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


ted his brain. Yet have seen that same ne
gro afterwsrd IN camp, transformed into clear
headed ally OF our troops, leading them to his
masters buried stores, or guiding them to the
tanks of the enemy lines, with an intelligence
and steadiness of purpose which left no doubt
as to his understanding Of the conflict between
himself and his master.
The daily and hourly repetition Of pfoefsof
TINS fact, many Of them too subtitle for descrfp-
ton, but none the less convincing to the obsery~
er, has fully convinced me that never between
Norman and Saxon, nor between GauI and
Frank, was there more conscious hatred or an
antsgonism more likely TO prove inveterste
than between black and white on Southern soil.
The negroes will have no sense Of ser5iritv
ner faith in their former masters. even II thew
offer them political rights; they will fear then,
as DoRGoS dOnG tereRteS.
What does history teach Us in regard to the
Permanence and durability Of such preiudiees
and enmities of race2 Speaking on this subject.
Augustin Thierry. IN his history Of the Roman
Conquest, says. +t
i"Whatever degree of territorial unity the great
modern States OF Europe may appear to have
attained: whatever may be the community of
manners, language and public feelings which the
habit Of living under the same Government. and
in the same stage of civilization. has introduced
among the inbabitents of each Of those States
there is scarcely one of them which does not
even now present living traces Of the diversity
Of 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 1T is a complete sep
CITATION ofIdIoms, of local traditions. Of political
sentiments, and sort of instructive enmity dis
tmgulshiDg from the great national mass Of pOp-
uiatiOn of few small districts; and sometimes
aimere difference Of dialect, or even of accent.
marks, though more feebIy, The limit Of the set
Elements OF races of men, once thoroughly dis
tinct, and hostile to each other"
1t fifteen centuries of common government
and political union have not been able to oblit-
crate the distinctions and even the s'instipctiye
enmity of races which were physiologically
similar, what encouragement have we that sue
Will cess attend forced political fusion of bit
terly hostile races from the antipodes of the hu-
man family?
The process by which even the comparative
unity of the English people was achieved, is de-
seribed by the same philosophie historian, whom
Ihave quoted, near the close of his great work,
as a complete apialgamation" of the Norman
and Saxcn idioms, and mixture ofthe two ra-
ces, which 1t took four centuries of sanguinary
wsr to accomplish.
just stepping as we are from the battlefield
on which defendants of common ancestry so
little removed from us that we can literally
reach back our hands TO grasp those ofOu COM
mon sITes, have wsged the most tremendous and
terrible of modern wars, it does not become US
to urge that peaceful discussions will quietly
settle differences which in former times were
settled by the sword; but the memory of the
almost present as well as OF the remote past
calls upon us to build our polity solidly upon
principles which experience, as well as reason,
proves to be durable, and more than ever to
peace when there is no peace"
As, during those four weary years of war,
have pondered this problem in the intervals Of
strife, Oh by the camp FIRE at night have been
more and more inpelled to the belief that the
only basis of permanent nationality is to be
found in complete homogenity Of people, of
manners and oflaws The rapid fusion of the
races of western Europe, as they have met upon
our shores has secured the former of these re-
quisites and the Yankee race Il adopt the cpl
thet as an honorable one } marked as it is with
salient characteristics is so complete an amalga-
Dation of all families from the eastern boundary
Of Germany to the western coast of Ireland, that
there are few of US IN whose veins are not mix
ed the blood OF several But this unhappy race
ofwhich we speak does not amalgamate with
the rest. 1t Is entirely immaterial to discuss
why 1t Is so; the fact no one can deny; nor can
It be denied that its salvation or its destruction
will be worked out in IS family isolation.
Because there could be no real unity Of peo-
pie between the Southern whites and Southern
blacks, it seems manifest to me that there could
be no political unity, but rather strife for the
mastery, in which the one or the other would
go to the wall
The struggle for supremacy would be direct
and immediate, and | see DO hope whatever
| that the weaker race would not be reduced to
| hopeless subsection, OF utterly destroyed There
is no reason to suppose that Missouri border
| ruffianism could never be repeated on new fields
| aud the strife once inaugurated, the merciless
/ war would continue as long as the obnoxious
| race had an existence. You having expressed
/ your anticipation ofsuch result IN one state OF
the case, how is it that you do not see that di-
rect struggle for power at the ballot box would
make the contest more deadly?
j hold that there is great philOsophic truth
| in the word of Guizot. in summing up the eight
centuries OF bloodshed out of which the French
emerged into nationality from the strife of petty
races and tribes. He says: "In the life of Da-
| tions that union which is exterior and visible
the unity Of name and government although
| important is by no means the first ip impor-
/ tance, the most real OF that indeed which makes
one nation. There is unity which is deeper
| aud more powerful: it is that which results not
| merely from identity of government and Of des-
| tiny, but from the hOnOgenity OfsOcisl elements
from the likeness of institutions. Of manners, OF
ideas of tastes, of tongues, the unity which re-
sides in the men themselves whom society assem-
bles, and not in the forms of their associations;
in short that moral unity (EaJite DsoTdle) which
| is far more important than political unity, and
i which Is the only solid foundation for the lat
| ter"
| have watched with deep interest the educa-
/ tiOnal effect OF the war upon our own army, and
| l assure you that while our white soldiers have
uniformly and quickly learned to appreciate the
| fact that the existence of our free government
| could only bepreServed by the destruction Of the
/ system of slavery, and so become radically and
thoroughly aDti-slavery, the tendency OF battle
i ing for the old flag was almost equally uniform
| in increasing and deepening their pride Oi
race The fact is one which can not be safely
overlooked iu any calculation involving their
action upon the political problems before the
1 country and it is one in regard TO which think
| / can hardly be mistaken.
| The details of any system OF separation could
only be determined by careful study and wide
comparison oi views. Suppose, however, ths
without breaking up the organization Of any
State you take contiguous territory in South
i Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida and
there, under the sovereignty Ofthe United States
| and with all the facilities which the power anc
II
the freedmen in dependency Of the Union anal
ogous to the western territories. Give then
schools, laws, facilitating the requirement o
bomesteads to be paid for by their own labor
full and exclusive political privileges, aided Al
the start, should it seem necessary, by wise Sc
lection from the larger brains and most phllan-
thropic hearts among anti-slavery men, to jOiI
them, a Judiciary or executive which would com
| mand their confidence in the first essays of pO
litical existence. There need be no ccersive col
lection of the oolored race IN the designated re
gion; the majority are there now, and the re-
| ward of political power would draw thither tn
remainder quite as rapidly as their place coulC
be supplied by white migration into othe
States The forts and seaport cities could re
main under the direct control of the Fedora
Government, as the basis for that common trad
and intercourse with other parts Of the country
and the world, which would be necessary. Tn
fullest opportunity to develop the highest civi
lization they are capable Of, would then be Civ
en-. Colored men of talent and intelligenc
would not then make vain struggle for tn
| IS bos IorU TvffhOut nrIpfc n