The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1865-08-09

lrou tne SURRENDER OF SuIpJer 10 tue burohuS
Of the last armed rebel, win secure me eandit
and even friendly hearing from all who hav'
loved the country, and earnestly taken its par
in the late terrible, struggle. II other view
than mine prevail, shall hold it my duty Il
act cheerfully and promptly with the body o
loyal men, believing that the best solution
which they can give wifi be the best attanable
and that to divide from them will be to deliver
the Government into the hands Of its enemies.
believe that the President is earnestly de
termined to seek the good Of the whole country
and of all the races in it! that he has full claim
to that confidence which we declared that W.
reposed in him; and that what we, as Unior
men, can not sncceed in doing in harmony and
cooperation with him and his administration
we shall fail of doing altogether. My suppor
of him, therefore, will be. no half-hearted sup
port, but jealous and thoroughly hearty CO
operation, with no ulterior purpose or though
of separation on issues likely to arise. 1t is b,
the cordial harmony of Mr.. johnson and tn,
Union members of Congress, that the country
is to be carried safely through It's present perls
and division between them would place us il
imminent danger of shipwreek. We may hav,
diverse opinions as to the true solution of thi
knotty problem of reconstruction, and during
the proper period for discussion we may anC
ought to discuss them with candcr, with full
ness, and with tolerant spirit, but when th
is done and the time for action arrives, it viii
be the business Of Congress and the Executive
to agree upon the plan to be adopted, and tha
which is il this manner honesty determined by
devotedly Union men, shall believe. as ] have
before said, to be the best attainable result
whether it agrees with my views or not. In
short, believe that under no circumstance
should we wish the transfer Of the power of this
Government to the hands of those who have
been disloyal during the war, by any divisions
among ourselves, until all the questions which
grow out Of the war are permanently and finally
decided.
Having TINS stated what I think is the true
doctrine of political organization, and indicat-
ed the great danger of loosing all for which we
have been striving, by such divisions as those
at which you hint, am now prepared to state
my private views upon reconstruction, and the
claims of the freedmen to political privileges in
the Southern States, leaving you the respon-
sibility of your action in regard thereto.
presume we shall agree in regarding the
four general principles asserted in the Faneuil
Hall Address" as those which should guide
the determination of our relations to both
whites and blacks in the rebel States. That
there may be no mistake in reference to this, i
quote them: .. rH
." First. The principle must be put beyond all
question, that the Republic has direct claim
upon the allegiance of every citizen, from
which no State can absolve him, and to his
obedience to the laws of the Republic, any
thing 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 se
cure to theIs and to their posterity forever,
complete and veritable freedom. Having pro-
vided them this freedom secured their aid on
the faith of this promise, and by successful
war and actual military occupation Of the coun-
try, having obtained the power to secure the
result, we are dishonored, if we fail to make it
good to them"
"Third. The system of slavery must be
abolished and prohibited by paramount and
law. Throughout the rebel States
there must be, in the words of Webster, i'm
pressed upon the soil itself an inability to bear
up but free men,
Fourth. The systems of the States must be
truly republican" tW ~o'
The application made of the last principle
in the address, I do not regard as sound, but
shall perhaps agree more fully with you, than
you do with the address, when assent that in
a republican community political privileges of
any kind can never he rightly or safely based
upon hereditary CASTE
How then, it will naturally be asked, can
there be any practical difference between us as
to the mode Of carrying out these principles
1t is found in the views we take of the mutual
relations of the two races in the South. You,
Judging from this distance, say: " Deliver the
four millions of freed people into the hands OF
their former oppressors, now embittered b6y
their defeat, and they will make their condi-
tion worse than before" !, starting from the
same principles, and after four years of close
and thoughtful observation of the races where
they are say am unwillingly forced to the
conviction that the effect Of the war has not
been simply to " embitter" their relations, bnt
to develop a rooted antagohism which makes
their permanent fusion in one political commu
nifty an absolute impossibility. The sole diff
ference between us, then, is in the degree OF
hostility, we find existing between the races,
and its probable permanence You assume
that the extension of the right of suffrage to the
blacks, learing them intermired pith the schiteS,
will cure all the trouble. believe that it
would rather be like the decisions in that
outer darkness of which Milton speaks where
"Chaos umpire sits,
And by decision more embroils the fray"
Yet, as I believe with you, that the right
to life and liberty are inalienable, and more
than admit the danger of leaving laboring
class at the entire mercy of those who formerly
owned them as slaves you will say 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 peaceable separation of the races.
But, you reply. foreign colonization will break
down hopelessly under the very vastness of the
lobor. even if it were not tyrannical enough to
expel these unfortunate people from the land
of their birth. grant the full weight Of the
objection, and therefore say the solution is thus
narrowed down to peaceable separation of the
races on the soil where they now are.
The essential point in the decision thus ap-
pears to be the actual relations of the two races
in the Southern States as question of fact. and
the probable future consequences of these rela-
tions as question of theory.
Upon the question of fact, think may,
with all modesty. claim that my antecedents
and my opportunities of observation entitle my
testimony to have some weight, even with the
most radical auti,slavery men of 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