Denizen Robert Smalls

I read in The Enquirer this morning that Captain Smalls, the famous Negro who stole his ship from the Confederates in Charleston, was ejected from a streetcar on his way into town from the Philadelphia Naval Yard. The conductor of the streetcar claims he was simply enforcing the city's ordinances, which forbid Negroes riding on a public conveyance. The man was just doing his job, then, and the question, I suppose, is whether the ordinance itself is ill-advised and should be reformed.

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Philadelphia, less than fifty miles from the Mason-Dixon line, is a haven for runaway Negroes. The city has had a large population of these people throughout my lifetime, and we find their ranks swelling since the war broke out. We encounter Negroes now throughout our day, and the city probably could not function in its current state without their labor as cooks, maids, stewards, delivery boys, gardeners, and so forth.

One encounters the occasional Negro such as Captain Smalls. The shop owner, the…, well, you get my point. Such individuals are a rarity in their race, and must we upset the natural order of society to make room for the rare exception?

I have not had the pleasure of meeting Captain Smalls. One hopes, as his ship is scheduled to be in the shipyard for several months, he may yet find his way into a drawing room where we could make his acquaintance. I understand he cuts quite the figure, articulate and charming. His reputation is so much more attractive than some of the abolitionist, radical Negroes. He is, after all, a warrior in a time of war.

Here is the point. What in the world will we do with all these Negroes if they are, indeed, freed? One feels the time is coming. Will they then all choose to move to Philadelphia? Will there be entire neighborhoods taken over by them? Will there be schools full of Negro children? Will there be gangs of Negro youth walking our streets, terrifying the populace?

And will there be more Negroes like Captain Smalls, engaged in activities hitherto reserved for those members of the better parts of society?

The possibilities make the head spin. The only reasonable solution, I think, will be to send these unfortunate creatures back to Africa. Perhaps there, the more intelligent ones, like Captain Smalls, carrying in him his father's white blood and abilities, could fashion a society based on democracy and education and law, carving out something of a modern nation in the wild jungles of their forebears.

In the meantime, if I were ever to set foot on a public streetcar, which, I confess, I am most unlikely ever to do, I would certainly not want to find sitting in front of me a Negro of any kind, even the well-dressed, well-mannered Captain Smalls. I'm just speaking plainly here. You have to draw the line somewhere. If we didn't draw lines, we couldn't function as a society. Let the public rancor swell, roar for a while, and then let it die down. If we change our ordinances about Negroes on public conveyances, we'll live to regret it.