INTRODUCTION.
In the autumn of 1890 I was commissioned by The Times to go to the southern part of the United States in order to study upon the spot the conditions of the very extraordinary social problem which has gradually arisen there during the past two hundred years, and which has assumed new and peculiar importance since the manumission of the negroes and “coloured” people, and the nominal extension to them of all the privileges of American citizenship. For this study I was in some degree prepared, not only by a long-indulged fondness for the subject, but also by a previous residence in the United States. The result of my inquiries took the form of a series of ten letters, which appeared in The Times in November and December, 1890, and in January of the present year. These letters, with considerable additions, and with such corrections as fuller knowledge and the kind assistance of numerous correspondents have suggested, are now reprinted. They embrace, I think, a fair and comprehensive view of the problem in all its most significant aspects. I have conversed, without prejudice, with whites and with blacks, with Republicans and with Democrats, with men who are in office, and with men who are anxious to find themselves there; and I have not consciously closed my ears to any argument from any quarter. This volume, therefore, may, I trust, be accepted as containing a true account of a state of affairs which is without parallel in the history of modern civilisation, and which is, no doubt, destined to exercise a momentous, and possibly a terrible, influence upon the future of America.
Briefly summarised, the situation in the South is as follows. The inhabitants, black and white, have all been given equal rights by the amended Constitution of the Union. Each man of full age is as much a citizen as his fellow. That is the view of the law, from Maine to California. But in the South there are several millions of people whose veins contain more or less negro blood. A generation ago these people, or their parents, were, almost without exception, slaves in the hands of the Southern whites. A great revolution was effected. The black suddenly ceased to be a slave; and, within a few years, he was presented not only with his freedom, but also, in theory at least, with all the privileges that were previously the sole possession of the white. This raising of the black from the depths of slavery to the heights of citizenship was the work of outside forces. It was not done by the Southern white, nor, save as regards mere manumission, was it done with his approval or consent. He was not in a position to resist the will of the victorious North. Indeed, the North imperiously forced its will upon him, and even used as its agents the very blacks who had but just been liberated from bondage. This policy created bad blood between whites and blacks. From the moment of its full enforcement harmonious working between blacks and whites in the field of politics, and in most other spheres, became impossible. The Southern white assumed a sullenly rebellious attitude. He determined that he would render a dead letter the grant of citizenship to the black; and to a very large extent he has done so. But, in the meantime, the black, in certain districts, has been increasing more rapidly than the white; and to-day, in some of those districts, he actually outnumbers him, while in others he equals him, and will outnumber him in the early future. Still, nevertheless—even where he is in a conclusive minority—the Southern white persists in his dogged resolution not to allow the black to meddle with the machinery of government, not to permit him for an instant to wear the full robe of citizenship that has been presented to him by the North. This is the bare kernel of the situation. Hitherto the black has, upon the whole, meekly submitted to this illegal deprivation of his rights. Can he be expected to submit for ever? Or will he some day attempt by force to seize that to which he is by law entitled? Should he ever do this, either alone or backed by all the resources of the North, there will be a scene of horror such as the South never witnessed in the darkest days of the Civil War. So much is absolutely certain.
What follows aspires to be an impartial review not only of the present aspects but also of the past history of the complex problem which has thus been created. It includes, also, a humble suggestion for the permanent solution of that problem. I have attempted to show, firstly, where the problem exists in its most pressing and dangerous form; secondly, the reasons which impel the South to refuse to constitutionally solve the problem by allowing the majority to rule; thirdly, the intolerable position of the Southern black; and, fourthly, the intolerable position of the Southern white. The position of all parties concerned naturally demands that some way out of the difficulty should be invented. I have, therefore, gone on to show, fifthly, what solutions have been advocated, and why they must all be ineffective; and, sixthly, what appears to me to be the best, the most just, and the only radical solution.
This solution is one which, I admit, I almost despair of seeing carried out. The peaceable removal of the negroes from the United States, and their establishment across the ocean in a country and in circumstances that would be propitious not only to their own development but also to the development of their barbarous kindred, are measures which would involve very great expense. But it is not, I believe, on the score of expense that the average American is likely to reject the scheme. His great inheritance provides him with wealth more than sufficient to enable him to pay all his debts, including those huge ones which he owes to the black. He is much more likely to adopt a characteristic attitude such as he has adopted in the past towards many other threatening questions. One of the most distinguished of living American statesmen said to me in November last: “If my country should ever come to frightful disaster, it will be, I am convinced, because it is the incurable habit of my countrymen to cherish the belief that they are so much the special care of Providence that it would be superfluous, on their part, to take even simple and ordinary precautions for their own protection.”