The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-08-11

views on the IOllOWluS ouhJOCsos Aoss ~AASJO~ J
IN favor of modifying our Constitution so as !
to give the elective franchise to colored men
ID In the reorganization of the Southern |
States should the elective franchise be secured
to the cOlored people2
Very truly and sincerely yours,
SAMUEL PLUMB.
Committee.
GENTLEMEN Your letter Of yesterday, in.
curing what are my opinions upon some OF
ton of the Union, was received THIS morning;
presume we shall agree in regard to four
general principles asserted in the Faneul Hall
address, as these which should guide the de. |
termination of our relations with both whites |
and blacks in the rebel States. That there
may be no mistake in reference to this, |
quote them:
"First-The principle must be put beyond
all question, that the republic has direct
claim upon the allegiance OF every citizen frem
obedience to the laws of the republic, anything |
in the Constitution or laws of any State to the
contrary notwithstanding.
Second-The public faith is pledged to every
person of color in the rebel States, to secure
to them m, and their posterity forever S CON-
them this freedom, secured their aid on the
faith of this promise, and by successful war
and actual military occupation of the country,
having obtained the power to secure the result,
we are dishonored if we fail to make 1t good
to them.
Third-Th system of slavery must be abol-
ished and prohibited by paramount and ire
versible law. Throughout the rebel States
there must be, in the words of Webster. inn
pressed upon the soil itself an inability to bear
up but free men"
Fourth-The system OF the States must be
u. D..
The application made of the last principle in
the address do not regard as sound, but shall
perhaps agree mere fully with you than you do
with the address, when / assert that in q re-
publican community political rgiyilsges Of any
How then, it will naturally be asked, can
there be any practical difference between US
as to the mode of carrying out these princi-
pies? 1t is found in the views we take of the
You, judging from this distance, say, "Deliver
the four millions Offered people into the hands
of their former oppressors, now embittered by
their defeat, and they will make their condi-
tion worse than before" I, starting from the
same principles, and after four years close apd
are, say am unwilingly forced to the convic-
ton that the effect of the war has not been SIM
ply to I" embitter their relations, but to de-
veiop rooted antagonism which makes their
permanent fusion in one political community
an absolute impossibility. The sole difference
between us then is in the degree of hostility we
find existing between the races, and its proba.
BILE permanence. You assume that the extern
sion of the right of suffrage to the blacks, leav-
ing them intermixed with the whites, will cure
all the trouble. believe that it would rather
be like the decisions in that outer darkness of
which Milton speaks, where !, a
- Chaos empire sits,
And by decision more embroils the fray"
Yet as believe, with you, that the right of
life and liberty are inalenable, and more than
admit the danger of leaving laboring class at
the mercy of those who formerly owned them
as slaves you will say I am bound to furnish
some solution of the problem which shall not
deny the right or incur the peril. So / am,
and the only real solution which can see is
the peaceful separation of the races. But, you
will reply, foreign colonization will break down
hOpelessly under the very vastness of the labor
theAe unfortunate people from the land of their
birth. / grant the full weight of the objection
and therefore say the solution is narrowed
down to peaceable separation of the races on
the soil where they now are t'a
The essential point in the discussion thus ap-
pears to be the actual relations of the two races
in the Southern States asa question offact, and
the probable future consequences OF those re-
lations as question of theory.
Upon the question of fact think may with
all modesty claim that my anteeedents and my
opportunities for observation entitle my testi-
mony to have some weight, even with the
most radical anti slavery men in the North.
The antagonism of which have spoken is
not entirely one-sided. On the part of the for
mer master it takes the form Of an indomitable
nlloe, which utterly refuses to entertain the
idea OF political or social equality mingled with
hatred intensified by the circumstances and
Tue results OF the war. This feeling 10 not con-
nneo 10 the saye-owners alone but the poor
whites share it fully, and often show 1t more
On the part of the freedmen it is manifested
in an utter distrust of the dominant raca and
an enmlty which, although made nv rircnm.
stances more passive and less openly manifest.
ted, is as real and implacable as The other
Ihey nave the mutual attraction of race among
other people. developed to degree which snr.
prised me. 1t is not as individuals Of q nat;on
common to us all that they speak of thur,
selves, but, to use the language of one ofthe,,
speaking to myself, they feel that thev .hows
long been an oppressed and down-trodden
The daily and hourly repetition of proofs 81
this fact, many OF them too subtle for deserve
ton, but none the less convincing to the Jh
server, has fully convinced me that never he
tween Norman and Saxon, nor between Gan
| and Frank, was there more conscious hatref
or an antagonism more likely to prove inyet
crate than between black and white on on,
Southern soil. The negroes have no sense O
security nor faith in their former masters ever
if they offer them political rights; they viii
fear them as Daaaos dona Jsrentes.
4 b, =.
jsr What does history teach US in regard to tn,
permanence and durability of such prejudice
and enmities Of the race? Speaking on thi
subject, Augustln Thierry says: !" Whateve
states of Europe may appear to have attained
whatever may be community of manners, Ian
guage and public feeling which the habit O
living under the same government and in tn,
| same state OF civilization has introduced amons
!, the inhabitants Of each of these states. there
/ scarcely one of them which does not even NOV