Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1865-08-11

you insist that shall give yOu my views, not
for the purpose of mutual assistance IN arriving
at solution of difficulty, but under notice
that the votes of your people will be determin-
ed for or against me by my answer. | think
| that in so doing you wrong both yourselves and
the members of the whole political Orgsniza-
| tion to which we belong, and TO which you gave
pledge of cordial cooperation upon the plat
form as adopted, through your delegates, who
were present at the Convention.
/ For myself / have no secrets as to my OpiD-
ions, and have never hesitated to declare them
/ on proper occasions. So far have been from
desiring to conceal them that had sent before
the receipt of your letter, private note to Pro-
fessor Ellis, of your place, indicating my plan
for the final solution of the problem of recon-
struction, and seeking his criticisms upon it
lNorestrictions were placed upon him in making
it known. exceptsuch as his own discretion and
| friendship might impose. You are mlsinform-
ed as TO my having requested my views TO be
published at my home or elsewhere. You must
act upon your own responsibility in determin-
ing what publicity you shall give to this. The
Importance to our country of Ofdetermining right
| ly the grave questions which must probably be
settled within the coming year, is too great to
make me willing to omit using whatever infiu-
enee OF information may have in assisting at
the solution. Whether in public or private life,
| shall freely give the results of my experience
and observations in the South during the war;
and the conclusions to which my study of both
races has led me. / shall expect the facts that
Ihave been an snti-slavery man from my youth
tup, that assisted at the original organization
of the Republican party, and acted with it and
| the Union party, ever since, and that l have
been Federal soldier from the surrender of
Sumter to the surrender of the last armed reb-
lei, will secure me candid and even friendly
hearing from all who have loved the country,
and earnestly taken its part IN the late struggle.
| If other views than mine prevail, | shall hold
| it my duty to act cheerfullY and promptly with
the body OF loyal men, believing that the best
solution which they can give will be the best
lattaiDable, and that to divide from them will be
to deliver the Government into the hands of its
enemies.
| believe that the President is earnestly de-
itermined to seek the good of the whole eovntry,
and of all the races in it; that he has full claim
i to that confidence which we declared that we
ireposed ia him; and that what we, as Union
men cannot succeed in doing in harmOney and
Incorporation with him aud his administration,
| we shall fail of doing altogether. My support
Of him. therefore, viii be no half-hearted sup
4 port but a Jealous and hearty cooperation,
with no ulterior purpose or thought of separa-
/ ton on issues likely to arise. IL is by the cor
! dial harmony of MIR. johnson and the Union
members of Congress that the country is to be
carried through its present perils, and divisions
/ between. them would place us in imminent dam
ger Of shipwreck We may have diverse opin-
ions as to the true solution of this knOtty prob
lem of reconstruction, and during the proper
period for discussion may and ought to dis
cuss them with candor, with fullness, aud with
a tolerant spirit, but when this is done and
time for action arrives, 1t will be the business
L Inf n no IN
the plan to be adopted and that which is in this
manner honestly determined by devotedly Un-
ion men, shall believe, as have before said,
to be the best attaiDable result whether il agrees
with my views or not. In short, believe that
under no circumstances should we permit the
transfer of the power of this Government to the
hands Of those who have been disloyal during
the war, by any division among ourselves, IN
til all the questions which grow out of the war
are permanently and finally decided.
| Having thus stated what think is the true
doctrine Of political organization ndindicated
the great danger of losing all for which we have
been striving, by such divisions as those al
which you hint, am now prepared to state my
private views upon reconstruction and the
Iclaims of the freedmen TO political privileges
in the Southern States, leaving 10 You the re-
IspOnsibility of your action in regard thereto.
presume we shall agree in regarding the
flour general principles asserted in the 'Faneuil
Hall Address" as those which should guide
the determination of our relations to both whites
Il and blacks in the rebel States That there may
be no mistake in reference TO this, quote them:
First That principle put beyond all question
that the Republic has direct claim upon the aegancs
of every citizen, from which State can absove him
and to his obedienes to the laws Of the Republic any
thing the constitution or laws of any State TO the
icoptrary notwithstanding.
second The public faith pledged to every person Of
coIor the rebel States, to TO them and to the
lpostprty forever, cOmpete and veritable freedom
Having provided them this freedom, secured their aid
1.-THE faith Of this PROMISE and BY successful and
actual military occupation of the country having obtain
al fbe mower to secure the result we are dishouored Il
we fail to make it good TO them.
Third The system of slavery must be abolished and
prohibited by aud rreVeTsihe law. Through
out the rebel States there must BE- in the words Of Web
ster impressedu the soil itself inability to beaI
up any but free men.
FOURTH The system of the States must be truly re-
publican"
The application made IN the last principle in
the address, do not regard as sound, but shall
perhaps agree more fully with you, than you
do with the address, when | assert IN a Tepub-
Ilcan community political privileges of any kind
lean never he rightly or safely based upon here.
dtary caste.
How then, 1t will naturally be asked, car
there be any practical difference between us
as to the mode of carrying out these principles
1t is found in the views we take of the mutual
relations of the two races in the South You
Judging from the distance, say: Deliver the
four millions of freed people into the hands O
their former OppTessors, now embittered by then
defeat, aud they will make their condition worss
THAN before" | starting from the same pFinci
pies, and after four years Of close and thought
ful observation of the races where they are, au
unwilliBgly forced to conviction that the effec
of the waf has not been simply 10 "embitter'
their relations, but TO develop rooted sntago
uism which makes their permanent fusion il
one political community an absolute impOssi
bllity The sole difference between us, then, IL
in the degree ofhostIlity we find existing among
the races, and its probable permanence. YoI
I assume that the extension of the right of suff
rage to the blacks, leaving them iniermixed will
the Writes will cure all the trouble i believe
that it would rather be like the decisions IN the
outer darkness of which Milton speaks, where
''Chaos umpire sits,
| And by decision more embroils the fray"
Yet. as believe with You, that the right t.
life aud liberty are inslienable, and more thar
admit the danger of leaving lsboring class a
the entire mercy of those who formerly
owned them as slaves, you will say | am bOunC
TO furnish some solution of the problem which
shall not deny the right or incur the peril S,
and the ORlV real solution tCi,ieh edR see is tn
1
:, ply, foreign colonization viii break down hope
, iessly under the very vastDess of the labor, eV
en- if If were not tyrsnpical enough to expe
eI these unfortunate people from the land of thei
birth ] grant the full weight of the objection
and therefore say the solution is thus narrowed
down to Peaceable separation Of the races ol
the soil where they now are.
The essential point in the discussion thus ap
pears TO be the actual relations of the races il
the Southern States as question of fact ant
the probable future consequences of these rela
t tions as question of theory.
: Upon the question of fact think may, witt
all modesty, claim that my anteoedents and ny
, opportunities of observation entitle my testimo
uy to have some weight even with the mos
{ radical anti slavery men of the North.
. The antagonsm of which i have spoken j
! mot entirely ons-sided. On the part of tn
former master atdltes the form Of an HdOntitdbl
pride, rlich utterly refuses to entertain The idea
{ political social eqndtty, mingled Nth hGtre
intensified by The circumstances aud results Of tn
,raJ.. This feeling is not confined TO the slave