The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1861-10-30
HOW TT LOOKS IN FRANCE.

A man placed amid the smoke and din Of this
great battle, does not occupy as good stand
point to obtain clear view Of the field one
situated on the other side of the Atlantic hence
the earnestly expressed opinions of honest and
intelligent men in Europe interesting at least
if not valuable.
The Paris Siecel represents and expresses the
liberal sentiments of France, and may therefore
be supposed to be free from fe,ters imposed by
diplomatic policy and intrigue, as we'll as from
that hatred Of all liberal forms of government
which cbaracterizes those who are welded to le-
gitnacy and conservatism. This paper, after
first expressing the opinion that it would have
been bette; that the States of the North and the
South should have separated peacefully and by
agreement, proceeds:
but is it too late to have recourse to such
! means? We think it is; and the Americans
themselves seem to enterr lin precisely the same
opinion. War is now being Waged between the
North and South; and it is now bound TO work
out its natural result, since no one in the world
possesses either the power or the will to separate
the combarants.
"As there is, therefore, no present hope of
peace, let US see what result must necessarily
flow from war. The most important of these is
the inevitable suppression of Slavery.
elf the abolition Of that 'nstitution'-as it is
called in the United States-has not been already
distinctly proclaimed in the North, it ia easy to
see. from certain measures already adopted, that
such step on the part of the Federal Govern
ment cannot be long delayed. We fervently
wish that this great act of reparation could be
| accomplished, and vet We can see at the same
| time all the difficulties attending such STEP"
| The same thought is rapidly gaining the mas
terry over all other thoughts, and doctrines, and
prepossessiOns in the hearts cf the American
people. Like the Frenchman, they feel that the
thing is inevitable; that the blow must be struck
at the very heart Of the evil that its tap-roOt
must be cut; but, how? when? by whom: are
the appalling questions that instantly present
themselves, and cause calm, thinking men to
pause and drive back the terrible question from
the lips to the deep, silent council chambers OF
the heart.
| The French editor frankly acknowledges the
difficulties in the way Of the solution of this mo.
mentOus question; and amongst those difficulties
he recognizes the unconquerable prejudice Of
race, as be calls it, everywhere prevalent in
America, as the chief. Were the enslaved peo.
pie race which could amalgamate and become
assimilated with and lost in the great mass of the
people, there would be no serious difficult. atten.
ding universal emancipation. He quotes Jeffer
son, where he says that /" it is certain that two
races equally free, can never live under the same
government ;" and then remarks that "preju
dice, stronger than all principles, has imperative
y separated the whites from the blacks, and Law
strives in vain to reunite them )" and maintains
that were slavery abolished at once, the decree
could result in nothing better than the formation
of large inferior caste, a replacement Of slaves
by parias.
There is no resisting this logic. Nature, pref
udice, opinion, taste, or something, has marked
out line of separation which We, as a dlstinc
people, cannot or will not get over. The ire
sistible conclusion then is that one of US Ough
not to be here. Two races that cannot, or viii
not, or shall not intermarry, ought to separate
if they would both be free and equal
To enslave men because they are of different
color from ourselves is a manifest wrong; bu
there is no Injustice in declining those social ALI
ances which knit society tog ether, far as they
are concerned. 1t would be just as wrong tt
drive them into banishment as to enslave them
This, of course, is not to be thought of but i
the government shall be driven, by the force o
circumstances, and of public opinion, TO aboisl
slavery, We think that provision ought at one
to be made to secure a good place of settlemen
for all who desire to emgrate; q place wher'
they might live under the protection of this gov
ernment, acknO xledge its authority, and receiv,
those kind attentions necessary to enable then
to educate their children, open roads and estab
lish q subordinate government OF their own, un
der which they may hope to advance to a cOndi
ton which they never hope to reach while min
gled with a more numerous and energetic race