Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-07-22
Justice TO the Blacks the Interest OF
the Fauon.

AT the present time the great question
| Iur this nation 10 solve Is not " neither the
{ Union snail Oe preserved, for the Union
Is IndIssoIuOie; not When. the war Is 10 be
finished, for tie war will end when rebel
lion ceases; nor Is II any question about
cons uLuuonaI rights or natural liberties,
but IL Is the Odd, the tIresome, the here
toiOTc Unanswered question OF the posi-
uon and treatment Of the black race
Tie answer gwen To this question Will be
the touchstone of American principles,
and the prophecy OF national prosperity
or decline. We nave tried one way OF
treating them,-that OF slavery, which
mas PLAINLY been wrong one. and has re-
suited in the national corruption, dlshon-
or and suffering. Slavery Is very near
Its end. The Proclamation OF the first OF
January, 1868, Is not dead letter. 1t
IS working like yeast TO leaven the
whole lump OF the Southern social system.
Already as We learn, upon unquestiona-
Uie authority, IN the heart OF the black
est State OF Mississippi, Alabama, and
Georgia,-the slaves are no longer coerced
10 work. Nor is the Proclamation Il lie,
to keep the word OF promise to the
ear. and brea.l 1t IN our hope" 1t IS to
be maintained accoruing TO Its spirit, and
to its iull intention, with the whole force
of the government, and the entire sup
port of the nation. The new policy that
It inaugurated commends itself daily
more and more, no less to the intelligence
than to the conscience Of the people
The enlisting of negroes in North and
South Carolina, in Louisiana, and in the
Western Slave States, the enrolment OF
black volunteers iii Massachusetts, Kan
sas, and ether free States; the employ
nent of freed men on abandoned or con-
fiscated plantations under government
authority and inspection, are evidence of
the practical operation Of emancipation,
and of the sincerity of the administra-
ton and of the people in the work of free
dom.
But although all these and other facts
afford evidence of the destruction of sla-
very, and of the establishment OF a new
policy toward the black race, there is yet
need of something more. The treatment
OF the blacks in the long run must be
based not ON the necessities of war, or
any emergency of transient circumstan-
ces, but should be founded on principles
of universal application, and of eternal
force The nation,-that is, the indivld-
uals who compose the nation,-mustl learn
to treat the blacks on the simplest prin-
ciples OF even justice. They are to be
treated neither with harshness nor with
softness; not as a servile class, not as nat
ural interiors, not as degraded race,-but
simply as men. The nation, if it would
secure its own prosperity and happiness,
must conquer the prejudice, which has
led, and, II indulged. will lead to outra-
geous and calamitous injustice. We put
in no plea for compassion and kindness
to a long suffering, deeply wronged, and
blameless race. 1t is not any ground OF
pity or OF compensation that we rest our
claim for the blacks, but we claim justice
for them as their right and therefore as
the only rule of treatment which will not
endanger and enfeeble the life OF the ma
ton itself, and expose 1t 10 inevitable pen
alties. Self interest on our part, on the
part of the white race, requires justice to
the blacks. Their work is TO be paid for
like the work of other men, if they do
full days work,-full wages, not half wa
ges are their due. If they are idle let
them suffer the consequences. The sys-
TEN of apprenticeship, or of forced labor
is 10 be applied TO them, no more than to
white men,-that is, it is to beapplled on
ly when there is danger of their becom-
ing burden on the community, and then
they deserve pay for their forced labor in
the same proportion as white men would
receive it.
There is no binding ourselves TO the fact
that, whether we like it or not, the blacks
are part of this nat N for veal or for woe.
If they are treated fairly, like men, with
equal democratic justice. they will as
race soon learn to take care of themselves,
and soon raise themselves from the
depths of slavery to honest independence.
More than this they will become class
of immense importance to the country,
both Us producers and consumers They
viii form laboring class of freemen such
as no other nation possesses, and their
rise from bondage into the enjoyment of