The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-08-10
HENRY s. FOOTE.
He Favors Negro Suffrage, and why


Mr.. Foote, under date Of Montreal, July
%, writes as follows in a letter addressed to
Elk United States Senatar Nicholson, of Ten
nessee:
To the Hon. 4. o. p Nicholson, Of the State
Of Tennessee:
SIR: Mr.. Clay and those asso-
ciated with him, in 1850, warned the over
heated pros slavery zealots of that period, in
accents which yet vibrate in the memories of
millions, that the continued agitation of ques-
tons connected with American slavery would
infallibly destroy it. We were told in trum-
pet tones, such as might almost have ava
kened the dead, that to war for slavery was
infallibly to decree its determination. We
were advised that in the existing condition of
the public mind of Christendom, the indica-
tions of a bold and virulent hostility TO Afri-
can slavery were to be deserted almost in
every nook and corner of the globe outside of
our own country, and that nothing could pos
sibly save it from early destruction but the
united energies of the whole American peo-
pie, living as they did under constitution of
government which guaranteed its continued
existence
We secuted the counsels when applied to
us We desplsed the language of timely adj
moniton we madly kept up the fires Of sec
tional excitement, piling upon them from time
to time, such intiammable rubbish as the
Kansas Nebraska bills, Lecompton Constitu-
tons, and aggressive Democratic Presidential
platforms, and loi the evil tree which we
planted, has borne poisonous fruit, the taste
of which has been death inevitabei 1t is
now too late to bewail the result of our wildly
fanciful experiment. That result has already
become one OF the established historic land
marks OF coming generations. 1t has been
Incorporated and enfbred in the very vitals
OF the body polite. | will not assert 1t to be
absolutely true, but millions of trusting souls
do, notwithstanding. verify believe that God
IN his providence blinded us, as he did Pha-
roah OF old, to the natural consequences of
our own stupendous folly and made us the
ehclent, bat unconscious instruments of His
own pre-d determined policy for the doing away
OF that which, though permitted for a time,
and even made for several centuries the
source OF much and of varied good to the
word, he had always intended for Temporary
duration only, and which. when itsNallotted
course should have been run, was ultimately
to give way to that new state of things upon
whlch we are now apparently entering when
freedom, both evil and religious, confined TO
no class, and limited to no comnlexion or
ancestral pedigree, will become the universal
law and the universal possession of all the
sons and daughters Of Adam However all
TINS may be, slavery in North America is
clearly now at an end. and its future revival
IS Just as impossible as it would be to call mn
the moldering dead from the graves where
they sleep and TO endue them anew with their
former vitality and vigor The sooner we of
lhe south iuliy realize this fact, the better II
VIII be Tor ourselves and for our whole eoun-
Try true IL Is that, even rs late as last De-
cember, 1T was possible, had nroner affor+s
been made for ppapa with .boe,- -,
IN power in Washington City. to bring the
war then raging to an end. upon the basis of
reconstruction, gradual emancipation. univer-
sal amnesty, and reasonable compensation
10 the owners of slaves III the South But the
golden moment was allowed to pass away nm
embraced; the same mysterious ipdiciaI
blindness which had enveloped the faculties
oil our Southern politicM leaders for fifteen
years before, still hung like "A gloomy pall
ABOUT 'her organs OF Intellectual vision, and
now we have at last diSastrously fallen fro,p
our high estate, and ourselves grmly enlocked
III the grasp of those who have become our
Feritable conquerors. We have been com
Peheu 10 surrender at discretion We have
los' all control over our fate. We are utterly
po"erless. Our armies are in q state of dis
PERSON. Our ships no longer navigate the
ueep. our hscal resources are exhausted.
Our rights OF person and property are de-
s'loted OF Ill o state OF allegiance. Our most
precious franchises are in the hands of those
whom Jehovah and the civilized natione nf
the earth have allowed to achieve or ruin.
Nor have we now the least ground for bono
VI pelng raised to better condition hereafter
except we promptly and energetically pursue
the course which the progress of events has
so PLAINLY marked out for us. We must in
ORDER To be tree ourselves, agree never hero
WI'er 10 interfere with the freedom of others.
must amend our State constitutions as
soon as possible, and embody therein our
consent that the four millions of hondma,
ana bondwomen heretofore existing unon
southern soil, shall be, henceforth, rs free
~ an respects, as those of the white race who
isteiy dominated over them in other words.
we must formally recognize the state of things
ALREADY existing, and bind ourselves to do
nothing to disturb it in all future time. we
must, IN order to insure our own return to
hoerty and happiness, not only recognize the
coiored denizens of the South as now free.
ou' NC must aiiow them the same means Of
preserving their freedom that we oursolvos do
sire to possess. They must be freedmen N
TACT as well as IN name. We must consent tn
tneir being invested With the elective fran
chise and this must be DONE too. no mater
what cherished notions we NAV entertain i,
regard to the mental inferiority of those
~hom some of US have heretofore re.
salueu as the doomed posterity of Ham. Nor
can We now safely talk about CARVING tban,
through course of special tutelage and nro-
baton, such as | understand Won to raan,r
mend, ere we make them our own ennals La.
lore the law of the land. These are M, .,
all matters of our regulation, but are To bs
attended to by those who hold in their banJs
exclusively the sword and the nursa &C H.
nation; will tell you, my dear sir and
through you, wish to urge upon the whal,
mass OF my fellow countrymen of the Son,h
t .hat these things must be done by us. else onr
states will not be allowed to have Renressn..
atises and Senators in Congress. or even Lo
permitted, without molestation. to adm;n;ster
Their own municipal concerns Tb;s ~.
to you emphatically, is a settled mat,ar
,es Judcatd, and there is no appeal forsus !,
Inc case. We may regret this state of fb;nns
hs much as 1t rs possible for us to do we NAV
bewali 1t as eloquently as we choose wa mo-, ,,ay
reason against irrevocable destiny with ali ,ha
logical power of an Aristotle, a Bacon or =
Locke, and still the irremoyable fact iii
stare us in the face we must consent to tho
carrying INTO effect of the compact ex;st;ns
between those who now WELD ali the oovern.
ing power oil the country, and those who. be-
fore God and man, they have solem,ly 49, oa
9nder their protection and patronage In.
aeed, 90 not at all overstate the case
nave sought information ON this suh;ect ~ al
quarters where | thougbt II VIC. ,sss..I OH