New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1862-01-13
GPRRIT SMITH TO JOHN A. CURLEY.
prrrRnoRo. Dec. l6, 1861.

patted yin instant 10 tne ftouo0 VI NN
Nothing in it do wish to speak oil save i's P'oP0s'u
assumption of special powers over liberated s'"NeS
had hoped that among the gooo ehecls Vi .'e
War would be the recognition OF human rights uhuer
whatever skin, and the equazrng before tne laws o.
a. black and red races with the white race. Bn'
80 rim "a among tho indications that had hoped
% TOO much
"Sbort accounts" is a fayorite motto with men Of
..sipess:-and they are quite right in outawine
:. eh as have run beyond a few years. God also Ii
short accounts" aud for the prompt payment
- balances But where men refuse 10 deal with
m on this principle, He forbears not TO 20 into oDe
counts with them and into Teckonings that react
,sry far back. Ia His court no statute OF limitations
III be plead. When Jesus exclaimed; 80 Jeru-
. EN-, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets ano
nest them that are sent unto thee; now oi'eh
)uld have gathered thy children together, as
N doth gather her brood under her winss' anu !'
could not Behold your house Is left unto you ueSO
atel"-when he thus exclaimed, ne releiI'u NO.
merely 10 her recent but also to her remote ueeu
wiekedpess Her centuries of now euimlnanug si''s
were now 10 result in her desola'ion. SO 100 !,
desolatiou shall be the fate OF our American Aous'
=, Iii be the result not of few but OF many elhe'
~, ~ nresent provocaiiOns only but OF past one
slso II takes succession OF guilty generations 10
t.iug about the destruction OF a nation inec l'uf'
I great crimes long persisted in, ana by mult9Ge
n ore the q" iniquitv" of "A nation Is "fuH Inc
tng one prophet and the soning Of one messenger
The shooting OF the prophet Loveloy AND the outrage
mon the greater prophet Garrison ana the seehHe
OF the life OF the eloquent messenger GeorSe inoiN
so,-all this ay aud much more IN The present IKE
II would not suffice TO exhaust the patience OF MIN
w5ois -" long-suf.eiiDg' ana slow to anger. lie
"a mid sill eXclaim: allow shall give thee up
heart is turned within me-my repentings ar
,dled together" These are indeed counts
/ the Indictment. But for other counts
III which to fiji up the long indictment
! GOES into the wide and distant past. Ii Is not
n nj the present generation has hlled up the measure
al national iniQuty that the nation Is DESTROYED
Then does God hold that generation Responsible loi
the sins Of the past generations alec Ana lie docs
tbs on tie clearly solnd principle that py repeating
those SINS and repeating them TOO IN the instructive
Gght of tfeir appalling and destructive effects, IL mas
virtually Endorsed them and made them ITS own
The man who keeps the dram-shop or gamonng-
house, which his father and grandfather kep ls re-
sponsible for their sils 81 well az his OWL Dy coh
ssntuy 10 succeed them IN an Occupation winch
while Il was in their hands, he saw break hearts
and mnltipv paupers and criminals, ne adds TO e.
guilt of It's Effects in his own hands the sui o. ls
ike effects in theirs. 1t was on the same prih'ipie
which rules In this case that Jesus held ms genera
ton guilty not only Of the blood Of its slain proph
Is, bat OF 4" tbs blood of all the prophets when was
she'd from the foundation OF the world.
Before passing on to make application OF this pm
eiple 10 guilty country, let me remark tnat 90
not forget that what call Divine Judgments many
etl the ayeDgings OF nature for the Violations OF her
kws Nevertheless what are these laws which 30
MANY nut in the place Of God and construe into the
shutting of God out of His own worldf What are
they bat the uniform modes OF His action the nxed
and interchangeable WAYS in which He works. And
how quickly would tLey "a 10 operate were tie TO
cesse 70 enerQlZe them
The great sin of our country in Gil the periods OF
her existence, whether under Colonial or Constltu-
tional rule is the assumption OF special powers by
her white her other races and ON the pru-
ciple adverted to we guilty not oDy OF our own
but also of the past commissions OF that slo.
Moreover il this sin is now carried TO Its ultimate
hight then Is our nation now TO be destroyed. lhat
her DOOM Behold thy house is left unto thee des.
olate is already pronounced no man is warranted
L. sayiDg-tbough every night minded man sees signs
enough of it to make Tim trembe. The breaking
up OF nation is far than begun and 50 too II
the march of her desolation. II may nevertheless
have still left 10 il space for repentance
IT, as we all believe, God has made OF one blood
al his children, then must this assumption, even
when In small measure, be high crlme against ~
soual fatherhood toward them all and against thei
equal brotherhood toward one another. his i9Ve o
them sll il equal and from this results their 0ohga
ion to scknow ledge, constantly ana cOrulaiy, ths
equal rights Of each other But IL tbs assumption
when SO limited is nevertheless 30 criminal, no" im
yne
!. BEYOND measure The Indians we have driver
from their homes and from their dead The Indiana
we have slaughtered and, what Is wore, ensidVea'
Ia The veins OF of thousands OF our slaves noWr
the blood OF their enslaved Indian ancestors 10 the
neo-o even more wrOnged than the lnolan, We have
am ed nothing at all of his manhood: Exclusion
fror, narticiuatlou ia political power and from all the
,;oh,s of citizeuship unpaid toll, and every Insult
strives and chains and death, have been hi. portion
1T cur unnatural, cruel and fratilGdaI hiinds' Ana
can yye still-even now when our nation Is brought
10 the very brink OF destruction and brought 10 II 20
manifesrly by pride in our own race and contempt
and hatred of other races, and when, 700, n0tning
abort Of the speedie and hear,iest repentance can
save ;i-can we, aek still continue TO practice al,
or even any, Of our enormous wrongs againet the
Indiana or the Negroes 1 think that we cannot
afford tc You think that we For your Bill
provides that the Liberated slaves, and III effect
The wbele black population Of the country
tor it will come 10 this, If your Bill be-
comes p law, aud the nation exists long
enough 10 let it operate 10 It's fullest effect shall
fall under The exercise not only Of special bu' com
pared with anything short OF Slavery, exceedingly
.yrsnnical powers. IL provides that they shall be
excluded from our political family, pu. under absO-
late Dictatorship torn from homes dear TO them
ere ours 10 w. appreniced without their will, ad.
nintd TO only qualified rights Of property, and 70
luanhed az TO pen them up forever N swampy,
hich rlOrlde, unless they GbaJl be able TO get
telnseiVes beyond the lmits Of unceasing, aud
imost az unsersal unceas;Dg, American hate.
fes, your I'LL provides that il miserable Florida
whefe the general worthlessnes Of the coil is lodi
easea ~ aue epaisehess Of The population, our
olofed yiaeh-our poor peeled and persecuted
rohers and nste-s-shali be forciblv conore0oted
ind pat under the political rule Of hsndfnI ~ bit
who, IN such case, can hardly fail 10 became most
terrible despos. u es, II 10 Ia such orenrnsarces tho,
solr bin proposes 70 have the Inherited slaves make
ter brst-alowed experiment in agriculture and in
II ell material and moral IMPROVEMENT Tie -,