The National tribune., 1901-08-08

the IT'D WITHIN tho extyaordtnanlY orie
Bs!ss. Of ohe FEW wes WAS re eSs
} through like cbaphsis, though much Of I
ultimately proved true. I think nobod,
IN my neighberhodd believed the rumol
OF Mr.. Lincoln's assassination until 4
was confirmed by Federal soldier whom
l questioned uponIthe subject one day, 4
week or two after: the event. When We
knew that the rumor was true, we deemed
it the worst news We had heard since the
surrender. We distrusted President John
son more than anyone else. Regarding
him as renegade Southerner, we thought
It probable that he would endeavor tc
prove his loyalty to the Union by extra
severity to the South, and we confidently
believed he would revoke the terms Of
fered us in Mr.. Lincoln's amnesty proc
lamation; wherefore there was general
haste to take the oath and so to secure
the benefit Of the dead Presidents elem
ency before his successor should establish
harsher conditions. We should have re-
garded Mr.. Lincoln's death as a calamity
even II 1t had come about by natural
means, and coming Us 1t did through a
crime committed in our name, 1t seemed
doubly disaster.
THE PLANTATION NEGROES.
With the history of the South during
the period of reconstruction, all readers
are familiar, and it is only the state OF
affairs between the time of the surrender
and the beginning of the rebuilding that
have tried to describe in this article.
But the picture would be inexcusably in
complete without some mention of the ne
| groes. Their behavior both during and
after the war may well surprise anybody
not acquainted with the character of the
race. When the men Of the South were
nearly all in the army, the negroes were
left in large bodies on the plantations,
with nobody to control them except the
women and few old or infirm men. They
might have been insolent, insubordinate
and idle if they had chosen. They might
have gained their freedom by asserting it.
| They might have overturned the social
and political fabric at any time, and they
knew all this, too. They were intelligent
enough to know that there was no power
on the plantations capable of resisting any
movement they might choose to make.
They did know, too, that the success of
the Federal arms would give them free
dom. The fact was talked about every
where, and no effort was made to keep
the knowledge of it from them. They
knew that to assert their freedom was
to give immediate success 10 the Union
cause. Most of them coveted freedom,
too, as the heartiness with which they
afterwards accepted it abundantly proves.
And yet they remained quiet, faithful and
dilgent throughout, very few of them Civ
ing trouble of any sort, even on planta-
tons where only a few women remained
10 control them. The reason for all this
must be sought in the negro character,
and we of the South, knowing that char
acter thoroughly, trusted it implicitly. We
left our homes and our helpless ones in
the keeping of the Africans of our house
holds, without any hesitation whatever
We knew these faithful and affectionate
people too well TO fear that they would
abuse such trust. We concealed moth
ing from theni and they knew quite as
Well as we did the issues at stake in the
war.
The negro is corstitutionally loyal to
his obligations as be understands them,
and his attachments, both local and per-
sonal, are uncommonly strong. He speed
lily forgets an injury, but never a kind
ness, and so he was not likely to rise in
arms against the helpless women and
children whom he had known intimately
ana loved almost reverentially from child
hood, however, strongly he desired the
freedom which such a rising would secure
TO him. 1t was a failure to appreciate
these peculiarities OF the negro character
which led john Brown into the mistake
mat cost HIM his life. Nothing is palmer
than that he miscalculated the difficulty
Of exciting the colored people to insur-
rection. He went to Harper's Ferry. con-
hdent that when he should declare his
purposes, the negroes would flock to his
standard and speedily crown his effort
Win success. They remained quietly at
work instead, many of them hoping.
doubtless, that freedom for themselves
ana their fellows might somehow he !
wrought out, but they were wholly unwiIl- |
ing to make the necessary war uDon the
whites to whom they were attached by |
the strongest possible bonds of affection. |
ana SO throughout the war they acted at |
Ter their KIND, waiting for the issue with |
the great, calm patience which is their |
most universal characteristic
Nhen the war ended, leaving every
ming IN confusion, the poor blacks hardly |
hheW what to DO, but upon the whole they
acted with great modesty, much considera.
lOh iOr their masters, and singular wig
iom. a few deprayed ones took to bad |
curses al once, but their number was re-
narkably small Some others, with WIS.,
onary notions, betook themselves to the
'itles IN search of easier and more profita-
Die work than any they had ever done.
ana many of these suffered severely from
want before they found employment
lgaln. The great majority waited pa,
iently for things to adjust themselves in
-helr new conditions, going on with their
Work meanwhile, and conducting them.
Y.
much Of them at this time, and | heard
u no case III which a negro voluntarily
emlnded his master of the changed reIa-
ions existing between them, or in apy
,ther way offended against the strictest
'ules of propriety.
AT my own house the master of the
mansion assembled his negroes immediate.
y after the surrender; told them they
we're free, and under no obligation what
,yer to work for him; and explained TO
hem the difficulty he found in deciding
what kind Of terms he ought to offer
hem, lnasmuch as he was wholly ignor-
mt upon the subject of the wages of az
1cultural laborers. He told them. how
.yer, that if they wished to 20 on with
he crop, he would give them provisions
ma clothing as before, and at the end of
he year would pay them as high n rote
II wages as any paid in the neighborhood
10 this every negro on the place agreed.
III of them protesting that they wanted
10 better terms than for their master to
1--WE them at the end of the year what
yer he thought they had earned. They
ost not an hour from their work. and
he life upon the plantation underwent no
hange whatever until its master wa,
orced by a pressure of debt to sell his
and. l give the history of the adjust
nent on this plantation as Il fair example
f the way in, which ex-masters and ex-
layes were disposed to deal with each
ther. r..
There were cases in which no such bar-
nonious adjustment could be effected.
ut, so far as my observation extended. |
hcse were exceptions to the common rule.
nd for many years after the war very
al lon. r tl,. Il