WHITE AND BLACK.
(To TILE r.Di rnn of THE "SPECCAFOR.1 Sin,—The letter of your correspondent "L. S." is one breathing fully the spirit of the former slave-owners of the Southern States of the American Union. The treatment of the coloured man in the United States is the disgrace of the Union. To speak of the "everlasting subjection" of the negroes to the white race is worthy of a Transvaal Boer or of a disciple of Nietzsche. I have known in my youth French refugees from St. Domingo who had owned slaves. They have told me that never was the island so well governed as under Toussaint l'Onverture, the negro, whose overthrow by the first Napoleon was one of the worst crimes of that arch- criminal. Has "L. S." ever heard of Moshesh, the Basuto— to my mind one of the most remarkable Sovereigns known to history—who extinguished cannibalism in his country, estab- lished friendship with the Zulus by sending them a present of cattle after defeating them, invited missionaries into his country (though he never became a Christian), sued for peace with England atioe repelling Sir George Cathcart's attack on his stronghold of Thaba-Bossiti, defeated a Boer invasion, compelled President Boshoff of the Free State to sue for peace, and only granted it on condition that all differences should be referred to Sir George Grey, then Governor of the Cape Another great Bechnana chief (the Basutos are Bechuanas by race), Khama, is at this moment keeping his country successfully from Boer attacks, a thousand armed men patrolling it day and night, and offers protection to any English ladies who may take refuge with him. That the black races are largely child races I fully admit. But I assert as strongly that they can be trained into manhood. To take what may seem to many a trivial instance. Many years ago I was staying with a friend in Suffolk. The rector of the parish was a white Englishman, the temporary curate a West African negro, who would return to his country. Beyond all question the black curate was a better preacher, a better educated and abler man, than the white rector,—his superior, in 'fact, in every respect except—from the white man's point of view—the colour of his skin.—I am, Sir, &c., J. M. LEDLONII.
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