The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-09-27
"Wednesday n Morning, Sept ~, 1865.

- II - 81 - - - .I
LETTER FROM JOHN STUART MILL,
His d5ws cf Reconstracti5a sand Negro
@- Suffrage. 1
The following letter from John Stuart Mil.
addressed to a gentleman in Ohio, appears in
s. the Cincinnati Commercials. ial
.iisuf. q 5e.s. BKAoKHEATa PARK, KENT, fltg
saa3 - MO 6s II September /, 1856. &.
-goa ~ Dear Sir:--t am sincerely obliged to you
Tor giving me an opportunity Of reading the
letter OF General Cox, and your excellent pa
Yen ak Esl DE Tor r. an opinion I Should bosi-
tate very long before obtruding upon any
E American, and still less upon the American
public, any mere opinion of mine, respecting
their internal concerns. But it is the concern
OF mankind, almost as much as of the United
States, that the conquests achieved by your
great and arduous struggle should not be, in,
z tne very !, hour sof victory, earalessly flung
honor to ask, is one which share with SO
'HNitg many Of the noblest and wisest Americans,
that need have the less scruple in express
81 ing it. ssm is..f sal IS ,s4iTs I4IfiF
l LII is certainly some gain to the negroes and
to the principle. OF. freedom, that they have
been made even nominally free. l do not pre-
j : tend that it is nothing that they can nolonger
legally be b5ught and sold. But this s- about
the amount Of all they win have gained, If the
poverof legislation, Is handed over once more
to their old masters, and to the mean whites by
whom they are despised as much and proba-
bly, more than even by their masters, and who
s haVesbesn lighting @iour years to retain them
enslaved. If it were not for your state instf-
s,s4 tutons the case you'd not be 50 pressing for
rofies those who have made them free could keep
rs them 50. But, once the war power laid down,
y and the regular course Of, state government
restored, what Is to prevent state legislature.
bU
under which, unless they resist by force, they
win have as little the control Of their own ac-
tions, as little protection for life, honor and
property, win, ia short, be, except in d few of
much slaves as before? To bring this aboutit
= is not even necessary tosenacts new laws. It
!, it,Would suffice TO have the old ones unrepeal-
ed, by which the testimony of a; negro cam
Toi9s mot be received against white. Nay, even
g were these laws abrogated, nothing more /
would be needed than partiality and prejudice
z in the white courts Of jusHcea And would it /
: Y be consistent with ordinary human nature
that such partiality and Prejudice should n0sd
candidate, to whose letter you SO ably re- /
y plied is quits aware of it. and can SUGGEST no
means OF averting the evil, except what 81
agree with you in regarding asstAe chimerical'
project OF affecting a local Separation between
Asa the two races excluding the negr0es from the
+, l. Jurisdiction Of the states, and wing them q
territorial governments apart. 1t is not to be !
Ga a1baieyed that the President or Congress viii
entertain such a scheme as this seriously. If
Ia then, they allow the Southern States. to reor-
- ganize themselves, and resume all their con-
-. stitutipnal rights Kithoutn egro suffrage, what
Cssfs to be dons? 20 abandon the negroes to-
the tender mercics Of those from whom, at SO
terrible cost, yeuO have golately rescued
them? No party. or set of men, in the free
r states are SO shameless as to propose this conn
5ls bined turpitude and isnbecility. But the free
100 dom OF the negroes and the lseligoveinment
Y e of the Southern States, as az present const-
tuted, cannot co-ezist; and, III 1t IS determin-
~ ed that, come what will, the former shall be
reality, it must be- intended that the latter
should be. q mere pretence. ssre,.s ,osi2
s9.sr 8 A censorship viii have lobe exercised over
g o all the acts, both legislative and admnistEa-
y n tive, OF the state governments; the federal
ly authorities win, By military coercion, prevent
set aside all proceedings calculated to inter
fere With that equality Of civil rights TO which
they are bound by every consideration, both
of duty and Of interes5s to secure to the freed
race And this military dictatorship will have.
to be continued for great length OF time; for
lit sspealzing withiu9 9bounds to say that two
generations must eiapse Before the habits and
feelings engendered by slavery give place to
new ones-11efore the stain which the position
of slave master burns into the very souls of
tlla privileged population can be expected to
"a. fade out. ,,ee apsf
now apparently acted on by the federal gov
eFnmsnFieags sc ln bat hsEe too high an opin-
ssssient, and the practical good sense and deter
Ynfnation Of the American people, to believe
t. tafat such sbolfcy via be persevcred in. It
sg would be nothing less than electing to rule
NstISn ia order tosavoii depfivng the white half
s..ef thstppp of the powcre Of tyrallnizing
oyer tile black hall. - .r
80 TeFssi Sf estorinis ID the states aately III
ss FebeAiop n9pallal elE7soyernnent, yl{ch w
less yoa are willing, to sacrifice all that has
Nbssaig gaiked by f5uf years oRctvik warss cannot
s be eAfered to be real, would it pQt. pes better
to fiIake the selfgoyernment real, but to grant
N only To asniized Community in which the
population who have been CORRUPTED by yict-
6lsinsatutions viii be nentraized by black
Soitizensa and white enigra1ts from the North
s.ass And what is the ,hindrance to- this in the
minds of the President and his Cabinet? Is
sstsik seipples shout legality {? To be scfupulous
3 about exceeding his lawful powers well be-
comes the first magistrate Of a free people
~ But m this case the sorunle seems wholly
sey eutQf place We are told that the rebel states
must be assumed never to have been out of
go the Union, and therefore, to be uaeoAditionaIly
entitled to all their original liberties and DOW
eefs the moment they condesccnd e accent
thenl Rea5of would say, on the contrary.
7 that by declaEing themselves iddependent Of
the Union they could not, indeed, diyest
Themselves of its obligations, hut certainly
IL forfeitedits privileges. A state ofaciyil war
8 sa,sne,ds all legal rights and all social eo,nnact
20 sea sbaflTeeT, tle cornbatants. Except under
the terms of a capitulation, defeated rebels
II have no rights but the universal ones Of hl-
-asi nanity lhe southern people, their lives, bod
his les and estates were, by the issue OF the war
~ placed at the discretion Of their conqperoTs bu
Of conouerors Whom both the general Jaw 9
right, and the special principles 2. tnelr oWl
social and political institutions, forbid 70 exeE
else permanent dominion over any hunal
beings as subjects Or on any iootng ina
NC that Of equal citizenship II would, however
ie be on the part Of the free states generoslt
.41A partaklng otsillness were they to give pack
thelr bitter enemies not only power 10 govern
themselves and the negroes within their limit
but through representatives in Congress Y
govern the ffee statesto without first exact
~ Ing such changes in the structure of southern
Is, society as Wifi render'sueh arelation betweei
them and the tree states rational and safe =
you have not a right to do this. Won had no
the rightto impose the abolition of slayery.--
sii Consider what an element you are going onct
s1fI more TO admit into the supreme eoyAsn,nen
of lhc Union. .s& ~ Sg8 = ~ =
Think Of this one thing--it is but one o
many. Every southern member oil Congres
elecled Without negfev suffrage is a sure yot
for that biackest and most disgracefnl breaol
w. of faith, which would brand American denloe
racy and popular government itself with
~ mark that would endure for generations-th