The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-28

Following is an open letter from ex-i Gov. D. H. Chamberlain, of South
 Carolina, to the Hon James Bryce, Q
 member of British parliament. which
 recently appeared In the Charleston
 News and Courier:sg.g ga tsfg
 The Rt. Hon. James Bryce. M. P.
 No. 5e Portland Place, London, Eng
 land-Mr. Dear MT. Bryce: I think
 you will understand, after our con-
 versation last summer, with what in-
 creased interest I have re-read and
 pondered your great philosophic--for
 less than that I cannot call it-Oxford
 Romanes lecture on The Relations of
 the Advanced and the Backward Races
 of Mankind" The United States are
 undoubtedly the theatre of one of the
 most notable exhibitions which his-l
 tory anywhere represents of this prob-
 lem: for here about S.000.000 of the
 black race, almost wholly African, are
 placed alongside of. intermixed with. about 17,000.00o of the white race. chiefly Teutonfc. This population is disposed over the territory of fifteen states of the Union, though more than one-half of the whole number of ne- groes are found in six of these states in two estates the number of negroes largely exceeding that of the white race; and in the State of South Carolina the ratio of negroes to whites being as to 2; in Mississippi as 2 to 5, and in Louisiana as to 9.
 Only Thirty-Eight Years Ago | this entire mass of negroes, or their | immediate ancestors, were chattel slaves. To the original, well-defined characteristics of both races have thus
 been added all the peculiar influences, and habitudes. and results which chat | tol e1o In fa pnndarn meaning. produces Pride of race and the habit
 of domination. on the part of the white race, stand over against the conscious ness of race inferiority and the habit of submission. on the part of the negro race. Here, in It's briefest statement. are presented the factors of problem whose complexity and difficulty have never before been equaled. l wonder if your study, so much wider than mine, has found its parallel. Mine certainly has not.
 The sudden, catastrophe transition of this mass of negroes from slavery to freedom was marked by one special pecultarity which is not often or suf- ficiently considered--I mean the fact that the transition was to no appre- ciable extent effected by the enslaved race itself. Here again my study does not disclose another instance any where of the emancipation from chat tel slavery of a people or race without exertion on the part of the enslaved people or race. Usually this has been the chief force in the struggle. But till the actual and complete triumph of the armies of the Union, the negro race of the United States, which was in slavery, lifted no single hand, struck no single blow, for It's own freedom, The significance of this fact | is tremendous as an indication of char acter and capacity.
 Another peculiar feature or element of this problem is the fact that the masters here did not consent volun- tarily in any degree to the emancipa- ton of the slaves. It was strictly forced upon them at the point of the l bayonet and without any pecuniary lcompensation. This, too, is a fact of great significance as determining the temper and attitude of the master race at the outset of what We call our ne- gro problem.
 Before I go farther let me point out how largely, almost strictly. artificial, or man n-made. are the elements of this problem of the United States. Neither nature nor Providence, to use our con- mon terms, has placed the negro race and the white race in the close con- tact in which they now live here. The negro has been forcibly transplanted | by the white race from the wild free- dom of the land of his origin to the | slavery of this country. So, too, as have already remarked, his emanci- patton has come not from his own natural efforts or struggle, but wholly from the intervention and force of 0 people dissociated from his in locality 1.i lAl E
 character and his characteristic inn pulse and passions. Again. the negro here has had political rights thrust upon him without his demand for them, without his knowledge or appre- citation of them. and without the least preliminary training or experience in using them. Contrast all these with the relations of any other backward race with an advanced one, in any other land or age. and the peculiarity Of the problem here will be seen; and
 not only its peeularity, but its com plexity and difficulty.
 A Problem of the Ages.
 Now let me quote few lines from the conclusion of your Romanes lec- ture:
 T have sought to call your attention ! to a great secular process in the hiS- 1 tory of the world, a process the steps in which are reckoned by centuries and whose magnitude transcends the political or commercial questions which claim our thoughts from day to day. It Is a problem which has now entered a critical phase, and we see opening
 before us a. long vista in which there appear possibilities of an immense in- crease in the productive powers of the earth and man, possibilities also of trouble and strife between races now being brought into closer and more general contact AS always, elements of peril are balanced by elements of hope The sentiment of race pride, the keenness of race rivalry, have been mon humanity has grown stronger. When we think of the problems now being raised by the contact of races, clouds seem to hang heavy on the horizon of the future; yet light streams fin when we remember that the spirit in which civilized states are preparing to meet those problems is higher and purer than it was when. four centuries ago, a great outward movement of the European nations began"
 Tn this find the philosophtc and the christian spirit. Dealing with Q secu- lar process, how weak and spiritless is our anxiety, our Encouragement, or our despair, because in less than four decades our peculiar problem here in the United States is still open and un- solvedi How poor and shallow the in- sight that fails to take note of the es- sential factors of the problem and beats aimlessly about in the fatuous expectation thata secular problem
 will yield to treatment which Is not