E ■ ■ > • ■ »j. •■ ,' . / -or .... A^ ADDRESS TO THE COLORED PEOPLE OF 1 GEORGIA, BY ELIAS YULEE, A. Member of th.e Bar. SAVANNAH: REPUBLICAN" JOB OFFICE. 1868. A.*3ST ADDEE8R OF GEORGIA, SAVANNAH: •• REPUBLICAN' 1 JOB OFFICE. 1868. P R E F A C E . Tliis address, though made to the colored people of Georgia, is nevertheless in tended for general reading. It furnishes a course of facts, that may he useful in the hands of intelligent whites, to present to the colored people in their immediate vicinity. We trust, that they will be found useful in disabusing the minds of misguided men among them. The terms North and South arc used frequently, by which we wish it distinctly understood, that we mean by these terms only the principles upheld by the leaders of the parties. The mass of the people of the North aie no doubt honest in their intentions, but they are under a delusion, brought on by designing men. A man, whether from the North or South, from Europe, Africa, or Asia, is to us a man, according to his principles. We hail alike with hearty good will, the Northern or the Southern man, whose principles lead him to the maintenance of free institutions, and who is opposed to Europeanizing our country, preferring the Constitutional rights of the States to cen- tralization. We trust these explanations will defend us, from ap- pearing so narrow minded and contracted, as the judging of a man by his birthplace. Nowhere, are there found men more true to the principles of Demorcratic rule, than in New England, but they are unfortunately in the minority as }~et. We have had, never- theless, in the discussion of our subjects, to use the terms Northern, Souther/!, Yankee and New England, as generic names for certain principles in the ascendancy in those localities. With us, princi- ples make men, and not men or their birthplaces their principles. Savannah, October 10th, 1868. AN ADDRESS. To the Colored People of the South. M y friends (and I am not backward in calling; you so, seeing that from my earliest cliildhood, I have been indebted to many of you for numerous services), I am profoundly interested in your future prospects. Impressed with this interest in your welfare, I feel called upon to use, what influence my feeble efforts may contribute to your progress and happiness. You are in danger, and it be- hooves you to reflect. You have now no human protectors, bound by their interest to regard your safety. Emancipation has made you your own guardians, and you are cast amongst the most active race of men, (the Anglo-Saxons of America, of the North and the South), to work out your fate, for good or evil. It is now a question you have to solve, whether like the Indians, you shall die out and leave no trace behind, or whether you shall become an element of civilized society. You have active enemies, who desire your annihilation, or your remo- val to some other lands. You have also some mistaken friends, who are your worst enemies (the old Abolitionists), because they are persuading you to take a position you cannot maintain, namely, the assertion of your independence and equality with white men in the race for power and progress. God has endowed various races with various powers and attributes, he has not made you to be the pioneers in civilization, but you may follow in its track and partake of its blessings. These, your friends, who do not know you, but live at the North, apart from you, have formed a theory of what they consider manhood rights, and they wish, regardless of all fitness or propriety, to apply their theory to all men. Thus they would argue — God made an ox, he also made a horse, why should not an ox be as swift of foot as a horse, why should they not be yoked together. You know the consequence that would follow, the horse being so much the swifter, would drag the ox to death, and one or the other, or both would suffer. So with you and the white race. Experience teaches you that in matters of intel- lectual progress, you are not the equals of the white race. To put you to a contest with him for the superiority, or even equality, you would fail, and make trouble for all concerned. The point I wish to arrive at, is to appeal to your consciousness of facts, and to pursuacle you to act in conformity w r ith them. I will therefore make a few short remarks under these follow- ing heads. First. — Whence were you ? Second. — What were you in your natal homes of Africa ? Third. — Who brought you here and how long ago ? 8 AN ADDEESS TO THE Fifth. — Whence was your emancipation, from the accidents of war or from design ? Sixth. — What is your present position ? Seventh. — What is civilization, and what its inexorable decrees ? Eighth. — What, are your present duties in view of the past and the future ? Ninth. — Who are they, who are urging on you a departure from your life-long course as waiters on Providence ? Tenth. — The dangers you are in by attempting to mould your future by force, instead of moving on as heretofore, under obedienee and tutelage to those who have always had you in charge. 1 shall proceed to illustrate these heads in their order. NUMBEE II. WHENCE WERE YOU ? About two hundred and fifty years ago, the Europeans, feeling the want of labor to cultivate the lands of this new country, had their attention turned to Africa. There they discovered that your ancestors were living rude lives, ignorant and barbarous, and were engaged in constant Avars, mailing prisoners of each, other, who, when taken, were either barbarously murdered or kept as slaves to the chiefs who took them. Travelers who have visited that country, state that on the death of a chief thousands of slaves arc killed to keep him company in death and futurity ; also, that it is the custom of the chiefs to ornament their houses with the skulls of those they have slain, so that the picket fences about their houses are stuck full of skulls. As to their religion, it was of the most horrid nature ; they worshipped not only images, but ani- mals of various kinds, the shark among others, to which animal they sacrificed their infant children annually. Finding the people of Africa of this character, it was argued by the kings and princes of Europe, that by buying them from their chiefs, and bringing them away from such a barbarous country, they would be doing them a great service. The kings of Europe, who then owned this country, therefore permitted their subjects — the English, Spaniards, Portuguese, French and Dutch merchants and captains, to buy your ancestors in Africa, and bring them to this country and the West India Islands. Of course those who engaged in this traffic, did not do it from Christian love towards you, but for gain. But what I mean to say is, that the Christian Church in Europe, and the kings of Europe, were led to permit the traffic on account of what they considered benevolent motives, namely, the taking your ancestors from slavery in Africa, among barbarous chiefs, and bringing them to slavery in America, among a Christian people. If they had left them in Africa, they would still have been slaves, and liable to be killed by their savage masters, but brought here, though slaves, they COLOEED PEOPLE OF GEORGIA. would bo under more humane masters. What has been the result? X"our present condition is the answer. Compare yourselves with the native African, and tell whether yon arc not infinitely im- proved. Africa is the same to-day as it was then. Its people have not advanced, and perhaps never will advance, till the white people carry civilization there, either by commerce or force of arms, or by both. Do not understand me to claim for the white people any extraordinary motives of love of neighbor, or charity in their doings. Those who brought you here were governed by self alone. They wanted your labor or they would not havo brought you from Africa. So if Africa is to be benefitted by having civilization carried there, it will be only when the white people can make something by it. God,Miowever, uses man's selfish purposes to carry out His pro- vidences, and I suppose God permitted you to be brought here to do you good, as it has so turned out. Many of you have seen Africans just from their native land. We have many of them now among us, though improved by resi- dence here. What did they know ? Nothing ! while you are masons, bricklayers, carpenters, shoemakers, wheelwrights, ship carpenters and agriculturists. Besides this, thousands of you have become Christians, which is more than all earthly greatness and possessions. All this, slavery in America has done for you, while slavery in Africa would have left you still the barbarian, just as rude and ignorant as those natives are, whom you have seen from there. Sir Samuel White Baker, the African explorer, who established the fact of the sources of the Nile, after much experience in Nc- groland) thus sums up his opinion of African character : " I wish the black sympathizers in England could see Africa's inmost heart as I do, much of their sympathy would subside. Human nature viewed in its crude state, as pictured amongst African savages, is quite on a level with that of the brute, and not to be compared with the noble character of the dog. There is neither gratitude, pity, love, nor self-denial; no idea of duty; no religion ; but covetousness, ingratitude, selfishness and cruelty. All are thieves; idle, envious and ready to plunder, and enslave their weaker neighbors. 5 ' — Page 164 of "The Albert Nyanza Great Basin of the Nile" Published in 18Gb" in London, by Sir Samuel White Baker. These opinions and experiences are corroborated by every other traveler and explorer in Africa. How, then, can you believe what silly people tell you, that slavery in America has reduced you to ignorance ? Has it not rather raised you to a partial civilization ? Are you not better in the scale of being than your African forefath- ers ? Whether you are to continue progressing, will depend entirely on the use you make of your liberty. History tells you, how and by what means you were enslaved and brought to America. The South in the begining opposed slavery. Our people looked with alarm at the introduction of the negro among us, and it was not till we had welded you into our 8 AN ADDRESS TO THE soci.nl fabric, that we settled down into the toleration of the sys- tem, under which we lately lived. Of course, we then resisted the uprooting that which had taken root. Our interests became iden- tified with that state of society, and like all men we desired per- manence. The revolution, in our institutions now made and accomplished, we are satisfied to begin to re-organize society on the new basis of free labor, and we desire to take you by the hand and continue your civilization as freedmen, if ycu will let us. I present you an extract from the original Declaration of Inde- pendence, written by Thomas Jefferson, a Southern man, who yen will see condemned negro slavery, even before the formation of our federal relations. In the fac simile of the draft of the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson is the following paragraph. "He (the King of England) has waged civil war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty, in the persons of a distant people, who never offended him ; captiva- ting and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This pira- ical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold, he prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce ; and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them, thus paying off former crimes, committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another." — Sec Jcf- fcrs's Correspondence. Now let it be remembered, that this was written by a Southern man, condeming the introduction of negro slaves into the United States. All the Southern men of that day opposed negro slavery. Why I ask, was this paragraph stricken out from the original draft of the Declaration of Independence. The striking out was done by the New Englanders, who were making money by the slave trade, and winced at its condemnation in such forcible terms. New England is well named as the off shoot of Old England^ the same nation of traders, whose politics and statesmanship are bounded by the accumulation of pelf. They, these traders, introduced you among us, and as soon as they had an object to serve, they pay off the crime of piracy and slave dealing, "committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which they urge you to commit against the lives of an- other." This authentic scrap of history suffices to show you conclusively, that the South had nothing to do with bringing you from Africa, but has been your best and ernly true friend, under whom you have increased and improved. COLORED PEOPLE OE GEORGIA. NUMBER III. In my last number I endeavored briefly to answer the question — Whence were you ? What were you in your natural homes of Africa ? Who brought you here, and how long ago ? I will now review the question — Who have liad charge of you since first brought here, and have advanced you to your present state of progress ? The emissaries of the North and misguided colored men, who are ambitious to use you for their own elevation, have endeavored to sow the seeds of discord between you and your old masters. They tell you that the Southern people stole you from Africa ; that they have been wrongfully holding you as slaves ; that they treated you cruelly ; that they failed to educate you ; that they denied you progress, and the common rights of human beings ; that all the wealth and possessions of the South are clue to you ; that you owe your old masters a debt of hate, and that you can never hope for anything from them but continued oppression and prejudice ; and, finally, that the Northern people are your friends, with whom you should join to put down your old masters. These are the teachings of the parties, who are arraying you into a black man's party against the Southern whites. Let us examine each of these propositions. Were you stolen from Africa ? I say, no ■ You were bought either from the chiefs who owned you, or, in some instances, from your own parents. The traffic in slaves in Africa is common there to this day, as re- cent travelers say that trade is carried on principally in slaves, so that instead of saying a thing is worth so many dollars, they say it is worth so many slaves. As far as history goes, slavery has been the rule in Africa. Your ancestors were slaves in their na- tive land ; were bought as slaves by those white men who went there to buy you, and were again sold as slaves to the Southern planters who have held you as such ever since, up to a few years ago. So you see that it is false that you were stolen — false that the Southern people went to Africa to get you — because you were brought from Africa by the Europeans and the Yankees, \wlw were the things, if you were stolen at all), and that you came into the pos- session of your Southern masters by purchase. They paid the Yankees for you, who took that money and invested it in manu- factures, by which they have got rich, very rich. The above facts disprove the charge, that the South lias been wrongfully holding you Now as to the charge that they treated you cruelly. You know whether this is true or not. Some of you will say —yes, and others no. Those who say yes, will tell of being flogged, of being punish- ed in various ways. If you examine into the lives of most of these persons you will find that freedom has not stopped their punish- ments. As they then complained of the" cruelty of their masters, 10 AN ADDKESS TO THE they now complain of the cruelty of the law, which puts them in chain gangs, in prisons, in penitentiaries, or on the gallows. The men who were punished as slaves are now punished as freedmen. The cruelties they complained of as from their masters, they now complain of as being inflicted by the law. Does not this prove that their punishment was not from cruelty, but from necessity to preserve good order. Of course, there were some persons who were unjustly punished, some who had cruel and bad masters, but this injustice is not peculiar to slavery ; it is practised all over the world — among Yankees and Europeans. IN" ay, who was treated so unjustly as our Good Father in Heaven, who, when he came to bless mankind, was cruelly crucified, and is being daily crucified all over the world by those who call themselves Christians. But thousands and thousands of former slaves say, that from their youth up to their emancipation, they were treated kindly and humanely by their former owners. The charge of cruelty is also disproved from the fact, which can- not be gainsayed, that during slavery the black people increased astonishingly, while now that they are free, they are decreasing. Look at the present immorality of the young black people of both sexes ; see how they are rushing to destruction. Idle and vagrant, they are preparing an early grave, into which they will sink, cov- ered with the leprosy of crime. Was it cruel on the part of their old masters to surround them with restraints, and compel them to a useful compliance with or- derly habits ? Your own good sense (I mean those of you who have learned something from the teachings of your masters) must admit, that it cannot be called cruelty to compel ignorant people to obey the laws of order, just as we tutor, punish and compel children to do what is right. As to the charges made by the Yankees, that your masters failed to educate you. 3-011 might ask the Yankees why they did not edu- cate you themselves, when they brought you from Africa, instead of selling you to the South ? Your masters did educate you as agriculturists, mechanics and in morals. They also provided re- ligious teachers for you. It is true they did not teach you read- ing, writing, etc., but the reason is plain — they had to make your labor useful, and. if your time had been taken up with schools, it would have interfered with, the work they bought you to perform. If you go to the North or to Europe, you will find that when a man employs a servant or laborer, he does not trouble himself with his education, but gets all the work out of him that he can. Iam not defending this mode of proceeding, but I say that it is human nature all over the world, to neglect too much our duty towards our fellow beings. Your old masters were no worse than other people in this re- spect. As to the statement that all the wealth and possessions in the South are due to negro labor, it is mere nonsense. Where and when did the negro race ever build a city, a church, a fine house, a railroad, a steamboat, a plantation for rice, cotton or sugar. COLORED PEOPLE OF GEORGIA. 11 Thoy do not do it in Africa, tliey do not do it any whoro, but as laborers under the direction cf the whites, who have intelligence and capital. As 'well aiay the Irifeh laborer claim New York city, because by his labor all the stores and residences there were constructed. Or claim our railroads because they labored on them with their shovels and wheelbarrows. Your masters paid their money for you to the Yankees, and of course put you to work, taught you to bo useful, and in the mean- time cared for you as your protectors and friends. The work you did they paid for by their care of you from infancy to age, and you are as well off to-day as arc the white laborers of Europe, who have to depend on the daily work of their hands for a daily living. Another thing told you is, that the people of the South want to make you slaves again. This is also false. If you ivere to offer yourselves as slaves they iconic! not take you back. They find free labor clieapcr and not so troublesome. Slavery was more hurtful to the whites than the blacks, and no one wants it back. NUMBEB IV. Whence was your Emancipation, From tee Accidents of war, or from desigx ? In considering this question, it will be necessary to inform you of the state of parties from the first formation of the Government, eighty years ago. From the very first, there was a contest be- tween the North and the South for control of the Government. Slavery had not anthing to do with it, because nearly all the States were slave States. But the North, (Massachusetts in particular) wanted advantages in commerce. Then came the interests of the manufacturers, who asked for high tariffs, to protect their manu- factures. The meaning of a tariff is, a tax on all goods manufac- tured out of the United States, so that a yard of calico made in England, should pay so much tax when brought into this country. This made it possible for the North to make calicoes, &c, which they could not do, if there was no tax on the foreign calico. But it made the calico, and other goods the South used, cost higher than if there was no tariff. The tariff helped the North and hurt the South, your country. I say your country, because whatever hurt the South, hurt you, for it made the planter, your master, poorer, and made you poorer too. Every yard of goods used by you, your wives, or your children, had to pay this tax to help the Yankee to get richer. Another cause of quarrel between the sections, was, the lands or territories, belonging to the United States. The South wanted the privilege of going into them, and taking their slaves with them. The North said they should not. This was also a question in which AN ADDRESS $0 THE you were interested, because if you could have been taken there* you would have had a larger country to live and prosper in. Now the Northern people, and the Irish and the Germans, have taken all that country, and they make laws to keep you out of them to this day, so that you are not free to go in all of them, and if you were permitted to go, you would have no welcome hands to re- ceive you. The people do not want 3-011 there. Here you are wel- come. The quarrel went on for eighty years, during which, the ques- tion of Abolitionism was raised, not because as a party they loved you, but because they hated the South on account of all this con- tention, At last the Sonth decided to leave such an unpleasant contest, and in 1861, (seven years ago) declared themselves out of the Union. Then came war, not for the abolition of slaves, but to make the South stay in the Union. Finding the South stronger than they expected, they tried to weaken her by emancipating their slaves, and taking them into their armies. These are facts that you can learn any day by enquiry. You have therefore no thanks to give the Yankees for your emancipation. They were forced to it, so as to conquer the South, your country. They now come to you, hypocritically calling themselves your friends, who went to war to emancipate you, and ask you to help them to continue the war, against the interests of your oicn South, and against your old friends, who raised you and taught you all you know. The same contest is now going on against us, that went on be- fore the war. The North wants to get richer and richer, and make the South poorer and poorer, by the use of tariffs or taxes, and an unjust discrimination against our interests. That is the reason they want you to have votes, that you may send their friends to Con- gress, the enemies of your old mother Georgia. They think you are ignorant, and can be led any where, and made to do anytthing a Yankee tells you. You owe your emancipation, through the accidents of war, to Providence alone, and happy for the South if they had given you freedom long ago, for slavery has been a curse to the country, and kept it from prospering. Because — whether a slave was idle or criminal, he still had to be supported ; but now he is free, if he does not work, he must starve ; and if he is criminal, the law takes him and makes him work. Slavery was a very expensive institution, and the South is glad to get rid of it. Our present duty should be to take you by the hand, and help you to become useful citizens, happy in yourselves, and making other people happy. This the Southern man alone can and will do, because it is to his interest, first to have you useful to yourselves and others ; and, secondly, he has more feeling, friendship and regard for you^ because you have been born in his house, and brought up among us. We know you better than others, and appreciate your good, and have more forbearance towards your bad qualities than stran- gers can or will have. Yankees would never tolerate Szmbo and his easy, indolent habits of getting along, as do the more tolerant and less exacting Southern man. COLORED PEOPLE OF GEORGIA. 1$ That you may judge how the best of your friends — Abraham Lincoln — regarded you, I will give you some extracts Prom his speeches of L858, ten years ago. Ho said: "I have said that I do not understand the Declaration of Inde- pendence to mean that all men are created equal in all respects, certainly the negro is not our equal in color, perhaps not in many other respects. I did not, at any time, say L was in favor of negro suffrage. I am not in favor of negro citizenship." Again, in the same debate with Douglas, in Illinois. lie said: " I am not, and never have been, in favor of making voters of negroes. * * There is a physical difference between the black and the white races, which I believe will ever forbid the two races living Together on terms of social and political equality." In June, 1862, there was a deputation of negroes wdio waited on him, while he was President during the war. He then said to them : u Why should not the people of your race be colonized ? Why should they not leave this country? You and we are a different race. We have between us a broader difference than exists be- tween almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong, I need not discuss ; but this physical difference is a great disad- vantage to us both, as I think your race suffers greatly by living with us, while ours suffers by your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it shows a reason why w^e should be separated." " But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an equality with the white race." * * " Go wdiere you are treated best," (meaning in the North), "and the ban is still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as a fact with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It is a fact about which we oil think and feel alike. We look to our con- dition owing to the existence of the races on this continent." I might quote a number of Northern great men — W. H. Sew- ard, Secretary of State; Stephen A. Douglas, Daniel \Vebster, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, all to show that the Northern people, as a whole, do not desire your presence in the United States, and care nothing for you, hence they would not have gone to war to free you ; but war once commenced, your emancipation followed as one mode of conquering the South. This was the act of God, who may have done it, either for yonr destruction or your further advance. Time alone can tell, for who can look into the secret counsels of the Most High and His eternal purposes. God moves in a mysterious way, and His path no one can see, until He has past by us. He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, but not one of that people lived to get to the promised land of Canaan. They wandered for forty years in the wilderness, and there they all perished. Their posterity alone en- tered Canaan, and after that, the whole of them were dispersed, wanderers over the wide world, exiles from their own land, perse- cuted of all nations. Now, many of you delight and plume your- selves on your emancipation, and compare it to that of the chil- AN ADDRESS TO THE clren of Israel from Egypt. You call some one (Lincoln or John- son) your Moses. Remember, if you are to be as the children of Israel, you have a wilderness to travel through, before you get to Canaan, and if you do not obey the commandments of God, you are to be scattered, exiled and persecuted. I mention this to show you the folly of those who claim for you the peculiar favor of heaven. For aught we know, your emanci- pation may be the precursor of your annihilation, and this is sure to be the case if you cannot be made useful to the progress of civ- ilization, which progress is the great end God has in view for man- kind. Do not plume yourselves with the idea of special grace in your favor. Like all men, you will be judged by your works alone as were the Jews. Man proposes, but God disposes. You and your allies may flatter yourselves, under the delusions of a fool's paradise, but who can tell the end till it comes ? NUMBER Y. What is Civilization, and What its Inexorable Deceees ? This question is a serious one, and requires to be seriously pon- dered. Civilization maybe compared to a chariot, propelled by an irresistible power, that crushes out of existence all those who ob- struct its onward career. Its advent is as the day of judgment to every man and every nation. The Indians encountered it and failed to stand before it. The Malays, the Hawaians and other tribes and people have been judged by it, and they preferred dark- ness to its light, and they are fading away before it. It is a 1 aw of civilization to [remove from its path whoever cannot be made useful to its progress. The idle, the vicious, the libertine and the profligate die and leave no memorial behind them. Civilization, that opens a path ox safety and prosperity to its friends, envelopes its enemies in the waves of destruction. When it visits the savage, it is to judge him either to life or to death. The black or negro race is the only one of the savage tribes that has stood the test and has increased in numbers within the charmed circle of civilization. While the Indians have faded away the blacks have largely increased. Why is this ? It is be- cause they have allowed themselves to be made useful to its life. The blacks have been willing to labor ; the Indians would not. The blacks raised cotton, corn, sugar; they were willing to come under the rule and mastership of the civilized white man, and be- come a useful part of the social fabric of America. This he was enabled to do, because his nature is different from that of the In- dians. In the first place, he is tractable, the Indian intractable, Next, he is conscious of his ignorance and dependence, while the Indian is haughty, proud, and independent. The negro accepted COLORED PEOPLE OF GEOEGIA. 16 the band of tlio white man extended to him, and became a laborer in fields of productive industry ; the Indian spurned all labor, but that of the hunter. In fine, the negro was obedient to an intelligent master ; the In- dian rejected all mastership. The wholo secret of the incrcaso of the negro race and i(s partial civilization, is due to tho willingness of tho negro to be led by his superiors in knowledge, and to bo made useful. His fate in the future will depend entirely on his willingness to continue, as a freeman, under the same pupilage and guidance that led him along when a slave. If ho sets up for himself, and at- tempts to introduce a new Africa, in the South, liis days are num- bered, and civilization will sweep him out of its track. The raco can only live in, by, and through the white race, which is, in the hands of Providence, the instrument for the introduction and pro- gress of civilization. If you ask how do I know this, I will an- swer, I know it, because only among the whites does civilization exist ; that Christendom alone, shows that living, omnipotent power that is moulding mankind into a new world of thoughts and acts, which shall change the face of the earth. Like earth quako shocks and phenomena, it sinks and elevates, devastates and re- creates. It is the work of God on earth, and only those who are for it, and willing to welcome his work, can or will stand before it. Even among civilized nations, there are those which are more, and others less civilized. These different degrees of civilization Avar on each other, and tho more advanced always prevails. Tho Lord said he came to bring a sword into the world, and truly that sword has been at work since his coming. His sword is truth, and civilization advances that truth. You can no more stand be- fore it than prevail against God. Like the Indian, you may resist, you may murder, you may destroy, but you must at last succumb to those who have in their keeping the orijiamme of civilization. It is always advancing from ago to age. My good friends, my heart warms towards you, because there is so much in you that shows humility and affection. I want to see all your good qualities preserved and strengthened, and therefore I address you, that I may possess you with the truth. You aro not intellectual as are the whites, but you receive hum- bly all that commends itself to your perception. The Lord says, in his gospel, we must be servants of all. You have served wil- lingly as slaves, and made the best of your opportunities — never complaining, always cheerful. Y r ou did not raise a hand to secure your freedom, but accepted it as tho act of Providence. You have not used your freedom in- solently, except when led astray by wicked men, who have striven to innoculate you with the virus of self-assertion and self-depend- ence. You are willing to look to God and tho persons ho has made your guides. These bad men seek to make you abandon the teach, ings of heaven, and strive as white men strive, in the pride of their own intelligence. Such is not your peculiar characteristic. 16 AN ADDRESS TO THE Tlie "white man receives by his understanding, and fights for the promptings and teachings of what his reason dictates. You, on the contrary, receive by heariny, and not by seeing, and adapt your- selves to what you hear. The whites all over the world, have been constantly killing, and contending for certain principles, either in religion or politics. The blacks have never yet taken up arms for the assertion of any princip'e. All the lighting they have ever done has been either at the dictation of others in this country — whilst in their own, they fight for revenge, plunder or robbery. What is civilization? I will endeavor to state it plainly. Man has two kinds of sight ; one is the common one, received through the eye of the body, and constitutes one of the senses by which he views all things external to him. The other sight is that of the mind's eye, which sees tilings above and within him. By this last mode of sight he perceives principles; he also, by the same sight, invents means for perfecting a life of happiness and comfort, in accordance with those principles. He adapts nature to his wants. He learns the sciences, he in- stitutes governments, builds works of beauty, becomes a poet, a painter, sculptor, and composes music descriptive of the affections. All this is done by the elevation of man's internal sight into the regions within and above external nature. This he can do though lie may be, at will, a wicked man. To do all these thing is called civilization, and the white race is peculiar for the capacity of thus lifting the mind's eye and seeing the various forms of truth and beauty in religion, science and art. Why has not Africa a city like Paris, London or New York ? Why has it no cathedrals, palaces, works of art, electric telegraphs, astrono- mical observatories, railroads, steam works, photographic gal- leries, dictionaries, written languages, etc ? Africa is as old as Europe, why has it not developed civilizing institutions ? They had the same Sun above them, the same external nature around them, but they had not the same capacity of internal or mental sight. They could not lift the mind's eye above, beyond, and within na- ture ; and reason out the creations of art and science. God did not give them this faculty, but instead of it, he gave the willingness to learn of the white man, to imitate his life, and to be willing to give his ear to listen to the teachings oi civilization. You can be edu- cated, and taught all the white man discovers or invents, but you cannot discover or invent for yourselves. You have the willing ear but not the seeing eye. It appears as though God had made the white race to be the eye of the world of mankind, and all the other races to be benefit- ted by their discoveries, if they should be found willing to receive them. By this I do not mean that the white race is, morally, or spiritually speaking, better than any other. They certainly have more advantages, but whether they use them for their eternal wel- fare, is a matter for God alone to judge. We know thi.-\ that the white race has formed Governments for the protection of property and life, they have taught moral aud religious obligations, they profess to" believe in what they teach ; and yet, in many ways we can COLORED PJSOPLE OF GEORGIA. 17 detect, that when tried, some are found, in reality and internally, no better than the worst of savages. Let a shipwreck occur, and the bonds and restraints of a lawful command be severed, Ave then too often find men breaking- loose like demons, plundering and doing violence to the unfortu- nates of the wreck. Let an earthquake devastate a city, and im- mediately hordes of plunderers and cutthroats, in the midst of this display of an irresistible power, (and when if ever man should stand appalled") rush among the ruins, to rob the sufferers and de- prive them of what the dread convulsion may have spared. If we go to our most favored cities, we see plainly, that civiliza- tion is only a gilded covering of the dreadful human will, which may b© as depraved in civilized Christendom as in the wilds of Africa, civilization is not therefore religion, it is but the handmaid of religion, enabling men to be better if they will. I suppose that Africa, China, the Mahommedans and all others, have as many peo- ple among them, who at heart are merciful, kind and benevolent, as the Christian nations have. That man, who when all restraints of reputation and the law are removed, has a disposition to do to others, as he would have others do to him, that man alone is re- ligiously right at heart and right with God, whether lie be Pagan or Christian, you, my black friends, may be as good as your white fellow beings in this particular, but you aro not their equals in what is called civilization. When we die, we shall not be judged by the amount of civilization we have, but by the use Ave have made of it; and by the heart, that lies behind all the glitter of worldly wisdom, and worldly acquisition. And yet civilazation is of God, and to do Gcd's work, and the people, Avho obstruct it, will be swept away. Because God uses civilization to force men on to trials, temptations, and combats, that in the struggle, truth may be born by which mankind may be made wiser and better. It may take you some time to comprehend this, but you may comprehend it, if you will try, and ponder it Avell. NUMBER VI. What is Youe Present Condition ? From slavery you in a moment became free. So sudden Avas the change that you Avere beAvildercd by it, and kneAv not how to regard your oavu position, ^ome of you Avere unA\ 7 iiling to leave your old masters. Some left their old homes in a hurry, to try how it felt to be free from the accustomed restraints. They wan- dered about, making their Avay to the toAvns and cities, where thousands died of small pox and other diseases. Others sought Avork, but A\dien found, were not willing to clo it. The steady and Avise among you, either remained with their old masters or estab- lished themselves in some useful mode of life. The vicious por- C AN ADDRESS TO THE tion betook tlieni selves to idle habits, thefts and every unlawful mode of life. On the whole, however, any one who is disposed to be candid, must admit that the black people behaved with wonderful propri- ety, considering the great and sudden change in their condition, from the restraints of slavery to an entire absence of all restraint. Your moderation on that occasion was a fitting sequence to your exemplary fidelity during the war. On both occasions ycu reilect- ed credit on yourselves, and on your former owners and guides. Had they been cruel and hard masters, as reported and believed, you would have rebelled against, instead of supporting them throughout the war : and would, after emancipation, have been vindictive and unruly. But you were neither rebellious during the war, nor vindictive after it, thus demonstrating that you respected and esteemed your old masters, and were yourselves well disposed people. Such was the state of good feeling existing, that had no further action been taken by the Northern enemies of the South, the so- cial position of the races would have been soon established on a practical basis of co-operative interests. The black people, knowing their own natural deficiencies in in- tellect, would have chosen to follow the leadings of the good and wise of the white race. They would have chosen their friends from among the most humane of the whites, and have followed their advice. Equal rights before the law, were accorded you as citizens of Georgia, and, as freedmen, your rights would have been respected. In a short time, Georgia would have been more prosperous under free labor than she had ever been under slave labor. But at this point the old enemies, of the South came in. They did not want the South to prosper, They wanted to make the South tributary and subservient to them and their interests. What did they do to stop our prosperity ? They disfranchised the whites, they gave votes to the blacks ; they set up a military rule over Georgia to compel the whites to submit; they sent emissaries among you to tell you, that your old masters were your Avorst ene- mies ; that they (our enemies) were your best friends; that you must vote for them and with them. They formed you into Union Leagues, and swore you to maintain their cause ; they pretended that if you did not support them you would be again reduced to slavery ; that the Union and the flag were in danger, and you must support it. These and other things they did to .divide the whites and the blacks into two hostile parties ; that by dividing us they might conquer the South and her principles, and make you the tool of our undoing. You have seen the result ; Georgia is poor and impoverished, and you and we are all the sufferers. All this trouble has come by attempting to place the two races in a false position. Let me ask you to consider this question. Suppose you had a steamboat, a ship, or a steam mill, and knew nothing about run- ning either of them, would you persist in being the captain of COLORKD TKOPLK OF (tKO.K(jl'A, If the boat or the ship, when you knew not how to manage either? Would von not he likely to destroy what yon could not properly use? What sort of a figure would I, or any landsman, make in command of a ship at sea? Would not certain destruction over- take the ship and all on board? Yet this very tiling* our Northern enemies have done with Geor- gia. The management of the {State requires wise heads. These heads have to be chosen by enlightened people ; but our enemies said the white and enlightened people of Georgia shall not choose the officers of government, but the black people, who know noth- ing- a 1 tout the matter, shall choose them. ( Georgia is our snip, in which are embarked the prosperity of whites and blacks. If she goes down we all go down. Do you wish, because you are a citizen of Georgia, to claim the right to command, though you know nothing of government ? Do you wish to control civilization, when you have not the necessary in- tellect ? You wish, or should wish to become civilized men, can you become so without the guidance of your white fellow citizens ? Our enemies, who put you in command of our ship, Georgia, in- tended by it to wreck you and us ; are you so silly as to play into their hands by accepting the command? In speaking of the North and the South, I wdsh you to remem- ber, I do not include every man in the North when I say "the North." By "the North" I mean, only that power, which has been warring against our rights as a State. There are many, (I hope a majority there), who side with us, but they are not in power now. And by "the South," I do not mean every man in the South. For there are many here, who are the enemies of the black people, who wonld misuse them, and who like Judas of old, would sell their principles, if they had any, for filthy lucre and place. But by the South, I mean the people in general, who have shown by their acts that they are friends to your true interests and that of Geor- gia. You have then to take your choice between the Northern and the Southern side of the question, between your own State and a foreign State, between your own interests and the interests of strangers, enemies of civilized freedom, choose between the North- ern and the Southern man. In making your choice, bear in mind who it Avas, that sold you into slavery to the South — the NORTH, who w^as it that after selling you, have been endeavouring for years to mal