Litchfield enquirer., 1866-09-20
HENRY WARD BEEcHER's LETTERS.
.-- , PEEKsKILL. Aug 30, 1868.

HENRY WARD BEEcHER's LETTERS
 -.-.,...-- ,.. .PEEKsKILL Aug 30,, 1868.
 CAas o Halpiae Breuct5 Brigadier General
 H ". &Ocum, Maior General Gordon
 Granger, Major General, Committee:
 GENTLEMEN: I am obliged to you for the
 invitation winch you have made to me to act
 as Chaplain to the Sailors and Soiaiers Coavell-
 tioD about to convene at Clevelanl Leannut
 attend it. but heartily wish it and all other
 conventions. of what party soeypr success
 whose otj ject is the restoration of aii the states
 late iu rebellion to their Federal relations.
 Our theory of Government has no place for a State except in the Union It is justly talk CD for granted that the duties and responsibii- ties of State in Federal relations tend to its
 political health and to that of ths. whole la tion. Even Territories are hastily brought iu of ten before the prescribed conditions are fulfill eG ,as 1t 1t We're dangerous to leave community outside of the great body polite,
 Had the loyal Senators and Represent atvss of Tennessee been admitted at on, nn The ..<- sembling of Congress. and in mol r;s'- sat; cessiou, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama. No 'h Carolina, and VIreini, the pubiic mi d uf tn- South would have been far mor., healthy thai it IS, and those States which fingered on pr..- bation- to the last would have been under d mere salu ary influence to good conduct than if dozen armies wa'ch over them
 Every month that We delay this heaI,hful step eomplicates the case The excluded pop ulation, though unsettled before grows more irritable; the army becomes indispensable to local government, and sapersedes it; the gov at Washington is called to interfere in one and another difficulty, and this will be done inaptly, and sometimes with great injus- tice-fOr our government, wisely adapted to it's own proper functio3s, is utterly devoid of those habits and unemployed with the insrru- ments which fit centralized government to exercise authority in remote States over local affairs. Every attempt to perform such duties has resulted in mistakes which have excited the nalion But whatever imprudence there may be in tie method, the real criticism sbould be against the reqnistion of such duties of the General Government. ....ss.s. .,.
 The Federal Government is unfit to exercise minor police and local government, and will inevitably blunder. when it attempts it. To keep a half score of States under Federal au- th0rity. but without nationalities and responsi- bilities; to obiige the central authority to govern half the territory of the Union by Fed eral Civil officers and by the army, is policy not only uncongenial to our ideas and prin- eiples, but pre-eminently dangerous to the spirit of our Government However humane the eods sought, and the motives, it is, in fact, a course of instruction, preparing our Govern ment to be despotic, and familiarizing the people to stretch of authority, which eau never be other than dangerous to liberty
 am aware that good men are withheld from advocating the prompt ard successive admission of the exlled States by the fear, chiefly of it's effect upon parties and up ,n freedmen. ;7.sa s.-a at
 It Is said that if admitted to Congress, the Southern Senators and Representatives will coalesce with Northern Democrats and rule the country Is this nation then to be dis to serve the ends of parties? Have we learned no wisdom by the history of he last ten years, in which just this course of sac ri6cing the nation to the exigencies of parties pl1Dged us into rebellion and war?
 Even admit that the power would pass into the hands of party made up of Southern men. and the hitherto disbonored and mislead Dem- ocracy of the Noith, that power conl1 not be used just as they pleased. The war has chang ed, not alone institutions, but ideas,. The whole Couatry has advanced. Public senti- meDt is exalted far beyond what it has been at any former period. A new party would, like 8 river. be obliged to seek it's channels ,u the already existing slopes and forms of the con tinent. 3!; B.. .,..7 .4i .g~ --5 Ets->-s
 We nave entered new era of liberty. The style 0f thought is freer and more noble. The young men of Cur times are regenerated. The great army has been school, and hundreds of thonsands of men are gone home to preach 8 truer and nobler view of human rights, All the industrial interests of society are moving with increased wisdom toward intelligence and liberty. Everywhere, in churches, in literature, in natural sciences, in physical industries, in social questions as well as in politics, the na- ton feels that the winter is over and a new spring hangs in the horizon and works through all the elements, In this happily changed and condition of things DO party of the retOgrade can maintain itself. Everytbing and parties must march. "sT1
 hear with wonder and shame and scOrn the fear of fey that the South once more Tn adjustment with the Federal Government will rule this nation! The North is rich-never so rich the South is poor never before 80 poor. The population of the North is nearly double that of the South.> Theindustry of the \ orth, in diversity, in forwarduess and productiveHess, all the machinery and education required for is half a century in advance of the South. Churches in the North crown every hill, ,g and schools swarm in every Deighbor- hood while the South has but scattered lights' at long distances, like light houses twinkliag along the edge of a continent of darkness. In the presence of such contrast. how mean and craven is the fear that the South will rule the policy of the land That it will have an influence, that it will contribute in time most important influences or restraints, we are glad to believe. Bat if it rises at once to the control of the Government it will be be- cause the North. demoralized by prosperity, aud besotted by grovelIing interests. refuses to discharge its share of political duty. In such a case the South not only will control the government, but it ought to do it. @
 3 2. It is feared, with more reason. that the restoration of the South to her full indepen- dence will be detrimental to the freedmen .- The sooner we dismiss from our minds the idea that the freedmen can be classified, and sepa- rated from the white population, aud nursed and defended by themselves, the better it will De for tbs,n aud US. The negro is part aBd par eel of Southern society. He cannot be prosperous while it is .unprospered. Its evils will rebound upon him, It's happiness and sreinvigoration cannot be kept from his participation. The restoration of the South to amicable relations with the North the reorganization of it's ln-