The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1865-08-11

On tho part of the freedmen, IL 10 mani |
tested 10 an utter distrust of the dominant
race, and an enmity which, although made
by circumstances more passive and less
openly manifested, 10 as real and impIscable
as the other. They have tho mutual attrac-
ton Of race among themselves, abd fepui.
sion Of the whites as another people, devel.
oped to degree which surprised me. 1t 10
not as individuals OF o nation common to us
all, that they speak of themselves, but, to |
use tho language Of one of them, speaking
to myself, they feel that they shave long
been an oppressed and down. trodden
people"
Hildretb, in bis D.spotism IN .amer,ca, do.
clared slavery to be in itself a state of war,
and this character is indelibly impressed
upon both races in the South The cap.
tive learns duplicity towards bis captor, and
in the slave il has become a marked char
acteristic. 1t is fair stratagem for which
bo feels no guilt. have seen n mastor
boastipg Of the fidelity of his servant, and
discussing the subject Of slavery in bis pres
enee, whilst the negro waited upon him
with an impossible humility which would
make you believe no intelligent idea Of free
dom had ever penetrated bis brain. Yet /
have seen that same negro afierward in
Of our troops, leading thenalo his masters
buried stores, or guiding them to the flsnks
of the enemy's lines, with an intelligence
and steadiness of purpoae which left no
doubt as 10 bis understanding Of the conflict
between himself and his master.
The daily and hourly repetition Of proofs
OF this fact, many of them too subtle fer do.
scriptiop, but nore the less convincing to
the observer, has fully convinced me that
uever between Norman and Saxon, nor be.
tweon Gaul aud Frank, was there a more
conscious hatred, or an antagoDism more
likely to prove inveterate, than between
black and white en- our Southern soil. The
| negroes will have no sense OF security nor
faith in their former masters, even If they
offer them political rights; they will fear
them as Danaos dona (erenies.
! What does history teach us in regard to
tho permauence and durability Of such pro.
judices and enmities of race? Speaking on
this subject. Augustin Thierry. iu his His.
tory of the Roman Conquest, says: "What.
ever degree of territorial unity the great
modern States of Europe may appear to
have attained; wbateveS may be the com.
munity OF manners, language, and public
feeling which the habit of living under the
same government, and in the same stage oi
civilization, has Introduced among the 10.
habitants of zach of those States, there 10
] scarcely one of them which does not even
now present living traces Of the diversity OF
4 the races of men, which in course Of time
have come together in it. This variety
shows itself under different aspects. with
features more or less marked. Sometimes
il 10 . complete separation of idioms, Of 10.
cal traditions, of political sentiments, and q
i SORT of instructive enmity Distinguishing
\ from The great national mass the population
Of . few small districts; and sometimes ,
mere difference OF dialect,or even of accent
marks, though more feebly, the limit of tn
u settlements of races Of men, once thorough
" distinct, aud hostile to each otber."
| If fifteen centuries of common govern
ment and political union have not been able
to obliterate the distinctions and even the
3 pbysiologically similar, what encourage
forced political fusion of bitterly hostil,
races from the antipodes of the human fam
lily?
The process by which even the compare
tive unity of the English people was achiev
et , is described by the same philosophi
historian. whom have quoted, near th,
close of bis great work. ss "complet,
amalgsmation" of the Norman and SaxoI
idi0ms, and . mixture of the two races,
which it took four centuries of sanpuinar,
war to accomplish. .-
i just stepping as We are from the battle.
field on which descendants of common an.
cestry, so little removed from Us that We
can literally reach back our hands to grasp
those of our common sres, have waged the
most tremendous and terrible of modern
wars, il does not become us to argue that
peaceful discussions will quietly settle diff.
fereuces which in former times were settled
by the sword; but the memory of the al.
most present as we'll as of the remote past
calls upon us to build our policy solidlv up.
on principles which experience % we'll al
reason prove to be durable, and more thar
ever avoid deiudipg ourselves with the cry
of "peace, peace. when thore 10 NO peace!"
As, during these weary years Of war,
have popdered this problem in the interval
strife or by the camp fire at night, hav'
! been more aud more impelied to the belle
that the only basis Of permanent nationalit,
is TO be found in complete homogenity O
: people, of manners and Of laws. The rapid
fusion of the races of Western Europe al
they have met upon our shores, has secured
the former of these requisites, aud the yam
kee race, Il adopt the epitbet as an honorable
r one,) marked as it is with salient character
istics, is so complete an amaIgamation of al
families from the eaatern boundary of Ger
!, many to the western coast of Ireland. tha
there are few of US in whose veins are no
mixed the blood of several. But this uu
, happy race of which We are speaking doe
, not amalgamate with the rest. lis entire
ly immaterial to discuss why it 10 90; th,
!. fact no one can deny; nor can II be deniet
that it's salvation or its destruction vii
. surely be worked out In its family isolation
Z Because there could be no real unity be