THE COMMONWEAILTH:
Published Every Saturday by The Commonwealth Publishing
Company, at 414 W. HOFFMAN STREET, Baltimore, Md.
ERNEST LYON, EDITOR. :
Subscription: One copy, one year, 75 Cents; Six months, 40
Cents, in advance. Single copy, Two Cents.
The Commonwealth may be had at any of the branch offices,
or sub-stations.
[ts history is divided into five
periods: 1. Colonization. 2. Independence. 3. Invasion of British
Influence. 4. Loan of 1906. 5. The American Rapproachment.
i . . j ;
I'hese five periods contain all the important events which have tran
spired during the life of the little republic, the only constitutional
government, under the dominance of colored people on the \West
{"oast of Alrica
The first indications of an awakened conscience on the crime
of slavery in America was the voluntary manumission of slaves by
their humane masters. These, with other free Negroes formed a
jarge class who longed to find an asylum in which they and their
children might escape the dehumanizing influence of slavery. This
feeling was fostered by philanthropic white men, who were con
stant in their devotion to the furtherance of the Negroes’ causc.
The most notable event in this direction was the emigration
expedition of Paul Cuffee, a colored man from the State of Massa
chusetts, a navigator by profession, and a ship owner. He was born
in 1719 in the city of New Bedford. He brooded over the wrongs oi
corporal bondage and consecrated himself to its relief, as he thought,
by the peaceful method of colonization.
Captain Cuffee’s labors culminated in the expedition of 1815,
when he sailed from Doston for Africa with forty of his countrymen
t 0 find a place where he and his people may enjoy civil and religious
liberty, under institutions founded according to their own sense of
justice. This same year the Sun of the Great Napoleon set upon the
solitary Island of St. Helena to rise no more.
The expenses of the trip which amounted to four thousand dol
lars were paid by Mr. Cuffee himself. He died the next year, how
ever, before he could witness the success of his work : but in the midst
of extensive plans for a greater exodus which was an inspiration to
others who were to follow his example.
The Kaiser has knocked the bottom out of Warsaw, the capital
of the Polish nation, and his victorious army has made a mad rush
for Petrograd, the national stronghold of the Czar. 'Territory thus
acquired will not be relinquised easily. Sixty million of people, as
aggressive and potential as the Germans, must have room for national
expansion, greater than is afforded by the present limitations. li
the Allies have succceded in wresting from the Kaiser his African
colonies—which relieved the natural congestion—then Europe must
furnish the substitute. With the Belgian Kingdom, the Polish na
tion, a great slice of the Russian Empire—together with Alsace and
Lorraine annexed to the Kaiser's domains—the future of Imperialism,
at least so far as Europe is concerned is guaranteed, and all that the
Lion and the Bear can do will be to roar and growl, the one in his
insular den. and the other in his polar haunts. The COMMONWEALTH
doffs its hat to the Kaiser, and joins in the universal admiration for
the courage and heroism displayed by the men at the siege of \War
saw. Hoc der Kaiser.
The Republic of Haiti has at last fallen a prey to the wiles of
American diplomacy. These brave people who defied the martial
intrigues of Napoleon, and the diplomatic subtlety of LeClerc, to re
introduce slavery upon their Island home, have become victims to
their own spleen—so that what neither Napoleon, nor LeClerc, nor
Grant, could do, have been done by them—and now St. Mole Island,
long desired by the Washington Government, as a coaling station.
and which the Haitians refused to grant. is now practically assured.
A man’s greatest enemy is one of his own household. Haiti's great
est enemy is Haiti. The United States would never have landed an
armed force upon the territory of a friendly nation, at peace with her,
SATURDAY AUGUST 21 1915,
THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.
COLONIZATION,
WARSAW,
HAITI.
Liberia 'is not the only inde
pendent black nationality in the
world. Neither is it the only Eng
ish Speaking Community on the
West Coust of Africa, but 1t 15 the
only independent black nationality
of English speaking people in the
world, and as such occupies un
doubtedly a unique place in the
family of nations; in the consider
ation of mankind generally, and
particularly the people and gov
ernment of the United States,
whose legitimate offspring it Is.
unless that nation permitted it. Haiti made it possible by continual
revolutions—which are a disgrace to civilization. We can sympathize
with a brave people struggling against a foreign foe, but we can have
no sympathy for fractriciders. The moral of this international inci
dent is easy of application to the Negro race in the United States.
The greatest enemy of the Negro in the United States is the Negro
himseld. .
Are we really going to war with Mexico? If journalistic and
diplomatic indications count for anything the COMMONWEALTH
is inclined to answer in the affirmative. What a pity that the Monrce
Doctrnie should bring this government of the United States mto so
many international entanglements. Mexico 1s not Haiti. The experi
ment will be more than a cake-walk. There is not a bit of doubt as
to the outcome, but the experiment will be a costly one, in life and
property. Let us hope that diplomacy will prove effective, and that
intervention, which is war, will be unnecessary. |
Bishop Earl Cranston is the senior bishop of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. In many respects he is one of the most wonderful
men of his day. His religious zeal and mental activity at his age
have won the admiration of the whole church so much so as to
cause general reaction against the rule of the last General Conter
ence in automatically retiring the bishops at the age of seventy-five.
Such a practice may be applicable in the case of many men—for
while all men may be created equal—all men are not created alike
in physical and mental qualities. DBishops Cranston, [Tamilton and
Hartzell belong to a class by themselves, and it is unfortunate that
their activities upon the Episcopal bench should be regulated by a
human practice, which, while representing the consensus of the
wisdom of a great body, may be utterly out of harmony with the
divine wisdom. These men are still vigorous in body and in mind
and no practice as such should place a limitation upon their activi
ties. The CoyyoxwEeAaLTH reproduces Bishop Cranston’s letter to
Zion's Herald. as an evidence of its contention that a mind capable of
lsuch utterances should be in the fore and not in the rear.
, “I favored the plan adopted by th last General Conference. The old
method was a harrowing process. The age limit seems better to a bishop
| o this veteran at least. I shall gladl; accept freedom from the graver re
| sponsibiltics of the office, hoping still to serve the church in some capacity
’ should it please God to continue years and strength. Indeed, it is pleasant
to think that my day of wearing toil i declining, for | see no night ahead.
\What I see is the welcome radiance o sunset prefiguring the glory of the
i soul’s (.‘tt‘l'l'lél] tomorrows of service without wearines_s, where the uncpupted
vears do not take toll of strength, and where there is therefore no limit to
l cffective service. Immortals never retire.”
] The editor of the COMMONWEALTH was present at the last general
conference. which retired Bishops Moore, Neeley and others, and a
Imore pathetic scene than that one could hardly be reproduced for
human study. Some of the men who were weeping over the scene
were foremost in wishing to bring it about. The Anglo-American 13
an anomaly. e is capable of performing many queer antics, and
the Afro-American is not only a close student but a faithful imitator.
THE LANDING OF HAM AT JAMESTOWN.
On Tuesday, August 31, under the presidency of Editor Lyon.
of the CoMMONWEALTH, in the afternoon and evening, will be held
in Paradise Grove, a fitting celebration of the 296th anniversary of
the landing of our forebears at Jamestown, Virginia. Such an im
portant historical event in the history of the race, with the necessary
Ilcssons, should have due accentuation. A rich and worthy program
lis being arranged and due notice will be given of the same. Several
prominent speakers will be present to deliver appropriate addresses.
When we pause sufficiently long to note the pitiable condition of
the group of “black mankind,” sold by the Dutch traders, to the
planters at Jamestown, and then, think what tremendous progress
k.h:m been crowded into 296 vears, by the descendants of this ancient
group, amid all the horrors, shame and degradation visited upon black
people during all these years, it would, indeed, be a most gracious
ithing for the race to close this memorable month of August with a
}large popular gathering, rehearsing the mercies of Providence, and
cathering inspiraton for a well sustained effort, four years hence.
‘when, in a more imposing way, we should celebrate the 300th an
niversary of the landing of the people of Ham on the banks of the
James.
THE BLACK MAN-—SUI
GENERIS.
All forces are united against the
black man. His skin is against
him in every corimunity in the
United States.
As a scholar, as an orator, and
as a genius, he commands admira
tion until his face is seen, when
his admirers shrink back, to with
hold what the merit of the situa
tion would accord to any other
one with a white face. Color in
American society seems to be the
standard of merit and the pass
port to recognition.
MEXICO.
BISHOP CRANSTON.
How long will this condition
last—in a democratic community
with a population noted for its
hetero-geniety—unlike any other
community in the world. Does
this condition exist because the
black man is sui-generis? Not al
together so. The situation is in
fluenced by the traditional rela
tion of the black man to the white
man in the United States.
His relation to this same black
man is quite different in any other
country other than the United
States, notably the West Indies,
Central and South America, Eu
rope and Africa.. - In these coun-