American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-03-09
From the Pittsburgh Gazette,
The Crisis and the Change,

! cd IN the curse OF slavery, 10 see the reau-
mess with which so many of our political
opponents now admit that the peculiar in,
stitution is at the bottom of all our trou-
bles. Within the past six months we have
found very many, who were wont to hint
at the abolition tendencies of the North
as justification for Southern outrages, ex-
pressing a very different belief. Thous-
ands upon thousands have overcome their
prejudices, buried their partizanship be-
meath their patriotic impulses, and are now
unmindful of slavery and Indifferent to its
fate Others go step farther and express
the hope that slavery will be wiped out
They see, as the war has developed the
skeleton, that, sad and painful as have been
the results of the strife, the day of rebell-
ion could only have been postponed, where
men became tainted, corrupt, and over
reaching by their connection with a sys-
temof involuntary, labor, which implanted
in their hearts contempt for honest in:
dustry, and hatred for race of men who
developed new country, and added new
States 50 rapidly to the Union, that they
saw the power, which they had wrongfully
cxcrted slipping so rapidly from their
grasp that they read the handwriting on
the wall which predicted their fate. The
Southcrns arc better politicians than the
Northencrs, for they make politics pro-
fc.sion, and they knew before we were aware
Of it the inevitable tendency of our sur
prising growth,
The day for threatening the North had
passed. A new race of unterrfied states
men had come forward. The game of ras-
cality which had been attempted in Kan
sas, failed, and, unwilling to sec their in
stitution decay unwilling to admit that the
time had come for the North to offer no
more guarantees to a corrupt system, they
attempted to develop the grand hope which
had for years been so carefully nurturcd
at the South as the deJnjcr resort, and
sought to weaken the Union by dividing
itstcrritory and creating for themselves
contcdcracy in name, but in reality a do
main where there should be a privileged
class, which would soon have rponed into
a dcspotism.
1t is gratifying to hear of the indiffcr-
cncc which is felt by those, who have all
their lives been members of the great con
scrvatiye" parties in regard to this dispu-
ted point 1t is more than gratifying to
hear the outspoken words of men who
have been slow to sec the truth, but, hay
ing found it, now express, regardless Of
the sncers of those who are still blind,
their candid convictions thatnopcrmancnt
peace can be secured, no glorious future of
this country can be expected, until there
is no task maker holding the whip over a
single human being on the soil which is
protected by our flag.
This harmony of thought is worth, in
its moral effect, almost an army of men.
The leaders at the South know this change
in public opinion. a year ago there was
diversity of opinion, and men who to-
day endorse the Emancipation Proclama-
ton Of President Lincoln were then openly
opposed to it. They adopt it, in one sense,
as a war measure, but the justice of this
decree is, in reality, ne chief element
which is appealing to the understanding
Of the thinkingmen Of all political creeds.
The negroes have shown themselves wor-
thy of our sympathy, and they have sac
rifced their lives willingly that their race
might be elevated, and hence it is that
thousands, who thought them only fit to
be boot-blacks, now readily recognize in
them the germs which are capable of de-
velopment. 1t is an inherent trait in the
American character that, as people, we
are ready to give everybody what we call
"a fair show" We sympathise with for
eign nations which are oppressed, because
they are not having "fair show, and to-
day we are forgetting the color of men in
our respect for their deeds.
The proclamation which gave freedom
to four millions of slaves, and dignity to
every white man in this country, has pass
ed its first birthday. The events of the
year have given it a significance which is
felt more heavily at Richmond than at
Washington. 1t has been endorsed by
millions, and it cannot be protested while
we exist as nation. 1t is the harpoon
which has buried itself in the leviathan,
and must prove fatal. We only require
men enough toman the rope, sailors enough
to man the boats till the monster, rising
and falling spouting blood and creating
an ocean of foam, as if life was mex
haustible, shall at last float lifeless along
side of the old Ship of State.
Irrevocable the mighty words BE FREEi
The land shakes with them, and the slaves dull