The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1904-04-06
Bishop Brown on the Negro.

Diocesan House DeIOEe d SLaall duul-
ence, composed mainly of Episcopal
clergymen, but it's publication made
it widely read, and caused profound
sensation because Of the speakers Sc
we're Indictment nf the negro, in which
be went much further than any of the
recent speakers on the subject. The
News and Courier Of Wednesday says
Bishop Brown could see no redemp-
tion in the negro, and found him not
only deteriorating morally, but phys
icallY, destitute Of pride Of race and
of virtue. He declared the course OF
the Republican party III dealing with
the negro blunder and a crime,
which had not only brought trouble
and disaster to the white people Of
the South, but had done the negroes
themselves even greater harm. AS a
result of this policy the race had de-
Perforated and today stood below what
it was in the days Of slavery.
'The Southern negro, though in
creasing in numbers so rapidly, is not
improving morally and intellectual
ly," he said. "On the contrary, he
has unquestionably deteriorated in
these respects since emancipation.
The typical negro in the black belts
Of the South today is morally and in
tellectually inferior to the negro of
ante bellum days. Speaking gener-
ally, the temporal and moral condi-
tion of tho Southern negro is almost
incredibly deplorable. I have slowly
reached the conclusion that the negro
race as whole is almost hopelesSly
degraded. 1 am convinced that no
one who has not been in the black belts
of the South can have any real con-
ception of the physical, intellectual
and spiritual state Of this most unfor-
tunate people,"
Bishop Brown went to the extreme
length of excusing and palliating
lynching for criminal assault, and
warned his auditors that it would not
do ''for Northerners who live in glass
houses to throw stones at the people
of the South" and said in proportion
to the colored population there were
as many negroes executed in the great
State OF Ohio during the last twenty
five years as in Arkansas. There was
much more of the same character.
1t is easy to conceive Of the man.
ner in which Boston received these
views, so heterodox to its own negro.
phile sentiment; and Bishop Brown
came in for savage abuse as "a South
ern bourbon" and the South for en-
tertaining such sentiments.
On these points, however, the an
swer of the Bishop must have been
somewhat Of a surprise and shock to
his New England auditors Il am
not a Southerner," he said, but was
born and brought up in the North
and was never South Of the Ohio River
previous to 1868, when 1 went to Ar
kansas as Bishop coadjutor. My ia
ther died fighting in the cause of free
dom. I am Republican and have
always been one. I have never voted
the Democratic ticket and probably
never shall. But l do not vote the
Republican ticket in the South, and
for the present l shall not vote at all"
This explanation puts an end to any
abuse Of the South because Of Bishop
Browns utterances, although he per-
sonally continues to receive the most
severe denunciation; but it may
probably give some Of his denouncers
an opportunity to ponder over the
surprising fact that the Northerner
who moves South and d'has a chance to
study the negro at close range drops
his home views in a very short time,
although he may not 60 as far in the
other the negro question. Bishop
Brown is rich and Independent. =.