Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1865-07-27
TERMS Oh ADvEaTSsz0o.
views of an Observer.

A Pshnsylvania Democrat, vhs has been
spending six weeks at the South, writes
from Alabama to the Public Ledger (Phila.
delphia) as follows:
MOBILE, Ala, June Il, 1865.
have come down to this part of the
country with the intention Of casting my lot
with 1t for the future, and feel impolled to
send you line to tell of my impressions of
the people. have been, for some six weeks,
in daily contact with Southern people Of all
political shades, asd, though am q poor
talker, am good listener, and net very
bad hand at forming conclusions from
great deal OF hearing. | came to the Gulf
States full OF very fine theories about the
necessities OF educating the negro before
we could extend to him the privilege Of
suffrage. He was ignorant; be was big
oted; he was prejudiced he could not be
trusted with the privileges Of voter until
he had attained certain standard Of edu-
cation. Well, Sir, | was never further
away from the truth in my life. / have
listened by the hour to the familiar, social,
unrestrained talk Of Southern people and
| have been sorry to conclude from all that
have heard, that the damDabls heresy of
the State-Rights DoctriRe, upon which.
with imagined evils threatened to the in
stitution of sslavery, they based their acts of
OF Secession aud Rebellion, is as deeply
rooted in their convictions as it ever was.
They have failed 70 establish the success of
their principles at the baysDet's point and
the eannon's mouth, but these principles lie
as near to the hearts Of the great mass of
them as ever, and true loyalty to the Gev
ernment, as constituting principle with
the mass of the people at the North, is
entirely foreign to the breasts Of the masses
In the South. Thslsams hostility that was
openly displayed in arms exists secretly in
the breasts Of the Southern people, and is
ready at any time to exert itself, no longer
IN overt acts, but in every possible pacific
way to thwsrt the unity aud progress of the
Republic. On ths other hand. the negro
has but one principle and enc affection. His
principle is devotion to the Union; his af-
tection heart-hole for the cause that has
restored him to manhood. No doubts of
the justice OF the cause cross his mind No
clouds Of casuists' raising obscure his vision.
dis instincts aleue point out to him the path
he Is to tread as tree man, and point it'
out unerringly. Who so safe to trust with.
the ballot Of freeman as he? Can dema-'
gogucs lead him astray with arts and sophis-
tries? | trow not. He may not know so
much Of book-learning as his paler- skinned
brother, bat he is less likely to be deceived.
IN what pertains to the advancement of all
members of the human family, himself in
cluded And if you could see, as | have
seen, the colored people of these Southern
cities sitting at their door steps in the moon
light on hot evenings, teaching each other
to speh and to count, regardless Of the COM
ments OF those who passed by, you would
not be slow in csming to the belief that
even the supposed amount of education ne
cessary to enable them to vote iptelligentIy
will not be long wanting. L. for one, con-
trary to all my previous expectations, am
fully convinced that the only safety for the
South is in the extension of free suffrage
to the people Of all cslors, and | mean to
throw myself into the advocacy of this
cause with all my energy. Far better is the
instinct that teaches loyalty to the Union
than the false education that makes State
Rights traitors. Shall We trust the future
of our country to the instinct that inevitably
leads TO the right, or to the educated go
phistry that inculcates what is false and
ruinouS?
We are by ne means ready fer recon-
structien under the domination of defeated
but unconvineed traitors. We have had
terrible war let us not cast away its fruits. Z
Let US have military government in theN
southern States until the sentiment Of true
loyalty begins to be felt; or, if We must
have civil governments reconstructed, let
those whe have every cause to leve the
Union not be put aside while its interests
are coDfded to the hands OF those who have
been its open enemies.