Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-09-13
I,eitinR Alone,

and papers which have been heard before.
- Just let US alone. That is all we want.
As for the negroes, we know them better
than any body else, and we must be per.
mitted to manage them."
Except for the seriousness Of the situa.
ton there would be something exquisitely
humorous in the assertion. 1t is exactly
what we have heard for the last twenty
years. When it was perfectly evident
that the spirit and policy Of slavery were
e~ndangering the welfare Of the country, a
firm and vigorous protest was raised by
sagacious citizens who did % mean to
c~onnive, under any pretense whatever at
the national ruin. Then came the an
swering shout from the party of slavery
"Let US alone. 1t is our affair. We
know the negroes and understand how to
manage them. Let US alone" And
many honest minds were deceived by the
appeal.
Then came secession. The men who
had cried so Justify "Let US alone while
they were plotting, cried still more SOL
emily "Let US alone" when they were
ready to consummate the crime. Their
armed effort has been abortive but bloody.
II is necessary for them to recur again to
arts and intrigueS, and so we hear the
same old cry. Let US alone"
And who echo this cry Those whoin
1860 said that the Government had no
right to maintain itself by arms. Those
who in 1861 said that the wal was really
occasioned by the loyal States, and that
the Government had no right to compro-
mise with treason and conciliate rebellion.
Those who in 1862 said that our erring
sisters should be allowed to depart in
peace. Those who in 1853 stimulated a
counter revolution. Those who in 1864
went to Chicago and declared the war a
failure. Those who at the end Of 1864
were politically annihilated by the Ameri-
can people at the polls.
What is the object Of the cry: The
overthrow of the Administration and pol
icy which directed the war, and the return
to power of that alliance of Southern lead
ers and Northern followers which brought
on the war. That alliance, we are told,
secured peace to the country. Yes, it BE-
cured peace at the price Of national honor,
and by delaying q struggle which delay
emblttered a thousand.fold. 1t secured
peace as a man secures solvency By pay
ing fifty per cent. a day for the money he
borrows. 1t secured peace as he does
who puts his nose into the fingers Of a
bully, and obsequiously succumbs to his
kicks. And when the peace was broken,
VINO broke it.: When wal began, who
began it: Who hoped and worked for
their success Those who now tell Us
that while they had the power they kept
the peace. Those who we know when
they lost the power broke the peace.
They gave the country peace as a high
wayman gives his victim life, on condition
of obedience. Just give US power again,
fellow-citizens," they cry, land you will
see how we will keep the peace" Their
fello -citizens have already seen. Enough
is as good as a feast.
The late rebels say they know the ne
groes a great deal better than anybody
else. How have they proved it? BY en-
slavlng them with an unparalleled barbar.
ity. BY outraging every human right and
feeling. BY so treating them that, when
the wal came. every one of the people
they knew so well" instinctively turned
against them, and hailed the enemies of
their masters as, for that reason, their
W best friends. A society which is SO
ignorant of human nature, of history, of
divine justice, and Of the laws Of political
economy as to suppose that it can treat
half OF its members as brutes without
danger to the general welfare, when it's
foolish assumption has ended in its own
blood and ruin, might at least affect mod
esty of opinion if it docs not feel it. There
was never a class in the world which knew
so little of another as the slaveholding
class at the South knows OF the slaves.
Its ignorance has cost US a civil war ; but
it has also fortunately apprised US that
such ignorance is a mortal peril.
And what are the late slaveholding class
now doing to show US how perfectly they
understand the negroess The Southern
States are paralyzed. They can be re-
~invigorated only BY labor. The negroes
are the laboring population. They are
native to the soil and climate, and they
are free. Common sense indicates the
only policy. The inevitable facts Of the
ease should be cordially accepted. Liberal
wages should be paid. Honest contracts
made. Just measures adopted to provide
education and equal rights for the most sub
stautial part of the population. In a word,
public peril avoided by the simplest and
most obvious equity. But, instead ofthis,
farmers are offering Ave dollars a month
to freemen who, as slaves, could hire
themselves and make fifteen dollars a
month. White people are gravely enact
ing that colored people shall not testify;
shall not control their " children shall
not bear arms; shall not vote; and are
surrounding them with disabilities for
which there would seem to be no legal re-
dress. And all the while the class at the
South which has made educating slaves q
crime, protests against the fearful iguo-
rance Of the colored people; and those
who have disgraced labor and degraded
the laborer, and have themselves never
lifted a finger TO work now complain that
the negro is a dreadfully lazy fellow, and
will work only upon compulsion.
In truth the class which wished to be
"let alone" in its assault upon the Union
and Government, unchanged and unsub-
dued, now wishes to be 'let alone" to re-
organize itself upon its obsolete, inhuman,
and dangerous p~rejudices and passions.
1t hates the Union ; it hates free labor and
free society; it believes in its interpreta-
ton Of the Constitution and in State SOW
ereignty as much as ever. The spirit of
this class is the cancer Of the country. II
the country Wishes peace il will not let Il |