OUTRAGES ON COLORED SOLDIERS.

From the Philadelphia Press, March 22.

IF colored soldiers are to be treated with indignity by the conductors of passenger cars, we mistake the temper of Philadelphia and the laws of Pennsylvania. The men who refuse to soldiers of the United States even the miserable privilege of riding on the platforms of the cars, at night, will be punished by the censure of the community, and ought to bear the penalties of law. The insult to the uniform is plain even to those who do not care for the insult to the race. Below will be found an account of the expulsion of two colored non-commissioned officers from one of the cars of the Fifth-street road, which will make the blood of many a reader burn with indignation.

Yesterday a colored man, whose only offence was that he carried a banner with the legend "Greeley is Coming," was beaten by a number of rowdies, and this outrage resulted in a brutal attack on one of the most eminent of our clergymen. The spirit which instigates such outrages does not rise to the dignity of wickedness. It is an extraordinary meanness, of which many ruffians, guerillas, bounty-jumpers, and pirates would be ashamed. The men who would glory over the expulsion of Union soldiers from the street cars, knock down colored men from mere wantonness, and beat clergymen who object to such brutality, are so far below the level of well-behaved brutes that it is doubtful if they could find common street cars to acknowledge them as masters.

The temperate conduct of the colored people, in spite of these extreme provocations, deserves the highest praise. Without yielding to injustice, they endure it, strong in the faith that the right must triumph. But we warn the persons who wrong them that Philadelphia will not bear these insults much longer. For the sake of her reputation we demand that these men, who treat free citizens as slaves, should be taught that the spirit of slavery is banished from the North.
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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There is currently no available "Beginner" label. The following is the default level label: The National Anti-Slavery Standard was the American Anti-Slavery Society's official newspaper. It was published from 1840 to 1870. This article, reprinted from the Philadelphia Press, tells of the mistreatment of Afro-American soldiers on a street car in Philadelphia, where they were attacked by a crowd. It comments on the conductors refusing Afro-American soldiers passage on passenger cars. The article also condemns those who treat free citizens as slaves.

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