Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1865-07-26
VIEWS OF AN OBSERVER.

VlbWS VI AIN ODSbn In,
A Pennsylvania Democrat, who has been
spending six weeks at the South, writes
from Alabama to Tie Public Ledger phil
adelphia) as follows:
MOBILE, Ala, June 81, 1851 have
come down to this part OF the country with
the intention of casting my lot with 1t TOR
the future, and feel impeled TO send you a
line to tell OF my impression OF the people.
have been, for some six weeks, IN daily
contact with Southern people Of all political
shades, and, though [ AIN poor talker, |
am good listener, and not a very bad hand
at forming conclusions from great deal OF
hearing. | c, me 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 he was bigoted he was preju-
diced he could not be trusted with the
privilege OF voter until he had attained a
certain standard Of education. Well Sir, L
was never farther away from the truth IN my
life. | have listened by the hour to the IA
miliar, social, unreStrained talk of Southern
people /; and [ have been sorry to conclude,
from all that | have heard, that the dam
nable heresy of the States Rights Doctrine
upon which, with imagined evils threatened
to the institution OF Slavery, they based
their acts of Secession and Rebellion, Is as
deeply rooted in their convictions as it ever
was They have failed to establish the sue
cess OF their principles ut the bayonet point
and the cannon mouth, but those prlncI-
pies lie as near to the hearts of the great
mass of them as ever, and loyalty to the
Government, as consisting a principle with
the great mass of the people at the North, is
entirely foreign to the breasts of the masses
in the South. The same 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 thwart the unity and progress of the
| Republic. On the other hand, the negro
has but one principle and one affection His
principle is devotion to the Union his at
| lection heart-w hole for the cause that has
restored him to manhood. No doubts OF
the justice of tie cause cross his mind. No
clouds of casuists raising obscure his vision.
| His instincts alone point out to him the
path he is TO tread as free man, and point
it out unerrngly. Who so safe to trust with
| the ballot Of a freeman as he? Can dema-
gogues lead him astray with arts and soph
| istries | trOw not He may not know so
much of book-learnlng as his paler skinned
brother, but he is less likely to be deceived
| in what pertains to the advancement Of all
members OF the human family, himself II :
cluded. And if you could see, as | have
seen, the colored people of these Southern
cities sitting at their doorstep in the moon
| light on hot evenings, teaching each other
to spell and to count. regardless of the COM
ments of those who passed by, you would not
be slow in coming to the belief that even
the supposed amount of education necessary
to enable them to vote intelligentiy will not
| be long wanting [. for one, contrary to
all my previous expectations, am fully con-
| vineol tis+ the only rafoty for the South is
! in the extension of free suffrage to the peo-
| pie of all colors and [ mean to throw my
self 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 Righs trai-
tors. Shall We trust the future of our coun-
try TO the instinct that inevitably leads TO
the right or to the educated sophistry that
inculcates what is false and ruinous We
are by no means ready for a reconstruction
under the domination of defeated but not con-
vinced traitors We have had a terrible
war let US not cast away its fruits. Let US
have military government in the Southern
States until the sentiment of true loyalty be-
gins to be felt or, if we must have civil
governments reconstructed let those who
| have any cause to love the Union not be put
aside while its interests are confded to the
hands of those who have been its open enc
mics