Journal of freedom. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1865-186?, 1865-09-30

Your right to the elective franchise
will not be much longer withheld from
you, and will prove q blessing to you
and our lacerated country.
Make the education of your children,
next to your service to God, the chief
end. Truly yours,
JAS. A. BUTLER.
To James Alexander, Esq.
--~~o-
To the COlored People Of North Carolina.
MY CoUNTREMEN:-I heard that you
are to hold a Convention at Raleigh on
the 29th instant, to ask for the Right of
Suffrage, and that / am among those in
vited by You to be present and counsel
you. Being under an old and impera-
tive engagement to- be on that day in
Minnesota, | cannot be with you in North
Carolina ; and, having no address to
which / may send you a letter, I ana
obliged to respond thus publicly to your
invitation. Let me. therefore, urge and
entreat you to
1. Be hopeful. Great reforms are sell
dom completed in a moment. Old wrongs
and abuses-yield slowly to the advances
of Justice and Humanity. Ihavetor thirty
years ardently wished, but, till very re-
Gently, dared not to hope, that I might
live to see ours a free country. / now
see it, and bless God for the wisdom and
benefcence-so infinitely transcending
all human preconception-whereby the
weakness, i~nfatuation, incspacity, dis
loyalty, treachery and general unworthl-
ness Of men, have been made to subserve
the Divine purpose. But for Northern
su~bserviency, so enormous that they were
justified in expecting to be aided by it in
the feld as we'll as in the cabinet, the
shareholders would never have revolted.
But Tor imbecility In high places and in
capacity if not treason also, in the di-
rection of our armies, the rebellion would
have been speedily suppressed without
seriously affecting your condition-poss-
IDLY with new concessions and guarantees
to slavery. Looking back at the mo-
mentous history, the stupendous trans
formations of the last five years, we must
reverently say, ''This is the Lords do
ing, and it is marvellous in our eyes
Let us unwaveringly trust that the great
work will be prosecuted to it's legitimate
and logical contamination.
II, Be patient. We may not win a full
recognition of your rights directly f; but
the effort will never be abandoned until
it's success is assured. And we are NO
longer resisted by a vast, tenacious pc
cuniary interest-an all but omnipotent
"vested right" Slavery the tree, where
of negro-hate and White prejudice OF
| color are branches, has been cut down.
There is still vitality in the roots, but
| the branches are bound to wither and de-
cay. Yet this is not the work Of q day,
and we must learn to labor, and IF need
bel to WGat."
III. Be peaceful. Do not be seduced
nor provoked to resist lawful authority
| with lawless violence. Better suffer
wrong in silence, or be worsted in invok-
lug the protection of the laws. You see
what the shareholders have incurred by
resisting authority by force. Let moth
ing tempt or swerve you from the ways
of peace. If you are oppressed and abus-
ed. appeal to Congress, which will soon
have been clothed by the pending Con
stitutional Amendment with power to
ro1rass uAnn--~4--
Whichever among you resist the law
gives a signal advantage to your enemies
Better suffer and trust.
". Be dskgent. l am exhorting you
to steadfast industry. You have hao
enough of that. Not being fools, yor
know that you have to work hard for al
YOU get, and probably for something more
There cannot be a hundred of you who Dc
not know that you are to work out YOU
your own pecnuiary salvation or misera
bly perish. But you must be equally dill
gent in educating yourselves you
children, and must mot grudge working
an extra hour per day, if needed, to pro
vide yourselves with books and teachers
It is indispensable that you all, or nearl.
all. acquire the rudiments of a substantial
education at the earliest momentum tina
YOU each keep on acquiring useful knowl
edge at every opportunity to the last Ga!
of your lives. Your alleged ignorance !
now one of the chief pretexts Tor denylni
you the Right of Suffrage.
~ V. Respect yourselves. Refuse to min
lister to others vicious appetites, no matte
WHAT the temptation. Stand qnietl
and respectfully aloof from all White
. who see fit to regard you as interiors mere
| " because of your color. Keep away, o
get away, from all cities, unless you ar
sure of making money rapidly. and WI
~tuously therein. Hold nc. voluntary rels
lions to negro-haters, and bestow no pa
t ronage on them, though this compel 20
. to 90 without comforts you might othel
f wise enjoy. Trade with and patroniz
r vour friends, but, above all, each ether
a Encourage your brethren who embark
t trade or n mechanical or other useful il
= dustry, though at some personal inconv'
nience; keep out Of debt; work, if poss