The blacks whom, in a fit of virtuous benevolence, we
emancipated, do not feel particularly obliged to us. They think, if
they think at all, that they were [115] ill-treated originally, and
have received no more than was due to them."
Thus far. Now, as to "the whites whom we planted as our
representatives," and who, Mr. Froude avers, are drifting into ruin,
we confess to a total ignorance of their whereabouts in these islands
in this jubilee year of Negro Emancipation. Of the representatives
of Britain immediately before and after Emancipation we happen to
know something, which, on the testimony of Englishmen, Mr. Froude
will be made quite welcome to before our task is ended. With respect
to Mr. Froude's statement as to the ingratitude of the emancipated
Blacks, if it is aimed at the slaves who were actually set free, it
is utterly untrue; for no class of persons, in their humble and
artless way, are more attached to the Queen's majesty, whom they
regard as incarnating in her gracious person the benevolence which
Mr. Froude so jauntily scoffs at. But if our censor's remark under
this head is intended for the present generation of Blacks, it is a
pure and simple absurdity.
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