Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-12-30
BANKS, ,rEruoD or RrCoNsrRUCr1ox.

70 white was neither safe for the negro
nor for the nation. The President had
demanded that Louisiana should be admit.
ted as she stand, no matter what theory OF
reconstruction was followed with others.
I will take the definition of this theory |
from General Banks. White men are the |
elected and the electors, and the only pos
sible future for the negro Is contingent |
upsn the Justice Of the white man. Cen |
eral Ranks has not permitted the black |
man any clement of citizenship OF free
dom. f.Thst's so"1 he has not got the
ballot; he cannot make scontTsct; he can
not change his residence; he cannot ap-
peal to 8 court when injured; he cannot
fix his own wages, General Banks holds
that it is a system intended to prepsIe him
for freedom-that the circumstances of the
State oblige him to make some arrange
ment for labor; but their are white labor
ers as well as black, and every army officer
testiaes that the white proportion is more
ignorant that the blacks. If General
Banks had put those two classes on the
same footing, I should have no quarrel
with him; should say it was tyranny,
but not slavery. If any Aboitionist IN
dorses this system, he cannot have read the
speech of General Banks, for the whole
| platform and claim of the Abolition par
ty since 1927, is that the negro is ready
| for immediate and unconditional emsnci-
patton, and should not be put of with
either grsduslism or apprenticeship. The
| Abolitionist who indorses that speech
writes folly over the whole record Of his
lost thirty years. [Applause. General
Banks in defending his course, hides him
self behind the precedents of apprentice
ship in other nations, and in doing so he
show thai he is totally ignorant of the
subject on which he speaks. Crammed by
three days study, he undertakes to dis
cuss the problem of the Rge--I' I'-tsKes
more LIIan tnc6e Gays crammlngto under
stand thst problem; and the ignorance OF
the Major General is exhibited ostenta-
tiously in his reference TO history. First,
he ssys: I" Ny plan is not new; it is near
ly three-quarters of q century old. Tous-
sont L'Ouverture instituted the zane sys-
TEN, only more severe, in San Domingo"
True, it is the only spot on the character
Of the great San Domingo chief; he did in
stitute such system, closely approaching
TO slavery, and in everything except sugar
il was q mOmentous failure-a fact which
General Banks probably did not know, and
certainly did not mention. It was the
step which wrecked LOuYerture and put
back the island fifty years. Again, Gene
raj Banks says: l am trying the system
which England tried and found the only
one by which she could govern her island.
Yes, England tried it in 1884, and by
1888 found it q blunder, acknowledged it
in the face Of the world, and placed imme-
diate emancipation on her banners. In
I84s, says the General, Franco corrected
. the mistake Of the First Napoleon, There
, liberty for sixty years back had been the
! entire, (mark the words,) and the system
/ of Is4s checked it. I do the same. Ac-
! cording to the acknowledgment Of the
Major General, he has introduced Both
, gradualism andapprenticeship into Louis
= isna, and has put the Government into the
e hands of the white man, and the black
t into the essential chains which chattelisnn
kent him. Now you can make very
r good argument for apprenticeship, and
YOU can make q plausible argument fol
r gradualism. No doubt of it. An ignor
T aud degraded race, kept so by slavery
0 what is more plausible than that they re
S ouire guardians to educate them for free
e dom, to give them fstherly advice snC
!. guidance, when they first emerge into tn
t bright light of liberty? And If, IN slsy'
}. country, you could get white race ftteC
s and disposed to act the guardian and faith
s er to the black race, recently their slaves
k It il quite possible that gradual emancips
/ ton or apprenticeship might be goot
6 system. But the West Indies proved ant
q every English and American observer hs
; recorded, that apprenticeship had failet
u there not because the. blseks were pPt lsHA
e as they had always been. It looks fsi
% enough on the face Of IL in Louisiana, bu
% l do not believe in it. II might be
Is good enough experiment to try, if yol
IT could only get tho means Of trying it; bu
II the great defect in il, which the Majo
Ie General did not know, for he is not &C
C ouainted with the history of this country
l. is that you cannot find in the sla7eholdin
IS class of this country the material out c
AS which to make guardians for the blacl
p man. You might as we'll have tried O
Is the Generals great Red River expedition
n to turn the water up hill, as to attempt
It turn an old white STAKEHOLDER into hT
At name, patriarchsi guardian for his emaI
n- cipated slave. Laughter and applause
ID Arsin, the State Of Louisiana offers US one
7e third of her area, ostensibly represented
a convention, and only one-sixth other are
II governed by our troops. With less tha
half of her population, less than one-thiT
R, of her voting population, she stalks int
D. the Senate Chamber with two Senators,
II balance the Empire State; walks into K
re House Of Representatives, with i've delt
E gates to balance the State Of Connection
l. Now, am an ingrsined Democrat, and
ID object. II State is to send Senators an
O. Representatives, we want all her populi
D. ton and all her area; we don't want
It. mere fragment ofsn empty shell of a Stat
re we don't want a State made out Of II
o. soldiers of the army. @
Of Just here comes in the great Democrat
n palladium of freedom. Give the negro Il
70 ballot, and he will net ask you to prote
le him, no will protect himself [Applause
IA Let me see 8 man In Boston tread on Il
Of humblest right of the humbiess Irish be
of in the Boston streets, and will give hi
N the twelve papers Of Boston for his adv
Of Gates, and Henry Wilson for his patro
N within week. And the reason is that Il
a humblest IrishmRn in Boston has vot
ID therefore it will not do to irritste him; an
n the humblest fringe of the garment of b
g. nation is thus efectusny protected. So
e, will be with the negro. Give him the be
,s. lot in Louisiana or Alabama, and the der
ne agogues of both parties will be eapin har
to before him. The only reason why yah
ge government is that it develops men. Aft
all this talk about politics and goYernmel
in they are but scafolds for the erection
A. the building, which is manhood. Cover
! ment is to mo mere material element
forward the growth of men. value d
DO mocrscy, not for the mere emptiness
o. equality before the law, but because
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