The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-04-05

Who is responsible for the war?
Declaration Of Var by Hinton Ro~am
Helper, Of North Carolina, and Gp-
proceed By the tollOuing Black Reb"Jli-
can members Of Congress Of ls50-6O.
Helper says:
But, sirs, Shareholders chevalicrs and
lords Of the lash, we are unwilling to al
low you to cheat the negroes out OF all the
rights and claims to which. as human be
ings, they are most sacredly entitled
Not alone for Ourself as an individual, but
for others also-particularly for five or six
million Of Southern non-slave holding
whites, whom your IniQuitous statiSm has
deharred from almost all the mental and
material comforts Of life-do we speak,
when we say to you, YOU MUST, SOONER, OK
LATER, EMANCIPATE your slaves, aud
paw each and every one Of them at least
sixty dollars cash in hand. BY doing
this, you will be restoring to them their
natural rights, and remunerating them at
the rate OF less than twenty-six cents per
annum for the long and cherries period
of their servitude, from the goth Of Au-
gust, 1920, when, on James River, in Vir-
GINA, they became the unhappy slaves of
heGrtless tyrGRts. Moreover, by doing
this you will be performing but u simple
act Of justice to the non slaveholding
whites, upon whom the system OF slavery
has weighed scarcely less heavily than
upon the negroes themselves. You will
also be applying a saving balm to your
nun nnfra0ud h.a ri nd roD ond
your children-yourselves in fact-freed
from the accursed stain of slavery, will
become respectable, useful, and honorable
members Of society.
And nOto, sirs, are haze thus laid dozen
OUR ULTIMATUM. What are you go
ing to do about il? Something dreadful
of course! Perhaps you will dissolve the
Union again. Do IL, if you ddre! OuI
motto, and we would have you to under
stand it, is TIE ABOLITION OF SLAVE
RY, and the Perpetuation Of the Ameri
can Union. II. by any means, you dt
succeed in your reasonable attempts t
take the South out of the Union to-day
we will bring her back o.morrow-J's h,
goes ascGy tciM you, SHE eitI return tsith
out yOu!
DO not mistake the meaning Of the las
clause IF the last sentence We cOuto
cLucid0te 1t so thoroughly that no mtetii
gent person could full to comprehend it
but, for reasons Which ,aay hereafter up
peas, zoe Joreyo the task.
HencefOrth there are other interests t.
be consulted in the South, aside from tn,
interests Of hegroes and shareholders. A
prOfoundssense of duty ineites us to maxi
the greatest possible efforts for the aboli
ton Of tsIGrery an equally Vprofount
sense Of duty calls for continuance o
those. efforts until the last foe to freedom
shall have been utterly vanquished. IL
the summons of the righteous monitor
within, we shall endeavor to prove faith
full; no opportunity for inticting morta
wound in the side of slavery shall be per
mitted to pass unimprOved.
Thus, terror of the South
we have fully and frankly defined our po
sitiOn; we have no notifications to pro
pose. no compromises tn offer, nothing t.
retract. Frown, sirs, fret, foam, prepare
your weapons, threat, strike, shoot, stab
bring on civil war, dissolve the Union
nay annihilate the solar system if you will
-uO Nu tnlsi MoTe, IesS, oetteT, worse,
anything-do what you will, sirs, you can
neither foil nor intimidate US; our purpose
is as firmly fixed as the eternal pillars Of
heaven; We have determined to abolish
slavery, and, so help US God, abolish it we
will! Take this to bed with you tonight,
siEs, and think aboutit, dream over il, and
let US know how you feel tomorrow morn,
ing!l
Appended to the above Declaration Of
War, is the following Endorsement of the
Helper Book:
[C1RcULARl