Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-11-06
Thc emancipation Of the Me-
grOcs--whnt Shall be Done
with Them

grOcs--whnt Shall be Done
with Them !
The President of the United States
proposes, on the 1st day of January next,
to elease from servitude the three or -four
millions of negro slaves in the rebel
States. If he shall do this, he will at
the same time release the masters of these
slaves from all obligation to support
them or care for them. What will the
President then do with chem He him
self asked that question little while ago.
Said he to the committee of Chicago
preachers, "What would we do with
them =? How can we feed and care for
such multitude /? Gen. Bntter writes
to me from New Orleans that he is issuing
more rations to fugitive negroes than to
all the while troops under his command
They EAT AND THAT'S ALL" They will
as the New York Times confesses, "be
abject paupors, all without land, money
clothing, food, friends or homes" and
the same paper adds, "Was ever a race
Of people, in all the worlds history
found so utterly poor, helpless and hope
less as they?"
The President has scheme of coloni-
zaticn. We venture to affirm that not
ten sensible men in the United States re.
gard it as practicable or possible. 1t has
exploded already. Its success depends
upon the voluntary consent of the negroes
to be coIonized, which not one in a thou.
sand will give-upon the willingness of
the people to BE- taxed many hundreds of
millions of dollars in support of coloni-
cation, which is not apparent-upon the
procurement of lands sor the colony,
which is more than doubtful. And if the
schemes were practicable or possible, as
an ultimate result, its consumnation
would be the work Of years. Meanwhile,
what would be done with the negroes ?
Another scheme is proposed which is
as monstrous in itself as it is unconstitu
tional in fact. 1t is to seize Texas and
Florida and hand them over to tbs occu-
patton Of the negroes! 1t is to set aside
the sovereignty of the two States and de-
grade them to the condition of negro col
onies We print in another column,
from the New York Tins, a grave state
ment of the project, than which the pres
snt century is witness of nothing so dia-
bolically wicked. The Federal Govern,
ment has no more rightiul power to seize
Texas and Florida aud convert them in
to negro colonies than it has to DO the
same thing as to Illinois and Indiana,
and to seize them and thus convert them
is to absolutely overturn the Federal sys-
tenn. But if it had such rlghtful power,
why should two States which, as to eli
mate, soil and production, are unequal on
the continent, be wrenched from their
white people,--many of whom, honest
German immigrants, are as faithful to the
Union as any people anywhere, and
made the inheritance of a race of indolent,
brutal semi-savage blacks? Why should
white labor be forever excluded from
those districts ? The dismembermcnt of
Poland shocked the moral sense of the civ
lized world, but that, compared with this
scheme as to Texas and Florida, was ben
eficience itself.
But if this scheme were not monstrous
in itself and unconstitutional in fact,-if
it were right in itself, and practicable
an ultimate result,-its consummation
would be the work of an indefinite dura
ton of time. The Federal forces occupy
no considerable part of Texas or Of Flor
ida. Meanwhile, what would be done
with the negroes ?
1t is not possible to colonize the me-
groes in Central or South America, or in
Texas or Florida, as they shall be liberia
ted by the Presidents proclamation. AS
they shall be thus liberated, they mast
necessarily pass no,thward through the
Federal military lines in mnttudes Of
tens of thousands, as they have been pass
ing in squads of tens and fifties and hun
dreds, and they will overruh the North as
irresistible as locusts have overrun any
land. Nothing can stop them. The ex-
perience at Cairo thus far is as diminu-
tive livulet compared with the enormous
food that will sweep over us.
And when they shall come, who will
shelter clothe and feed them ? Public
and prive charity ? Public and private
charity shelter, feed and cl, the three or
four millions of negroes =! The Govern,
ment =? The financial burdens Of the
Government ale already greater than it
can bear +! Or, if public and private char
ity or the Government, could shelter.
feed and clothc these three or four mil
lions of negroes temporarily, after that.
what ?
We beg of the people of the North
west that they will think of these things
The people of Illinois Michigan and Wis.
consin and Minneso should act with re-
ference to them on the coming fourth day
of Nnvnm hnr - CLicnno Irnes