One hundred years ago
NOW that almost every soldier who enlisted in the armies of the Union and suffered even from a cold in his head has been pensioned, the Republican Party are looking out for some fresh scheme for keeping the surplus under. They seem to have found a pretty sub- stantial one in the Bill which will shortly be introduced into Congress by Mr. Connell, of Nebraska. His plan is to pension the emancipated Negroes. Mr. Frederick Douglas, the most prominent person of Negro blood in the States, has written a letter warmly supporting the plan. He declares that "the nation has sinned against the Negro, robbed him of the rewards of his labour for a period of two hundred years, and its repentance will not be genuine or complete until, according to the measure of its ability, it shall have made retribution." "There never was," he continues, "and never can be a proposal more just and more beneficent than that contained in your Pension Bill." Apparently, Mr. Douglas holds that the Negroes, instead of being merely emancipated, should have been endowed with the means of subsistence, as was the Russian serf, who received three acres of land and farming tools: and he now wants to set this wrong right. The proposal is, of course, utterly absurd and fantastic, and is not meant to be carried out. If it were it would entirely deprave the Negroes, whose only hope of moral improvement lies in hard work. It may, however, have a con- siderable effect on the Presidential elec- tion. Hitherto, the Negroes have been content not to vote, or to vote, as the Whites direct. It is possible that the hope of a pension may make them break away from the control of the Democrats, and vote the Republican ticket.
The Spectator, 22 August 1891
Previous page
