Year: 1862

The True Southern Laborer.
From the New York Independent.


There is systematic attempt making, Cor
political reasons, to produce the impression
upon the laboying classes in the. North, and
particularly upon the Irish, that if slaves are
enancipated, they will come into competition
with them; and, by Cutting the labo. mar
ket, will reduce the price Of labor, and inter
fere with their wages. To unshnking men,
there is so much probability in such state
ments as to demand examination and rcfuta-
ton. For if unprincipled men shall succeed
in infaming the passions Of the. laboring
men in the North. and, to the hatred of race,
shall add the blind fury Of selfishness, a good
cause will be impeded, and the Administra-
ton will be embarrassed in carrying out its
benefcent plans.
Emancipation piu bring no colored labor
ers to the North, but wiu drain great
many out Of It!


There are physical and social reasons for
this


The colored man is creature Of the trop-
les, and all his aptitudes at him for warm
climate. Even the temperate zones are not
temperate to his heat-loving constitution
His skin is thirsty for the sun. He basks
luxuriously in heat that would scorch and
consume white man. In short, he is fitted
by his nature for tropical ATTITUDES, and is
as much out Of place in our cold temperate
zones, as are oranges, plantains, or palm
trees.


Nor does he willingly wander away from
warm ATTITUDES. 1t is only as the less Of
evils that he is persuaded to such exile
There can be no more extraordinary testi-
mony to the black mans love Of liberty, than
that he submits to live in Canada. A white
bear in the Gulf of Mexico, and q black man
in the Arctic regions, are about equally mis-
placed.


Experience, likewise, shows that this re-
luctance to live in cold climates has physi-
illogical basis For the colored race do not
thrive in cold climates. They do not multi
ply; they arc not 50 robust; they fall into
consumption easily, and waste away. This
is clearly shown in the statistics Of negroes
in New England and New York. 1t il very
plain, then, that black men would never en-
igrate from the South to the North, except
under some extraordinary pressure. It is
the dread and hatred Of Slavery that drives
them, against their tastes, into an unconge-
nial climate. If Slavery continues, there
will be great influx of freed slaves into the
Northern States. This is inevitable. But,
if they are allowed their liberty in the South,
no inducements will incline the slaves to
exchange the glowing airs Of the South for
the frigid and austere climate of the North.
Their local attachments are known to be
strong. They linger around the places where
they were born and bred. They have great
deal of Southern feeling. They may be
thankful for Northern kindness but they
are identified in their ideas, their pride. their
whole method of living, with the South, and
will never become Northernera.


If only slavery were removed, the black
man would prefer to live among Southern
men. Southern men understand his nature
and necessities better than Northern men.
A Northern man is methodical, Industrious,
enterprising. He exacts from himself pune
tuality, diligence, and frugality; and in even
severer measure he exacts them from those
who labor for him. He has learned to value
time. In the North, slime is money" In
the South, time has very little value Less
labor sufices, upon the luxuriant soils of the
tropics, for the production of the necessaries
of life. The heat of the climate makes labor
more intolerable. The true Southerner has
a sympathy with black mans easy and
shiftless ways. Provided black man keeps
the place assigned to him, there is reason to
believe that he is better treated in the South
than in the North. He is not only allowed
10 follow any trade for which he has apti.
tudes, but he is encouraged to do il.


But in the North, the black man has no
place assigned him in society. The Irishman,
no matter how low or beggarly, knows that
his child may rise to any positionin society.
The father may be . vulgar, brutal wretch.
But the child goes to the public school; he
becomes intelligent; he has vigorous stock,
and as soon as he emsrges from his own
family, he finds nothing which industry may
earn, or ability achieve, or genius deserve,
that is withheld from him simply onaccount
Of race or parentage. " 3''' ~


But it is not so With the black man. He
is, for the most part, hindered inhis efforts
at education. As he grows up in intelli-
gence, every step is marked with suffering.
Except within the circle Of his own people,
he is excluded from the practice of the learn
ed professions. A black lawyer would starve.
A black physician could gain no considera-
Bile practice, however skillful, and though
perfect gentleman, and regularly educated
he could scarcely gain admission into any
medical society or association.


In what parish, except among his own
people, could an African clergyman, though
he we're as learned, eloquent, and pious as
Oyprian or Origen, be tolerated? Thus far,
education serves rather to highten the black
mans susceptibility to social indignities,
than to augment his power or increase his
influence. F


five turn to the less informed, laboring