upon the assertions made with regard to these matters. It would be found, probably, that, when the "colored" man and the black man who is not a true negro are credited with their full share in the general account, there will be a painfully small balance to the share of the Negro of pure blood. In any event, the colored people present excellent material for the redemption of one or more of the Antilles to civilization; and it is hazarding little to say that they would be far happier in a country of their own than in ours, and that any one of the Powers that now control the West Indian group would heartily welcome them as colonists, on any terms. The notoriously bad condition of some of the islands in question, and the well-known and growing desire of the governments to which they belong to effect a change in their population, or dispose of them altogether, render the present a most favorable time for the removal of the "colored people," strictly speaking, from the Southern States; and it scarcely admits of question that with them would depart every cause for doubt or uncertainty as to the proper and necessary disposition to be made of the negroes. The present time is most opportune, again, having regard to the general condition of the country, for the adoption of some humane and well-ordered plan for the removal of the weaker race, and for beginning the movement in earnest. The first quarter of a century of our postbellum history is drawing to a close. Its record is one of confessed and utter failure to adjust the Negro in a position satisfactory to him or to ourselves. The dawn of the second quarter finds the Negro Problem only larger and more complicated than ever before. The new administration of the National Government comes into power having a new Southern Policy of its own, intent on new political experiments, having new difficulties to contend with; and there is absolutely no assurance whatsoever in any part of the prospect, near or remote, save of new troubles for both races and both sections for another term of years, and of repeated failure and disappointment, and added cause of dissension and difference, as the result of every new venture. * Nor is this all. There are numerous signs of a disposition on the part of the Negro to change his residence from the Southern to the Western States, and of a corresponding and growing disposition on the part of an influential element of the white people of the South to encourage and aid his migration, which should not be overlooked. The Negro is not a landholder. He is tied to no place, as yet. By simply refusing to give him employment, the people of any Southern State can compel his departure at any time, and thus relieve themselves forever of especial concern on his account. This plan has not been * See pp. 167-70. tried heretofore, because others have been found to afford temporary relief. It may be adopted at any hour and on any scale, however; and in such event the country at large would have to confront at once the certainty of being called on to deal with the negro question, in whole or in large part, as it shall be presented under scarcely changed conditions in a new, enlarged and unfamiliar field. The wise course is to anticipate and prevent an exodus across the Mississippi, if we can. If the negroes are to leave the South, or any single Southern State, whether under compulsion or voluntarily, it were better for them to go Eastward, across the sea, rather than Westward into the heart of the Continent. Now is a favorable time to determine the direction of their movement, once for all. XII. OUR DUTY. Is not our duty set plainly before us? Can any intelligent man, North or South, doubt for a moment that it was a mistake to bring the Negro here in the first instance-a woeful mistake for us, a cruel mistake for him, so far as our part in determining the results of his coming is concerned? His stay with us has been marked by suffering for him, and shame and suffering and crime for us. We try to quiet conscience with the reflection that we have lifted him out of the condition of slavery in which he was delivered to us, and have civilized him, and educated him. Have we indeed made so much progress on this line After so many generations, the large majority of his people are not very far from where we found them. We will not associate with him, at any rate, nor allow him the rights and privileges which are allowed to all other civilized and educated men. We condemn ourselves as often as this plea is made and honestly tested. We did not buy him and bring him here, moreover, on the impulse of high motives, or to do him good. We can claim no credit, before Heaven, for the good done to him incidentally, or done for our own self-protection or advantage, when he was a slave. We brought him here for purely selfish reasons, under horrible conditions on the way, and bred him, and worked him, and bought and sold him as we imported and sold and bred cattle in our fields and forests-for our own profit. His back and breast are scarred with the stripes we inflicted on him. Our hands are red with his blood, and with our own blood shed in fratricidal war on his account. It is a dreadful story, from beginning to end, at its best. We cannot bear to have it told in its naked truth, and we have no love for him who tells it, even though he be one of ourselves. It must be told and retold, however, if only to warn us against making new chapters of scarcely more pleasing incidents. We have sinned against him, and against ourselves, and against God. may measure our offence by its punishment, and its punishment has been great and grievous. We We cannot certainly declare God's judgments, it is true, and need not insist that the great war was His judgment upon us. It is enough that we erred, North and South, in our dealings with a most innocent, helpless, unoffending and patient people; that, somehow, our national sin, or error, found us out. If the imposition of the slave's yoke upon a fellow-creature is not a sin per se, then has it been made sure that we violated some other than the great law of liberty and equality |