Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1862-05-08
1olihtal.

4alitital.
Letter Of Hon. Montgomery Blair, PING.
addressed TO the Netting held at ne Cooper hus,i-
u tute NeW York, March 6. 1862.
GENTLEMEN l have the honor to
acknowledge your favor of yesterday,
inviting me to attend q meeting of
the citizens of New York, at the Coop
er Institute, on the 9th instant, aud
requesting my views on the subject of
the call. shall not be able to attend
the meeting, nor have l leisure to
write out my views upon the subject
with the care demanded by the nature
of it, but will offer some thoughts for
your consideration.
l do not concur in the proposition
that certain States have been recent
ly overturned and wholly subverted
as members of the Federal Union, I"
upon which the call is based. This
is, in substance. what the confederates
themselves claim and the fact that
secession is maintained by tile authors
Of this call, for different purpose,
does not make it more constitutional,
or prevent them from being actual
aiders and abettors of the confeder-
atcs.
No one who knows my political ca
recr will suspect that my condcmna-
| ton of this doctrine is influenced by
any indisposition to put an end to sla,
very. l have left no opportunity un-
improved to strike at it, and have new
er been restrained from doing 80 by
personal considerations. But l have
never believed that the abolition of
slavery, or any other great reform,
could or ought to be effected except
by lawful or constitutional modes.
The people have never sanctioned, and
never will sanction any other and
the friends of a cause pai especially aroid
all questionable grounds when, as Ia the
present instance, nothing else can long
postpone their success
There are two distinct interests i'm
slavery. the political and property in.
tetests, held by distinct classes. The
rebellion originated with the political
class. The property class, which gen.
orally belonged to the Wing organi-
cation. had lost no property in the re-
gion where the rebellion broke out,
and were prosperous. 1t was the
Democratic organization, which did
not represent the Shareholders as a
class, which hatched the rebellion.
Their defeat in the late political strug-
gle, and in the present rebellion, ex-
tinguishes at once and forever the po
litical interest of slavery. The elec.
ton Of Mr.. Lincoln put an end to the
hopes of jeff. Davis, WISE et III oninc
geaus, for the Presidency of the Union,
and hence the rebellion. 1t extin-
guished slavery as power to control
the Federal Government, and it was
the capacity of slavery to subserve
this purpose alone which has given it
vitality, for morally and economically
it is indcfensiblc With the extinc-
tion Of its political power, thcre is no
motive to induce any politician to up
hold it. No man ever defended such
an institution except for pay, and
nothing short of the power of the
Government could provide sufficient
qualification to ambition to pay for
such service and therefore Mr..
Toombs said, with perfect truth, that
the institution could only be main
taincd in the Union by the possession
of the Government. That has been
wrested from it; and the pay is on the
side of justice and truth. Can any
man who respects popular intelligence
think it necessary, with such advan-
tages on the side Of Justice and truth,
to violate the great charter of our lib
critics to insure triumph? Such an
act, in my judgment, SO far from ad-
vancing the cause in whose name it is
performed, would surely be disastrous
and result in bringing our opponents
into power in the name of the Consti-
tuition.
1t is not merely a question Of con-
stitutional law or slavery with which
we have to deal in securing perma-
nent peace.' The problem before us
is the practical one of dealing with
the relations of masses of two differ
ent races in the same community.
The calamities now npon Us have
been brought about, as have already
said, not by the grievances of the
class claiming property in slaves, but
by the jealousy of caste awakened
by the secessionists in the hon-slavc-
holders.
In considering the means Of secu-
ring the peace Of the country hereaf-
ter, it is, therefore, this jealousy of
race which is chiefly to be considered.
Emancipation alone would not remove
it. It was by proclaiming to the la
boring whites, who fill the armies of
the rebellion, that the election of Mr..
Lincoln involved emancipation, equal
ity Of the negroes with them, and
consequently amalgamation, that
their jealousy was stimulated to the
fighting point. Nor is this jealousy
the fruit of mere ignorance and bad
passion, as some suppose, or confIcd
to the white people OF the South On
the contrary, it belongs to all races,
and, like all popular instincts, pro-
ceeds from the highest wisdom. 1t is
in fact, the instinct of self-preserva-
tion which revolts ut hybridism.
} Nor does this instinct initiate
against the natural law, that all men
are created equal, if another law Of