The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1863-11-19
-OYERCoMING pREJUpIcE.

OVERCOMING PREJUDICE.
We were among those who from the
first believed that the war instead of
proving a curse would prove a great
blessing, and that instead of causing a
final and total separation between the
people of the two sections, it would
lead to permanent and more perfect
Union. Before there could be per-
feet Union there must be oneness OF
interest anC of character There were
prejudices, ill-founded distinctions, To-
cal institutions, parties based on sec
tion1 interests, &c, to be leveled down,
and nothing but the iron hoofS and the
iuggernaut wheels of a great war could
do this. There were Gordian knots
which fifty millions of peaceful hands
could not unite in thousand years,
but which few strokes of the sword Of
war would unIoose.
Those who watch the progress Of the
war and the daily indications from the
South, must see how old prejudices are
giving away and how the character of
the Southern people is becoming as
simulated to that of the Northern. A
late article in the Richmond Wing, be-
means the fact that the Southern peo-
pie are becoming daily more and more
like the people of the North, and says,
"the triumph of the Yankees will be
even more complete than if we had
been subjugated by the sword. Our
Uery souls piy hare been conquered" The
Macon Telegraph relates that during
the late tour ofJEFFERsoN DAVIS thro'
the Confedcracy, he stepped from the
cars at Griswoldsville, in Georgia, and
took some forty negroes by the hand,
giving to each pleasant word. A
thing for which Mr., BEECHERsor Sec
, retary CHASE would have been called
"negro worshippers." l." Sweet are the
uses Of adversely" upon tho-Prcsident
Of the Confederacy. "a touch Of
trouble "makcs the whole world kin
t But the best illustration Of the subject
Of this article which has come under
our notice, is an cXtractifrom a speech
delivered at a Union meeting at Little
Rock, Arkansas, by W. W. FIsHBAcK
=, a member of the Convention which
, voted Arkansas out Of the Union in
: 1861. 1t contains the highest compli.
ment which Southern man conld pay
to Now England. lie says, "in ono
= sense Of the word, they hare no poor,
What an announcement to make to the
rest of the world! The following is
the extract:
81 am n native of Virginia, and an
old resident of this State. | have been
S one of you The same direction has
been given to my prejudices. / was
r taught to believe, and did believe, that
everything manufactured in New Eng.
land was made to cheat with; that the
religion of the people was hypocrisy
s that their touch was contamination
Fellow citizens, | have seen New Eng
land and its people. have been wei
coined at the houses of the rich-ar
= exile, without a decent coat to my
!. back. or money in my pocket. / have
5 always met the warmeSt Southern hos
pitaity at the houses Of the middle
classes; and, my fellow-citizens, in one
u sense Of the word, they have no poor
n I have walked with awe and II condem
9 ming conscience through the schoo
}. houses found at every corner of I
cross road. | saw her barren hill
covered with plenty; | saw her sturdy
Z sons,-cvcry one Of them an educatct
c man-hastcn to shoulder their muskct
n and place themselves in the ranks o
+ the defenders Of their couutry; and
i heard them make excuses for th
South, much in the spirit that kim
'' elder brother would for their wilt
= younger brother and discovered, n
c you have, that they are not towards
O And, fellow citizens, New England
=, Il representative of the North Th
= speech was ofnearly two hours lengt
II and the speaker concluded by sayin
C that there was no power on earth o
l. below it that could destroy this Gov
O crnmcnt, for twenty millions of pcopl
-, like those of New England, have sal
" this Union mast and shall be prcSc'
" red.'