FUTURE OF THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH. 153 



Although the country, as a whole, will, of course, suffer from the fail- 

 ure to elevate the Macks, the hurden will lie most heavily on those 

 with whom they dwell. 



The Southern whites have given evidence of political capacity of a 

 high order. Even their blunder in the rebellion is in good part com- 

 pensated for by the sagacity with which they accepted the results of the 

 war and turned them to the best account they could. They are not 

 likely to cower before the vast undertakings which the uplifting of the 

 blacks will entail; as yet, they have not accepted the task as their own. 

 They have indeed been brought to believe that their business was to de- 

 fend their own class interests, as well as they might be able to, against 

 the attacks of the negroes, aided by the Federal power. If they are 

 forced to see that within the limits the Federal Constitution sets to 

 action, the responsibility for the future of their several States is in the 

 hands of those who control their politics, we may hope to find the 

 political and economic skill which went to the development of the 

 system of slavery given to the advancement of the Africans. While 

 the work must needs be done by the men who are near to it, it should 

 receive every possible aid and sympathy from those who, because they 

 are far away, can not effectively control the matter. The cause is so 

 large that it needs the help of all who wish it well. 



It appears to me that the time has come for an effective union of 

 endeavor on the part of those of North and South, ex-slaveholder and 

 ex-abolitionist alike, who wish to see the negro have, not his rights in 

 the common sense of the word (for mere rights are a pitiful share for 

 a man), but rather a good human chance to climb the ladder of civiliza- 

 tion, upon which our ancestors set him. The aims of these two ancient 

 parties surely have for a common end the best that can be done for the 

 negro people. It is just as much a mistake to suppose that the majority 

 of the slaveholders in a malign spirit sought to oppress and torture the 

 blacks, as to fancy that the abolitionists desired to set the negroes over 

 their sometime masters; for history will probably write it down that the 

 better men of these two parties were both dealing with the same very 

 difficult problem: that their contentions grew from a failure on both 

 sides to see the whole of the matter. 



It is possible that something might be done to help towards effective 

 work, looking to the end we have in view, through a society for the 

 study of the African problem. Such an association, provided it in- 

 cluded men who were guided by a true spirit of inquiry and had no 

 political ends to win, especially if it was in part made up of Southern- 

 ers who had a large-minded view of the matter, could do much to guide 

 action in profitable ways. In general, I am opposed to the increase in 

 the number of societies; so that, if there be any in existence that could 

 fairly undertake this task, I should prefer to see it set about the work. 



