The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1907-06-22
The Sable Sons Of Ham

No man living IL responsible today
for the presence of the negro on
American soil. The responsible par
ties have long since moved To the
pale realm Of shade and taken their
places in the narrow house.
Perhaps Bienville and Abyville. the
two French brothers. navigat0rs,
warriors. and civilizers, were the
first to engraft negro slavery on
soil. two hundred and seven
years ago. Before this, however.
the Dutch, the Danes. and even the
English. had landed many of the hap
less Mons Of Ham on American soil.
These were landed In Northern ports,
and thus the North became not only
the first. but the largest dealer in hu-
man slavery.
Ofscourst the negro did not bring
himselthere. On his native heath he
knew about as much about America
or the white man. as did the Royal
Bengal tiger or the monkeys OF his
cline. Az a race the negro was with
out a history or record. without a
monument. 1t IL true, too. that he
was savage, a cannibal. often vicious.
and but little removed from the
orang-outang of Zambizi. or the ba-
boon of the Congo jungles. Like the
wild man of Borneo. he remained
devoid of reason and his instinct was
more of the animal than human.
Booker Washington says 1.-The me-
gro came over here under a very
pressing invitation" In his own
Jungle he was bought for song. cor
raled like ca title, manacled and shack
ed, then damned and crammed into
the hold of a slave ship He was
landed here as an article of trade and
"a thing for barter. Like the OK at
the slaughter or the sheep at the
shamble, he was worth what he
would bring.
1t may not be generally known,
hut it IL true that the bulk of these
slaves were sold in the North, and
the enterprising Yankee was a liber.
al purchaser of these hapless SONS OF
Ham. Strange as it MAY seem now
at that time the best slave markets
over this way were north of Mason !
and Dixon's line. 1t seems strange
to think that New York, and even
Boston, the Hub. were once slave
markets, as well as New Orleans
Mobile and Charleston. All this Il
true.
| The negro, however, proved to ID
a poor Investment for the argus eyed
Yankee, and slavery i'm the Norti
turned out to he n doubtful PROPOSE
ton, 1t IL more than likely that ]
the negro had proved to be none,
maker for the Yankee, American his
tory would now read quite different
1t IL altogether likely that New Eng
land wonld have been the storm cen
ter of the slavery issue in America
| Abraham Lincoln. who was borI
Southerner. might have rose mp ant
sent u. s. Grant, another born South
Ierner, up there to wipe out slavery
leven II it took him all summer
Spoon Butler, would. no doubt. hav
been the aged hero of human slavery
i But negro slavery was a misfi
North, and the Yankee had an ele
plant on his hands. An ayerag
negro man went for $50 to 800. tn
women about half this. and the chi
dren often went in as laginappe.
II 1t was Eli Whitney who upse
slavery in the North, and turned til
black tide to the South. In fact. f
turned topsy turvy the whole SLAYER
project In America. About 1870 f
invented the cotton gin. This NOV
of Eli and his gin rev0lutionized I'll
South and made 1t the W orld's grea
cotton patch. The price Of the negr
began to soar. The bulls and beaI
of Wall street never had a create
3 bonanza than the Yankee slavehol'
2 er had when Eli got there with h
gin. The lint began to fly. TT
South began to expand her coteO
fields, and the North began to unloa
III it's useless blacks. The negro had
very pressing invitation again
; visit the big plantations OF the ne
/ South.
Il Slowly but surely Southern er
pire began, and slowly and surely Il
= sable sons of Ham begaR to flock !
$ tn this fieecy empire. Cotton WI
= King and the watchword Of Il
l. greedy Southerners were More &c