Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-03-26

men were taxed, it requiring Ave slaves
to equal three laboring white men. Yet
Mr.. PAGE admits that THOMAS JKFrER-
SON was strong advocate Of emancipa-
ton.
This then was a recognition of a prin-
ciple which Mr.. PAGE has attacked.
He speaks about Uncle Toms Cabin
by HARRIET BEEcHER STOWE as the
nail in the hands of woman that fast
ened Sisera to the ground
1t vas a true picture of the conditions
in the Businesses of the Southland and
the reoeLt peonage cases have exposed
a similar condition Of affairs in SOUTH
CAROLINA, GEORGIA. MISSISSIPPI and
LOUISIANA that is equally as horrible.
Mr.. PAGE then cites ABRAHAM LIN
coins position on the question of slav-
cry, unmipdful of the fast that the dis
tmguished EmaDcipator was supposed
to be the President of all of the people.
the North as well as the South and that
under his cath of Office, his first duty
was to the Union.
And yet Mr.. PAGE assumes an atti-
tude of fairness and says:
''No race ever behaved better than
th, Negroes behaved during the War.
Not only were there no massacres and no
outbreaks, but even the amount of de
fectlon was no large. While the num-
J Der who entered the Northern Army
might have been expected when all the
I cts are tax en- into account. A respect
able number came from the Mo- til, while
most OF the others came from the Sec
tlons of the South which had already
been overrun by the armies of the Union
and where mingled persuasion and con :
pulsion were brought to bear Certainly
no one could properly blame them for
welding TO the arguments used Tn. IT
homes were more or less broken up; or
1 ganlzatlon and discipline were relaxed,
and the very means Of subsistence had
become precarious; while on the other
hand they were offered bounties and
RlitteriBg rewards that drew into the
armies hundreds of thousands of other
nauonallties. The number that must
be credited to refugees who left home in
the first instance for the purpose of
volunteering TO fight for freedom, is be-
heved by the writer TO be not large; De =
soDally, be never knew of one. How
ever large the = Imber was, the number
OF those who might have gone, and vet
threw IN their lot with their masters
aud Mt Yer dreamt of doing otherwise
was Tar larger Many master going of
TO the war entrusted his wife and chill.
dreu TO the care of his servants with as
much confidence as if they had been of
his own blood. They acted rather like
clansmen than like bond men. Not onlv
did they remain loyal, bat they We're
nearly always faithful to any trust that
had be,n confided TO them. They
were the faithful guardians of their
masters homes aud families:the trusted
agents aud the shrewd couuselors of
thelr mistresses, They raised the crops
which fed the Confederate Armies, and
suffere' without complaint the priva.
{ onS which came alike to white and
b ack from the exc Us of war On the
approach of the enemy the trusted house
servants hid the family silver and valua
bies, guarded horses and other property.
ami resisted all temptation to desert or
! betray. 1t must, of course, rest ALWAYS
on conjecture; ut the writer believes
thar, had the Negro been allowed to
light FOR the South, more of them would
have volunteered TO follow their masters
than ever volunteered in the service OF
the Union. Many went into the field
with their masters. where they often
displayed non only courage but heroisu,
and, notwithstanding all temptations
stood by them loyalty to the end. AS
torches would have disbanded the
southern Army, but there was not
one. \
We ask IN all candor, could a grander
tribute be paid to people than is con
tanned in the above lines? Ii it be true,
and it is true, why should Mr.. PAGE or
these southerners seek TO deny to Il Q
educated, property. owning, wealth-pro.
ducing Negroes of the Southland tie
only boon which can be said TO comport
with his remarkable premises which he
has laid down,-namely 1.-The only
proper settlement of it is one founded
OIL Justice and wisd m" -s.t,ss,
Mr.. PAGE knows that taxation with.
out representation is tyranical and yet
he would assign these Negroes and their
offspring-the clans-men of the south.
ern white men-to IA state of serfdom,
the like of which is only 70 be found in
the barren wastes of gloomy Siberia or
the Asia Minor municipalities under
Turkish sway.
Mr.. PAGE, is this the Justice for which
you have spoken? Is this the fair pl y
for which you stand?
And then, rs If to minimize the force
of his assertions and to qualify the
strong language he had uttered, he con-
tinued:
THE inference that has been drawn
from this is u ually one which is wholly
in favor of the colored race. 1t Is, how
ever rather u tribute TO both races. Had
slavery at the South been the frightful
Institution that it has ordinarily ben
\ PICTURED, with the slave driver and the
bloodhound always III the foreg round,
i5 is hardly credible that the lure of
the Negroes TO avail themselves of the
opportunities for free dom so frequently