The colored American., 1903-02-07
Iaader of His Race Says Negro Wants
No Social Equ a1Ity with the W hIte n an
Calls on Confederate Soldiers to Tes-
tify TO Cond uct of the Slaves
New Orleans Times Dem-cratJ

night a large and enthusiastic audience
listened to Bishop Charles S. Smith, of
Louisiana and Cuba deliver an elo-
ouent reply to the incendiary speech
of the Negro, Hayes, in Washington,
several days ago. :
The largest and most representative
body of the better cOlOred element OF
the town was present, and at times +;
was wrought to a high pitch OF en-
thusiasm by the sentiments advanced.
The sermon follows:
Touching the advice of the Negro
attorney, James H. Hayes, or any one
else, to the Negroes to have recourse
to the torch and the sword to right
fancied wrongs inflicted by whites
upon them is but the rawlings of a
crank or a maniac. !
The loyal and peaceful attitude CT
the slaves during the war between the
States is the Negroes pledge and
guarantee to the South that he Will
not use the torch and the sword to
avenge either fancied or real wrongs.
While | regret to say that the southern !
press is aflame with articles calculated
to arouse hOstilities against the mil !
lions of innocent Negroes in this coun- /
try, appeal to the Confederate soldler, =
the man who bore the burden and the /
and Bars to rise in his might ana eX-
press his knowledge and appreciation
of the fidelity of the slave to his home
and loved ones while he was absent /
on the field of battle, struggling for the /
supremacy of the cause which he be- /
lieved to be right.
Those sad and bloody days were |
fruitful of temptation for the slave to /
retaliate upon his master, and had he
then resorted to knife and the torch,
for he had no sword, he could have
terminated the war in the first year or
its existence by destroying the homes
and property, as we'll as imperilling
the lives of the wives and the children
of the Confederate soldier. By so do
ing the slave would have made 1t nee
essary for the Confederate soldier TO
have left the field OF battle and return
to his home and make one heroic ef-
fort to save the wife of his love and
the children of his bosom.
God stood above the clouds or
battle. and taking the blinded faith of
the slave chained it to the chariot OF
His inscrutable purposes, so that, in
stead of using the knife and the torch,
the slave followed the plOW and used
the hoe and made the fields continue
to yield their increase; so that not only
did the families of the Confederate
soldiers have the wherewith to feed
themselves daily but portion OF IT
was sent to support the Confederate
soldiers in the field. The white man
may be able to point to examples Oh
greater bravery on the part of their
race than the Negro can but not IN
patience and forgiveness.
1T Is unjust and cruel to hold the
masses of the Negroes responsible Tor
the rawlings of the Negro attorney
Hayes We are no more responsive
for his cranky utterances than are the
entire white people in this country OF
the rawlings of Herr Most and Emma
Goldman.
The American Negro has not yet
produced a pronounced anarchist or
reyOlutiOniSt.
He believes in the supremacy oL
law and obedience to the powers th6t
be. Whenever the Negro has lifted up
the sword it has been, not against Ihe
country. but for it.
The American Negro is the best ally
that the white man has He alCne mas
accented. in so far as he has been able
to understand it. cheerfully and in toto,
the white mans civilization and re-