The United States Government has appointed Mr. Frederic Douglas, the
mulatto Abolitionist, its Minister to Hayti, and the appointment is quoted everywhere as proof that the dis- like between the races is dying out. It is undoubtedly proof that the Government at Washington tries to remove all traces of race inequality, but we fear that justice above only in- creases the hatred below. All accounts which reach us from the South point to an increasing tension between Whites and Negroes, shown in the constant lynchings of black men when suspected of crime, and in frequent insurrections against the lynchers. The Blacks accuse the Whites of refusing them their right to vote, and the Whites accuse the Blacks of assaulting white women so frequently as to destroy their freedom of locomotion on the roads, and indeed anywhere, with- out protection. Both statements appear to be substantially true, and the irritation of feeling is in some districts most profound. On the other hand, education spreads, and in- creasing numbers of the more capable Negroes enter the professions, and prosper in some descriptions of business. Some of the most capable of them, however, are seriously alarmed at the position of affairs, and doubt if the Negroes and the Whites can continue to live and labour side by side.
Previous page
