Newspaper Page Text
(Kulovcb fbitroi.
Augusta, ga., January 6, iss6.
MR. THOMAS P. BEARD
Will be general agent and editor of
the “Colored American,” during my ab
sence from the city. He is fully author
ized to transact all business connected
with the paper.
J. T. Shuften.
EQUALITY.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL.
This is the great bugbear of the South
ern white man. He cannot sleep for
dreaming of it; he cannot eat for think*
ing of it; and it would seem almost an im
possibility for him to do business for
arguing and speechifying against it. But
for all bis dreaming and thinking on, and
speechifying against such a frightful mon
ster as it appears in his eyes to be, the
brute remains as hyura-headed as ever.
He has by no means question,
and one thing is certain, he never will
settle it the way he wants it settled.
God forbid that he ever should, for if he
could, the Negro would not be the only
one that would have to bow' beneath his
inflexible rule. The Northern man and
the Foreigner, yea, any one that was not
of Southern birth, would have to leave
the field for the rapid development of bis
comprehensive and freedom loving genius.
It is a very common thing for him to
declare, in thunder tones, that’‘the
Negro can never attain unto Social and
Political Equality,’ yet, he is straining
every nerve, aud not leaving a single
stone unturned in order to prevent him
from attaining unto that giddy distinc
tion. Such conduct, in our eyes, betrays
a jear on his part that the colored man
has a right to, and ultimately will reach,
that forbidden fruit. But there is a
question which we would wish him very
much to study carefully, and endeavor to
answer honestly, before he prosecutes
further his determined opposition, and
that is : ‘ls the colored man as anxious
to have Social and Political Equality as
the white man is not to let him have it V
We think the answer to this will be
a negative, at least in the case of Social
Equality. ZZc has enough of that with
out his consent, God knows. But there
is still another question which we would
present for his consideration and calm,
dispassionate judgement, and that is:
‘ Has the white man really good reasons
for refusing that position to the colored
man 7 We shall endeavor to present a
few facts in answer to this question by
considering in what Social and Political
Equality consists. — And First; What
is Social Equality ?
Man in bis nature — whither bridled
by civilization, or wallowing in the un
luxurious freedom of savagedom—is a
social animal, congregating into cities
and villages, or into tribes and castes,
and governing, or being governed, by
law's and regulations for the general good
of the society. But even in these social
congregations, whether they be made up
of untutored savages or polished humans,
there are unsocial differences. For in
stance, what is known as the ‘ upper ton’
of white society has no direct social deal
ings with the poorer classes, or the toil
ers for daily bread.’ The ‘ upper ton ’
hedges themselves around with haughty
airs, and pompous appearances, which,
in the eyes of any sensible man, appears
as apeish foolery, bnt which effectually
prevents the poorer classes from socializ
ing with them. But when votes are in
demand, the ‘ upper ton ’ office-seeker
very condescendingly lays aside his purse
proud dignity, and humbly solicits the
poor man’s support; that gained, or the
time being over when it was needed, he
passes him by with the same disdain and
contempt that he would bestow upon a
beggar, and this is called Social Equali
ty. It may be so in name, but certain
ly not in nature or practice. ’Tis true,
a poor man can marry a rich man’s
daughter, but it is a remarkable incident
in the history of match making, and be
comes a nine day s wonder for the time.
But the boundary line of Social Equali
ty among races, especially the white race,
is the bank book and the money chest,
and before a poor man of the same race
can crofs that boundary line, he must
produce the like qualifications of which
it is composed, or forever remain out*
side. No wonder then, that the cry is
loud and long when there is a prospect,
through the agency of new born freedom,
of a man with a dark skin leading to the
altar a woman with a white skin. But
is the cry reasonable 1 Y e think not.
Who ever was heard to lift their voice
in just condemnation and denounciatioii,
when a man with a white skin, made, to
all intents and purposes, a of a
woman with a black skin. In the eyes
of the public he did not do it; but in the
unwearied eye of the Almighty belief do
it. Children was the result of that
union, and in thousands of faces to day
we can trace the union of these respective
colors borne by their parents. Yet no
voice of condemnation was ever raised
against it, or if there was, it was soon
hushed into silence by the jingling of the
dollars produced by that highly rcniune
rative union. The patent practice be
came the grave o public sentiment and
remonstrance on the subject, until the
whole system of sociality became thorough
ly impregnated with its potent virus. Is
not this Social Equality? We think
it is, with a vengeance 1 Where can there
be a closer, or a firmer bond of equality
than the marriage relation, especially
when that relation is made doubly secure
by living pledges. It is not the utter
ances of a few cabalistic words by a par
son or a magistrate in the presence of
witnesses that makes the marriage vow
binding; that may be necessary in the
eyes of man to make the vow valid and
binding between the parties; bat it is
viewed by the Almighty, ‘ who seeth as
no man seeth,’ in somewhat of a different
light. When a man gratifies his lustful
passions outside his own appointed laws,
he is held by the Judge of all the earth
as responsible for his action—especially
when that lust was productive of bis like
—as though all the ceremonies ever in
vented were performed over him. Let
any man turn his eyes and view the faces
of three-fourths of the colored race and
what does he see reflected there ? 77/e
shadow of some white fit her. Is not
this Social Equality ? We honestly
think it is, and it is something outside of
the boundary lines of bank books and
money chests also ; something antagon
istic to the well established rules of
society. But who is to blame for this
boundary line being broken ? Is it the
colored man ? Certainly not; for many a
time it was more than his life was worth
to attempt to resist the dishonor of his
own flesh and blaod. Was the colored
woman to blame ? By no means, for she
could not help herself. The law said she
was a chattel, and as a chattel she had
no voice in the matter. It is evident,
then, that the white man is to blame for
forcing Social Equality upon the unwil
ling colored man. And since he is to
blame for having done this ,why does he
make such a howl about what he first
started himself ? We think it not only
unreasonable, but highly unjust. By his
loud out cry against the dreadful thing,
he seems to Le afraid that some of his
daughters may do what a good many of
bis sons and himself has done time and
again, and therefore he wants laws made
to prevent them doing so. But if their
own good sense will not bind them in this
matter, liw is utterly unable to do so.
Giving birth to laws on any subject,
gives also birth to ways and means to
evade the penalties of those laws. We
have laws on the statute books of this
State to day to prevent concubinage
among whites and blacks, but what did
they amount to; merely in giving a fresh
impetus to the spread of concubinage,
until every third man is the offspring of
the horrid system. The only law that caa
bind any human being in this matter is
the ‘ Law of Mind,’ or, more properly
speaking, 4 common sense.’ Sensuality,
however, has entered so largely into the
veins of society, that this law is by far
too often laid aside, but, being ‘ never
too late to mend,’ we hope that it will
once more resume its rightful sway. It
is very foolish for the white n.ai to get
alarmed at the bugbear now, since n) has
so extensively lent his energies to it’
production. The only way tor him to do
in the premises, is to inculcate the requi
site morals in his family circle, as much
on the feurtilc as on the male side, but espe
cially tnc miale y and leave the rest to
judgement or common sense. Social
Equality is not the goal of the ambition
of the colored man by any means, for it
has always been the ‘ skeleton of his
household, and now that he has the right
to rule his household according to his
own notion, he has determined that that
‘ skeleton ’ shall be removed, and the
one that dares try to replace it, shaL do
so at his peril. He holds his domestic
relations as sacred and inviolable as the
white man does, and expects him to do
the earner but he cannot see the leuson
abteness nor the right of the white man
to socialize himself with his color for the
gratification of his lusts and passion ,
and refuse the same prerogative to him.
We observe that me recent € onvention
held in Alabama, has ordained that the
children of Fr.edmen and Freedwomen,
whose parents have not been living to
gether as man and wife, shall be suppoi t
ed by those parents. How far this is
a Solomon’s judgement, we shall not say;
but if the workings of the act extended
to the children of ichite fathers and bias.k
mothers (which, in so far as the wording
of the act is concerned may do) it would
be a judgement slightly more in accord
ance with that illustrated personage’s
wLdom. As it is, they have declared
that tho father shall support the children
of possibly a dozen mothers, which, by
being sold and transferred from one
one plantation to another, through tne
laws of commerce, he was brought in con
tact wilh. He was regularly told, that
if he was sold away, it would make no
difference to him, he would find a ic[fc
upon every plantation, and now they com
pel him to support the offspring of this
system of Mormon polygamy. This looks
very much like a Solomon’s judgement;
wo must confess. There would be some
shadow of an excuse for them, however,
if they had been somewhat more compre
.hensive in the extent of their act, and em
braced the children of white fathers as
well as those of black. We think it
but leasonable and just that the father
should support his children ; but because
the father is a white man and the mother
a black woman, the father should be ex
empt from supporting his offspring, we
think is both unjust and unnatural, to
say the least of it. We know that un
pleasant associations would arise from
such an acknowledgement; but an honest
repentant is not ashamed to acknowledge
that ho has done wrong, and the best re
pentence —and we have every reason to
believe, the most acceptable to High
Heaven —would be an open hearted,
honest acknowledgement by the father,
and the proper support tendered to his
offspring The question; ‘ Will they do
this ? ’ remains with them and their God.
But until such is done, it is very far from
being becoming in them to cry so loud
about Social Equality.
TOJ BE CONTINUED.
Considerable excitement was created
in un audinence, in which were many
Federal officers, at the theatre in JSavan
nah, recently, during the performance of •
the drama ‘Smiles and Tears.’ A song
in which the following words occurred
was introduced in the piece, and sung by
Miss M E Gordon,‘l despise the North. 1
Give me the sunny, sunny South? The
emphasis with which the words were reu>
dered, created loud applause from the
Southern and hisses from the Northern
spectators.
The Empress of the French has pre- ■
sented Mdle Patti with a superb diamond
necklace, in return for an album with ‘24
portraits of that eminent actress in char*
acters and positions. Patti’s* arrival at
!• lorence produced a great sensation. The
night before her arrival the choral socie*
ties assembled before the hotel windows
and executed a serenade in her honor.
A widow’ named Bailey, sued the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company for dam
ages for the boss of her husband, alleging
carelessness on the part of the railroad
employees. The trial tame on a few days
ago, and the jury gave the plantiff 81J
TOO damages.
GEN. TILLSON.
We find the following paragraph in the
columns cf tho New Yolk Times of a
late date. We are surprised that com ■
rlaints and answers should have been •
made and passed upon this distinguished .
officer, for, in so far as we l.ave been ;
cognizant iiis conduct towards both races,
has been of the most impartial nature.
But were he, ‘pure as snow and chaste as
ice,’ he would not escape from the tangs
of the malicious and the grumbling.
There is a class of humans, who seem to
have derived their natures from an am
malgamation with the ‘daughters o*
Solomon’s ‘horse leech’ whose constant
cry is ‘give ! give!’ No matter how you
may make the bal'ance of justice weave
in their favor, their grumbling disconten
ted natures are never satisfied, and our
own State seems to have its full share of
that ‘genus homo. 1 V e arc proud to see
that such a stalwart organ as the New
York Tinies has come to the aid of the
General, but our opinion is, lie needs no
better defence than the simple knowledge
that he has done right in all his transac
tions with the tvyo races. We are satis
fied that the blush of a reproving con
' science will never discolor his war worn
! and weather-beaten cheek for acts cf in
justice and wrong, done by him iu his
services towards helpless humanity :
GEN. TILLSON EXONERATED —OUTRAGES ;
ON FREEDMEN.
Some complaints, and we believe un- |
iust censure, have been made of the con- j
duct of Gon. Tillson as to his manages ;
meet in regard to the freeumen and his '
treatment of citizens of AV ilkes County, ;
Georgia, Official and other reHable in
formation has been received by Gen. .
Howard, of the Bureau of Freedmen, ;
which exonerates Gen. Tillson. This in j
formation is to the efficet that the most
outrageous conduct has followed the with
drawal of the military forces from the
country above named, and in other parts
of Georgia. The acts* complained of
ware committed by the sons of wealthy •
and influential families. These go in I
gangs, and openly declare that no negro ■
shall live upon land owned or rented by ;
himself, but shall live with some white ;
man, or leave the country Good men ■
of the State denounce these acts, but arc :
powerless t° tiivui. inc) aoK. <
that the military force may be kept in !
the State, and say that if it be removed I
there is no protection for life or property. i
In consequence of representations made :
to him by good citizens, Gen. Steedman
has ordered a military force to be station- i
cd in Wilkes County. A letter from ;
Hon. N. M. Reeve, Judge of the Dis- j
trict Court of Georg'a, dated Washing"
ton, Wilkes County, Nov. 27, states that
at th 3 request of the colored people and
in behalf of respectable citizens, he asks
the intervention of the military in be
half, of the freedmen. Several bands,
calling themselves bushwhackers, jay haw
kers, and regulators, are perpetrating the
most shameful outrages —shooting, burn-*
ing and beating negroes, to get money
and for revenge. Their barbarous acts
cannot be made known for legal effect
except through negro testimony, and
therefore capnot be punished. He asks
i that officers may be sent to take affidavits,
, and carry the offenders to Augusta tor
| punishment, if any can be awarded them.
| —Times,
A phrenologist furnishes his conclu
! Bions from what he found on battle-fields
! in the following letter to the Phrenologi
-1 cal Journal:
‘I lately took a ramble through the
battle Gelds near Spottsylvania Court
House, where Generals Grant and Lee
and their vast armies had the memora
ble engagement in May, 1864; and
knowing that you highly value facts that
may benefit the science of which you are
one of the leaders, I will give you the
I substance of tome observations 1 made
on skulls of Northern and Southern soL
diets who were killed in battle.
‘The skulls of Southern soldiers have
1 a greater development of the organs of
Comparison, Destructiveness, Benevo
lence, spirituality, Self Esteem, Friend"
ship, and Parental Love than those of
Northern soldiers; while the skull of the
men of the North have more of the
faculties of Individuality, Causality, Hu
man Nature, Constructiveness, Conscien
tiousness, Firmness, Approbativeness,
and Combativeness than those of the
South. Now these are facts y and held
good in the case of a majority ot skulls
i which I examined; but whether they
I will bear the test of standing side by
I side with examinations made heretofore
! by others I am unable to say.’
A Swede, has invented a new sort of
needle-gun, which fires ten shots in a
minute, and does not get foul after a hun
dred shots. It has been accepted by the
j Swedish Government and is to be intro
• dueed into the army.
FREEDMEN.
This is a new term in the pGiitj...,,
nomenclature of the United States, (D
Rome had her ‘ Libert'ini. or
those who had been manumitted fo,
Bta e of involuntary servitude, q ?
they had been considered as proper?
new they wtre persons, though note,
titled to the full rights of citizens. t,
liberty to come and go at pleasu rt .. b i
buy and sell, to practice any trade <, r
profession, they were esteemed ignoth.
and did notrank in the same
< ial and political as one who by birtii, i v
purchase, or by some spiral service f 0
;he state, attained to the high di-nit, (1
being called 'at. Roman Citizen.’' The,
‘freedmen’ of Rome were white people
' The slavery to which we have been >
long accustomed very naturally causes
f to associate that condition with a colored
! tkia or belonging to persons of African
• descent. But with the exception of th
American system the ‘institution’ | l3s
been confined to no particular race nop
! color. Men of all nations and cc-Lrs
have preyed upon each other like the
; ocasts of the field or the f’.sh of tie sea.
t Toe strong has always ruied the weak
and might has disregarded th„ c’;nu,>
;of right. Tne Romans, the Saxon*. the
v Danes, and the Normans, have in turn
• invaded and subjugated ‘merrie EuglanJ
Hwarm.s o' marauders from Northern
• Europe have overrun the fair hills aim
vallies of the South. The’moors ?
j the South long held dominion in Spain
; The Saracen has laid waste the land
! Palestine and his mosques still descent
j the city of David, and his flag still flea*,
j from its walls. Polard has long felt th
| iron heel of the Muscovite. The tr’L
I of Asia plunder and-enslave each utg
and Africa’s a continent of masters at.
slaves. Even God’s peculiar people eb
dared a severe bondage in the land c
tne Pharaoh’s and suffered Laid cruelly
at the hands ot the Babylonians and
Romane.
Man cannot’estimate the woes wing
men have inflected on each other; bu’ it
bettor day is coming. The world feels
the swell of a mighty moral earthquake
which is destined to unsettle the founda
tions of every form of slavery, when
every one cun sit under his own vine and
figtree, and eat his own bread in peacy
with no fear of a proud and exacting |
master to disturb his happiness.
But this great end must be reached
by the employment of extiaordinary
means, and the Freedmen of America
have doubtless a great work to do in
helping to drive the car of progress.
Let us then he energetic, patient, sub
missive to the authorities, industrious,
Vdl3j COLICIVI VI Uivlci futvi
nal peace and we will be exalted in due
time.
Negro Mortality.— The New York f
Tribune reports 19,000 blacks in the I
District of Columbia and’ great personal!
distress. Here is a picture of the suffer f
ings of these people: “The most fright |
ful mortality exists, as many as 80 coffins |
per week being furnished by the Quarter-1
master’s Department, most of which are!
for children. It is the opinion of phy I
i ficians practicing among them,* and oil
i other close observers, that tbree-fourtli |
: of these children die from neglect and I
1 want. In the family of a soldier who!
J lost his life iu battle, five out of the ten !
i children Lave died since March, IS-i'.l
i from the above causes. In another, three |
I out of seven children of a soldier drafl
i ted in December last have starved !?j
1 death in the last three weeks.’
In the meeting of the American Mi* I
! sionary Association, last week, the dis I
tressed state of the Freedmen was db’l
cussed, in the course of which it
stated that in the section of the Ogechd
• river, Georgia, from io owl
I sixth of the entire negro peopulatiou had’
I died during the past summer.
This is truly a lamentable state of ah
fairs, and o ught to arouse all our energies
in behalf of our suffering brethern. Let
| us do all that lies iu our power to amelior
i ate their condition, and the blessings o?
the helpless and suffering will float Lb
i holy incense around our heads. The!
■ icey fingers of winter are being ahw!
felt around our firesides and the cold j
ing winds reminds us of houses and wsrff
clothing. But what is to become of
, who are blessed with neither the on* 1 - 1
the other, with nothing but the pitik*
■ charities of a heart frozen world to |
the hungry appetite, and the
led curtains of ice-bound nature to <W r
them. When we feel the cheerful wai’’- * 1
of the crackling fire, and sitarounD
I well furnished table, and seem enraj^ :Ii
enjoyment’s ‘easy chair’ let us not
i our brethren who have neither tJ
warm, nor bread to eat.
•! A resolution looking towards '.4
ment of polygamy in Utah is being
about. *
t Pjri’
! In a new play now performing a ;; |
the constumes' of the tour P
female characters cost nearly $l v u ‘