Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1866-09-19

colored man that was elnanclpateo
| call upon you here tonight as freemen,
as men, to favor the emancipation OF the
white men as well as the colored ones. L
have been in favor of emancipation have
nothing to disguise about that. L have
tried to do as much, and have done as much,
and when they talk about Moses, and the
colored man being led into the promised
land, where is the land that this clan pro
poses to lead them into? When we talk
about taking them out from among the white
population and sending them to other CHIMES,
what is it they propose? Why 1t Is to give
us a Freedmen S Bureau-what then! My
here in the South it is not necessary tor Inc
to talk to you, where [ have lived and you
have lived and understand the whole system
and how it operates. We know how the
slaves have been worked heretofore. Their
original owners bought the land and raised
the negroes, or purchased them as the case
might be, paid all the expense OF carrying
on the farm, and after producing tobacco,
cotton, hemp, flax, and all the various pro
ducts of the South, bringing them into the
market without any profit on them, while
their owners put it all into their pockets
This was their condition before the emancl-
pation-this was their condition before we
talked about their Moses. Laughter. L
| ask your attention.
Slavery was an accurscd institution until
emancipation took place. 1t was an accars
/ ed institution while one set OF men worked
! them and got the profits. But after eman-
| cipation took place they gave up the freed
mems Bureau; they gave us these agents
! to 20 into every county, every township anI
| into every schpol district throughout the u
nited States, and especially the Southern
! States They gave us commissioners; they
! gave us twelve million dollars and placed
! the power in the hands of the Executive,
who was to work this machinery with the
| army b. ought to his aid AMI to sustain It,
| They let us run it with twelve millions as a
beginning, and in the end receive htty or
sixty millions, and let us work the tour mil
lions of slaves Iu line, the Freedmen
Bureau was a simple proposition to transfer
four millions of slaves in the United States
| from their original owners to a new set OF
taskmasters a voice, ''NeverW and
cheers have been laboring for years to
emancipate them, and then l was opposed
| to seeing them transferred to new set OF
| taskmasters, to be worked with more v1gor
than they had been worked heretofore.
! TCheers. Yes, under this new system they
would work the slaves and call on the Gov
ernment to bear all the expenses, and II
there we've any profits left why they would
! pocket them Laughter and cheers. Thus
| you, tne people, HluSI pay TIC eAp0uo. VI
running the machine outof your own pockets
while they get the profits of it.
| | know it has been said that | have exer-
cised my pardoning power; yes. have.
! Cheers, and ''W hat about Drake Constl-
! tuition ?'' Yes | have = and don't you
think it is to prevail? | reckon have par
doned more men, turned more loose and set
| them at liberty that were imprisoned,
imagine, than any other living man on God
habitable globe Voice Bully tor you,
cheers. | turned A, 600 at our men who
engaged in this struggle with the arms we
captured with them, and who were then III
prison. L turned them loose. Voice
Bully for you, and laughter. Large
numbers have applied for pardon, and L
have granted them pardon, yet there are
some who condemn and hold me responsible
for doing wrong. Yes, there are some who
stayed at home, who did not 90 into the held,
that can talk about others being traItorous
and being treacherous There are some
who can talk about blood and vengeance
and crime and everything to make treason
odious, and all that, who never smelt gun
powder on either side. Cheers. Yes,
they can condemn others, and recommend
hanging and torture, and all that. LII L have
erred, | have erred on the side of mercy.
Some of these croakers have dared to assume
they are better than was the Saviour OF men
himself-a kind of righteous-bette
than anybody else, and although wanting to
do Deity work, thinking He cannot do 1t
so well as they can. Laughter and cheers.
Yes, the Saviour of man came on earth
and found the human race condemned and
sentenced under the law, but when they re-
pented and believed, He said let them live.
Instead of executing and putting the whole
world to death He went upon the cross, and
there was nailed by unbelievers, there she'd
His blood that you might live. Cheers.
Think of it. To execute, and hang, and
put to death eight millions OF people. New
er! 1t is an absurdity. Such thing Is
impracticable even if it were right; but it
is the violation of all law, human and divine.
Voice, Hang JEFF. Davis. You call on
Judge Chase TO hang jeff Davis, will you
Great cheering. | am not the court L am
not the jury, nor the Judge Before the
case comes to me, and all other cases, 1t
would have to come on application as case
for pardon That is the only way the case
can get to me. Why don't Judge Chase,
the Chief Justice of the United States: In
whose district he is-why don't he try him
Loud cheers. But perhaps [ could an
s"er the question, as sometimes persons
want to be tacetious and indulge in repartee.
l might ask you question, why don you
hang Ihad Stevens and Wendell Phillips
Threat cheering A traitor at one end of
the line IS as bad as traitor at the other.
| believe in the good old doctrine advo-.
Gated by Washington, Jefferson and Madi-
son, of rotation in Office. These people who
have been enjoying these offices seem to
have lost sight of this doctrine. | believe
that one set of men have enjoyed the emolu-
ments of Office long enough. They should
Z Il.