The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-05-23
GOV. NORTHERN ON
THE NEGRO PROBLEM
H6 Had No Apologies to Make for the
South.
SLAVERY A NATIONAL SIN
Paid a Glowing Tribute t, the Slaves
"BefO de Wah.''
HE is OPPOSED TO LYNcHINGs
But Submits That the Only Remedy is
TO Stop the Outrages-The Politics
Taught During Reconstruc-
ton is the Cause

Boston, May 22.-The Congregational club
held May festival in fremont Temple to-
night and listened to two eloquent speeches
on the southern negro question by former
Governor Northen. of Georgia, and Bishop
Arnet, of Ohio.
Governor Northen spoke in part as fol-
lows:
Il cannot forbear to express to you my
full appreciation of the honor conveyed by
the Invitation to address SO cultured an as
semblage. on so important subject as the
one you have assigned me.
~ was put quite at ease, for this discus
sion, because of a statement accompany .ng
the invitation, to the effect that the people
at the east had grown to believe that the
people at the south knew more about their
relations and duties to the negro than the
east had, heretofore, given them credit for.
',rhe people at the south have certainly
had all possible opportunities to learn what
these relations are, and am quite sure l
have authority for saying that they are
righteous and Just enough to appreciate
and make the best of them, for both races
If duty and humanity should fall. certainly
personal OF self-interest would awaken the
white people at the south to see that the
very best relations possible shall be main
tanned between the races, consistent with
the good order and thrift of the communi-
ty.
mo people ever met more bravey so
serious q condition as confronts the south
or sought more righteousIy an equitable
adjustment of a difficult problem than the
people at the south have undertaken in
the negro problem.
In coming to the discussion of so i'm
portant a problem as is involved in the
relations of the negro at the south, al
though somewhat relieved by what l am
sure viii be your sympathy and your
courteous consideration, / must confess to
a degree of embarrassment, because OF the
violent denunciation of the south that have
appeared, from time to time, in the north
ern press of which your own city has
furnished large part; and the severe criti-
cisms that have been made upon our ciyili-
cation, or what is called the lack OF 1t,
both in this country and abroad, because
of what is said to be our treatment of the
negro.
May add that I am still further em-
barrassed by the fact as I understand 1t,
that the story of the south, told by
southern man or by a visitor. who sees the
conditions as the people of the south know
them to be, is always discredited, while
any incendary and violent statements,
denunciatory of the south, are always be-
lieved and trumpeted abroad with religious
indignation and horrible disgust.
We Have Had Our Sorrows
..I am not here to apologize for the south.
The south has her Ills. her sins and her
crimes What section has not? The south
has had and will have violent shocks to her
civilization. What section has mot? Inc
south has had her sorrows. God knows
thew have been grievous and hard to be
endured.
"The subject 1 am to discuss by your
courtesy is: The White Mans View of the
Relations of the Negro at the South
"The status of the negro In American
civilization is a problem of vast deal
more import than many are inclined to be-
lieye The problem is national and not
sectional. The sin of slavery, whatever
that may have been, was the sin of the
nation and not the sin of the south. What-
ever may be its present title-the negro
uroblem: the race question: the white
mans burden; the south's shame, or the
nations sin-call it what you may, the
whole thing is here, full OF danger ana
peril to the whole people.
.If never a word had been written In de-
tense of slavery at the south the conduct
of the negroes during the entire four years
Of our civil war is enough to belle all that
has ever been spoken or written about the
yiilainy of the slave master and the in
iouities practiced upon the slaves at the
south.
fWhilst almost the entire male popula-
tion of the south was absent from home
in war, the women and children were left
without protection except as 1t was fur
nished by the strong arm of the negroes
who we're slaves upon the plantations of
the southern states. 1t never occurred for a
moment, that there might be an uprising
or an insurrection of slaves to destroy our
homes and slaughter our loved ones. We
knew their attachments and their loyalty
Has Ma de One Mistake
.sThe south has made one great mistake,
attributable, / sure, to poverty and
bitterness engendered by reconstruction, In
falling to rear monument to the slaves of
1860 to 1865 for their unceasing devotion to
our homes and the gallant protection they
gave the women and children of the south
all during the dark days of our bloody civil
strife. If anything like 1T has occurred in
the history of nations, 1 have never read
1t. All honor and gratitude to the old-time
negro. as we knew him before and during
the war
votion was so suddenly and radically
changed into such unfortunate antagonism.
This brings me to the discussion of the i'm
mediate question before me, and Involves
first, the negroes relation to citizenship
and politics.
~ 10 hot my spuip pose mere, OF anywhere,
to defend human slavery. myself owned
slaves. We at the south are glad, more
than we can tell, that we are rid of the
burden and the responsibility.
whilst we had strong attachments for
the negroes of those days, the bonds were
all finally broken, bitterness ensued, and
we became livsraiiy two people. Steadfast
as they stood during the war, the pressure
became too great, under reconstruction.
!"Your attention is asked to the following
dispatch from Albany, my state, a city of