE poSlLlOn 10 Judge
whether In "the South African colonies tho
condition OF the colored people is a thousand
fold better than In America" and whether
those who think otherwise ARE nothing moro
nor less than fools" or whether they arc wise In
thoir day and generation. He has sent q mum
bor Of letters to this country from Pretoria, in
which he appears to have forgotten entirely the
statements of fact and opinion made by him
in the Euenin0 Journal interview. On March
81 he wrote from Pretoria:
Il I'M puzzled about what to do here, after
all. ] believe in twenty-five or thirty years
Wo shall have q million OF members in South
Africa, but their own leaders will have to como
from themselves. Their language is different
from ours. On the Conference floor members
sometimes debate and discuss questions, and
laugh. while tho Bishop knows no more what
they arc saying than q horse. And every time
thelBishop opens his mouth some English-speak-
ing minister would jump up and translate or
. interpret. onesin this language and ono in that
language"
= Evidently an ignorant Afro American find.
ing himself in South Africa. outside of Liberia
and tho English colonies. would be in a vastly
worse predicament in making himself under
stood than Bishop Turner, and would stand a
companionship, If not for lack Of bread, and a
great many have done 80 and are doing so. at
Ing TO the oft-quoted testimony OF Missionary
can:collegians. male and female. would have q
splendid opportunity IN South Africa- as the
E wotISs .o Writin no ' srithm anS:Rat and F aoS5hlnE a eTl
'they are crazy for Greek, Latin, and higher
until ! feel sorry for them" says the good Bish
op. They say II we will give ::them a college
very pathetic. What they really need is agri
cultural. mechanical. and scientific education
datioSn on which to build the higher inteiie cGua
structure. We began at the top Twenty-Five
can. and we are just beginning to realize what
o great big mistake we made.
rufn Mas shows c omSeH 81 eEst thas the np nfr 9; bsi merl
dltiOn is nothing more nor less than a fool.
"FSTsisporS w and the GoloTsd people are dis
VA Way s: yess:. gss me &c f foFslRs sSt Hki .sss ou nSs aHSs
Gan havea gun or pistol, except the Doors O
Dutch. without government permission.
"The native Africans are not allowed on tn
sidewalks when travelling the streets. Tn!
better class Of whites, who are disguised witt
legged seS @rI US to get e 1000 hs Weiiood 1aaiesn coi eeo'
men and women from the United States to com
here Al. AND , sGStt rsis through tS ? siat the g country spn Tys as teach Z Oh
can. The Doors are afraid OF the educated col
cred man; at least SO say some Of the whites
UuL tuC pOCTb ~ ~ appear 10 lear CuuChJbt
white men very much.
'Tho Beers do not allow the natives TO rid
in q first or second class car unless they ar
preachers or teachers"
And these restrictions as to school privilege
end rights on the common highways and th
like. more rigorous and brutal thnn those in an.
6tats Of the United States. as ! have befor
pointed out in articles published in THE sun
arc enforced In the. Boer republic, In Soul
Africa, In all the British colonies, as well as tn
colonies of Germany and France. Indeed.
the African natives derive any advantage what
ever from European contact, except the RICH
- pay taxes on everything they eat and wea
and the miserable huls in which they live-th
tax on huts In the British colony OF Sierra Leon
recently provoked an uprising in which fou
American missionaries lost their liyes--I hev
failed 10 discover II in a close reading OF Afr,
can newspapers edited by educated natives, ]
certainly Is not made to appear any where 1
the Symposium on white mans AFRICA. cover
ing forty-one broad columns, in the New Yor
Independent OF May 5, in which the most emI
nent authorities on the subject in Europe an
America, with Henry NJ. Stanley in the lead