Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1862-05-02
IFor the Free Press.l
TIE SHAREHOLDERS REBEL
LION
A LETTER To uoy. raAyE p. BLAIR.

Tg.l. Ion. r. p. Bll1, # Jlssa4i,
Z. S. House Of fRyrso,f4hr,,-
Since the whole Northern AMI loyal part Of the
nation have entire confidence in your patriot
ism anl the highest respect for your opinions,
peeially upon all matters relating 60 slavery your
influence upon the opinions and actions OF others
is very great and it becomes Of thc utmost impor-
tanee that you shouIi not be misunderstood. and
that the Truth which you speak siolil be so
guarded as not 90 convey also error, aaI not be
liable to be perverted by those whose aims arc to-
tally different from yours. Not only have your
opinions, true or supposed, great weight in sLap-
Ing present events, but they will le among the
materials Of history.
In your J. ste speech in the House, (AVHl llth)
you express the opinion that ii Is "srpaf-i4l OBJ
servers who believe that the rebeili grew cut Of
slavery. and is, a. they term 10, sll7ehollers
rebellion But, you proceed % say, Ca closer
scrutiny dcmonstrate that the rebellion originat-
ci chiefly with the nom layeboIiers resident in
the strong holds Of the institution, not prinsius
however, from any love Of slavery, but from an
antagonism Of race and hostility 20 the idea Of
equality with the blacks involved in simple cmlu-
cipaton.
Again you say "it i- h.ilciaus o. call this
slayeholders' rebellion. II such was the fact,
two divisions Of Cur army could have suppressed
it without difficulty; the negroes them elves could
easily put down the two hundred and fits thou
sand slaveholiers.' This, So far as regards the
physical power Of two hundred aud fifty thousand
men, is very true. But, my dear sir, is not this
a very narrow aui 'iallacious" view Of slavcholi-
ing, Is not the whole community in slave State,
the whole physical iosce Of the state, .Iaychoiing
as well as the legal owners Of the slaves In
this wider and trucr sense Is there any hllacy in
calling this "slaychJldcrs rebellion
But again you say cit was the Hegp questions
and no, the si4u0y question which made the rebel
lion Was it then, ",he uon-slaveholiers resident
in the stronghoIds Of the institution the isnor-
ant and psssiau4fs masses ,p1Hf1a,5lsly demanding
resistance to the L. $. Government, and compel
ling the State governments to make war upon it
No because, as all the world knows, It was ucccss-
ary for the governing classes, the slavc-holding
leaders, to ply the people with incessaut sophistry
and lies in order to make them instruments Of thar
oi-u purposes and even after years Of this train
ing tLcy fteassluss voted their States out Of the
Union, not daring to trust the vote Of the people.
And you also, in another part Of your speech, say
that these men governed "5y urtmg use Of n,
passions connected with the institution Of slave
~" that is, by stimulating "the3anta souism Of
race by constant appeals to the "Hegro question:
Here then is the truth contained in your statement
that the "negro question made the rebellion"
namely, that fhs silush0ldiHg leldos made use #
the negro question 70 shnsiafe tie uol-silvs-k9dHg
masses INTO rsJelhgH; which, however, they them
selves originated for ends Of their own having no
relation to the Hegro question but exclusively 10
the siavgy question. And here is also the 1ror
Of the statement namely, that it mistakes one Of
the instruments, means. conditions of the rebel
lion for the cause Of it. Is it not perfectly obyi
Gus and undeniable that the leaders orcfsf the
passion of the people on the negro question as a
mere instrument for their own purposes, How
then can it be said that one Of the instruments Of
1t ''pad, the rebellion" : Surely you would not
say that the powder ard cannon are the cause Of
the battle.
What, then, was the true cause Of the rebellion,
Or in other words, what was the srd aimed at by
the aye.holiing leaders, for which they sought
to make the non-slayeholding passionate populaee
instruments
Is anything more certain, or more capable Of
abundant proof than that for many years past the
leading men Of the South, politicians, literary
men, editors and some ol6rgymen, have nursed the
dream Of a great southern slaveholding power,
whi:h, by means of the re-opened saye-trade, con-
quest of the best tropical regions, cotton, sugar,
and other tropical productions, should control the
commerce Of the world, enrich all its citizens, and
fill its treasury with more than fabulous gold
They have labored and with success, to infuse this
expectation, and to excite such hopes in the minds
of their communities. Has not tho promise Of
cheap negroes and dear cotton when every sand
hill cracker should become the owner Of a we'll
stocked plantation, something to do with exciting
the non-saveholders, well as the negro question
II many Of the large slave-owners, who were al
ready well enough OF, chose rather to enjoy their
preseat wealth than to risk it by hazards for in
creasing the power and slave-wcalth Of others,
how does this diminish the propriety Of calling it
the "slavekolder's rebellion" .. Does any man
acquainted with the facts doubt that the pur-
Fose Of the leaders, and Of many Of the followers
in the rebellion, to build up great southern pow
or, Of which the "slivery question" should be the
very corner stone-that this purpose long cher
ished, and widely diaused, by open defamation
and secret combination was the first, last and on.
ly eazse Of the rebellion2 Quotations from writ
ings, for the last dozen years, of southern men,
enough to fill volumes, might be given, indicat-
ing the purpose which has resulted in rebellion,