THE AMERICAN FREEDMAN AND HIS TEACHERS. T HE late meeting of
the English Freedmen's Aid Associa- tions at Bristol recalls attention to a feature of the late American struggle to which but scanty justice has as yet been done by Europe—the efforts made by the North for the moral and intellectual improvement of that race with whose legal freedom the restoration of the Union was seen by degrees to be essentially bound up. It is no doubt true that almost every step in that wonderful series which culminated in the amendment of the Constitution declaring slavery for ever abolished throughout the Union, and now only needing a vote or two to become law, was taken as a war measure, —that the legal enfranchisement of the slave was the work of war, not of peace. The true work of peace was the pro- viding for the freedman, teaching him, raising him to his true status as an American citizen. That such a work should have been undertaken and unflinchingly carried on from a very early period of the war,—that the noble soldiers of peace should have fought their way, as it were, side by side with the soldiers of war, whithersoever the latter might penetrate, is one of the most wonderful features of this grand struggle, and one to which it were bard to find a parallel in the history of human warfare. And whilst the war army is being rapidly disbanded, the peace army has still to fight on its own noble crusade against the ignorance, help- lessness, and degradation of the coloured race,—nor indeed of that alone. In short, of the three great charitable organiza- tions, or groups of organizations, evolved by the war, the Sanitary Commissions, the Christian Commission, and the Freedmen's Aid Associations, the last alone subsists, and stands out as the main purpose for realizing which the most generous energies of the American people have still to be called forth, towards permanently healing the discords and chasing away for ever the perils of the past.
It would be idle here to attempt to enumerate the different societies now in existence in the United States for the relief or benefit of the freedmen. Their work, and the spirit in Tali& it is carried on, and the thoughts which it suggests to the workers, can best be realized by a sample taken from the recent records of one of them. Here is the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin for August, 1865, published at Phila- delphia for the "Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association." Since April 21, 1865, this body has received nearly 7,000 dols. in contributions. It has charge of and contains reports from 4 schools in South Carolina, 5 in Tennessee, 4 in Alabama, 7 in Washington, 3 in Virginia, with over 3,500 pupils on their registers, and an average attendance of nearly 2,800. The teaching extends generally to geography, sometimes to. history, and even physiology. The schools are far from being, as is sometimes asserted, attended mainly by sharp half- breeds. Out of 380 pupils on the school registers of South Carolina, only 38 are set down as mulattoes, 342 as pure blacks ; and to show that these latter fairly enter into the higher studies, it is sufficient to say that the number of pupils who study mental arithmetic is 151; of those who study written arithmetic, 117; and geography, 116. Thereports are uniform. as to the people's eagerness to learn. At Nashville "multitudes- are denied admission to the schools because there is no room for them ;" and the superintendent "has only to say, that during a long experience in teaching he has never witnessed such eagerness for learning, such ready adaptation to the re- gulations of a new school" or such quiet, sensible behaviour- as characterized the children thus gathered." "The children of Murfreesboro' are above the average as regards capability, and the rapid development of the freed people at this point in their industrial relations exceeds the most sanguine ex- pectations of their warmest friends," says the superintendent. for Tennessee and North Alabama, who also mentions the- interesting fact that "this summer three coloured teachers. are in the employ of our association, all of whom obtained their education in our own schools." Mr. Walton, the prin- cipal of Keystone school, Stevenson (Alabama), says of his- pupils that "their ambition and energy in learning to read and write are truly remarkable in many cases." And he- instances an old washerwoman who "regularly gets up before daylight, attends to her household duties, does her washing, ironing, &c., with her open book in sight, and then comes to- school, and studies most faithfully while there ;" an aged woman living more than a mile off, who "works early and late to perform her home duties, And walks in here to school twice a day ;" a middle-aged woman, residing ten miles off, who left her home expressly to attend school, and "cooks and washes to pay her boarding ;" an oldish man who gave up his business, and sold his shop, "that he might give his undivided attention to the improvement of his mind at school." Is this a mere craving for a show of book learning? Is. there no moral development side by side with the intellec- tual? Mr. Walton declares that "the coloured people here [Alabama] are adopting a higher standard of virtue and morality than they heretofore maintained," and quotes a fact which speaks volumes to all who know the atrocious sup- pression or profanation of the marriage tie under the slave system, the issuing of a licence to a coloured man, "previously selected by a conference of the coloured people," for the legal performance of the marriage ceremony among them, and the granting of marriage certificates.
But the most instructive portion of the report consists- in the insight which it affords into the condition of the South, through the impressions produced on the teachers themselves by their contact with the freedmen, as well as with other classes of the Southern population. "Intense hatred, con- tempt, and a desire for revenge," says the lady-superintendent at St. Helena Island, South Carolina, seem to be the ruling feelings of all South Carolina whites, rich or poor, and if voting is ever to be the reward of education, they will take- care there shall be no education for the blacks." Although the state of feeling in Tennessee and Alabama seems far healthier, the superintendent at Stevenson declares that unless "ceaseless efforts" are made at Washington on behalf of the freedmen "they will be so situated after awhile that their con- dition will be but little superior to that of slavery." But nowhere has the condition of things been worse than in and about Richmond. Miss Julia A. Wilbur, who went there on the 15th May, declares that "for about two weeks it was abso- lutely a reign of terror for the coloured people It was a shocking sight to see men hung up by their wrists with ropes, and writhing with agony, and all for no crime, but merely to gratify some negro-hating officer Rebels would look on and say, We told you so. See what you get for wanting the Yankees to come. How do you like Yankee freedom ?"
The remedy against such evils, says at least one of the teachers, is the political enfranchisement of the negro. "How earnestly," says the superintendent at St. Helena Island, "we, who have so long lived and worked here, in the most intimate knowledge of the people, hope for suffrage to the blacks, I cannot tell you. Just so surely as their old masters return and vote without check, we are defeated, and go home disappointed, driven out, triumphed over, leaving the people to be kept in darkness and oppression of various kinds. Three of the old rebels have returned to their former planta- tions, and two of them find their land portioned out, and some of it sold to the people. They have warned no more to purchase, as in the fall they shall resume possession Rev. Mr. Faller came back to the place now known as Mr Ruggles', one of Mr. Philbrick's purchased places, upon which he has erected a large store. Mr. Fuller said to Mr. Ruggles that he was well pleased to see that his property had been well preserved for him, and he should return to the enjoyment of it in the fall."
Still Miss Laura Towne, the writer of the above may be supposed carried away by the impulsive feelings of her sex. But the Rev. A. B. Bradford, after his visit of exploration and observation to Tennessee, is equally strong in favour of negro suffrage. He declares of the negroes that "they are the wisest, the best, and the safest class in the South. They understand the issue now before the nation better than the whites. They ask land and the ballot, and assure their former masters that this will secure labour, wealth, and peace. In loyalty, in religion, and civilization the testimony of the army and that of the teachers confirm me in the belief that the blacks . . . . have the pre-eminence." He declares that Northerners "have no conception of the idealess condition of the Southern mind."
One of the most remarkable features about the various volun- tary associations which grew up out of the war has been their recognition by and co-operation with the Government. Thus General Howard, on assuming charge of the "Bureau of Re- fugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands," issued a circular de- claring that "it is not the intention of Government that this Bureau shall supersede the various benevolent organizations in the work of administering relief. This must still be afforded by the benevolence of the people through their voluntary societies. . . . . The various commissioners will look to the associations labouring in their respective districts to provide as heretofore for the wants of these destitute people. I invite therefore the contnuance and co-operation of such societies. I trust they will still be generally supported by the people, and request them to send me their names, lists of their principal officers, and a brief statement of their present work.' Again, "The utmost facility will be afforded to benevolent and religious organizations and State authorities in the maintenance of good schools (for refuges and freedmen)." And again, "Let me repeat, that in all this work it is not my purpose to supersede the benevolent agencies already engaged in it, but to system- atize and facilitate them."
May this blessed fellowship of work between the State and the people of the 'United States long continue ! The task yet before both is enormous, the energies of neither should be suffered to flag. Can we in England do nothing to help them ?
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