The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1866-07-14
Lincoln and pavig-Whieh is the

y
lion Of men have been killed and disabled
or so demoralized that they are al actual
! burden to society, and some ten thousand
millions Of property destroyed, considerably
more than half Of that accumulated or crea-
| ted since the Z" birth Of the nation!" Now,
though vast masses of men are, morally con
sidered equally involved, one or the other
of these men, as their representatives, must
bear the burden Of this tremendous destruc-
ton of life and property, and either Lincoln
| or Davis must be regarded, and viii be re-
garded IN al coming time, as the greatest
1 criminal that ever lived upon the earth
! Which of these men IS 1t, then, that viii
have to descend to posterity not only as the
/ greatest criminal of his time, but OF al time,
| for since the original sin of Adam, there Is
nothing that can compare for moment with
that Of the embodiment of the crimes of the
past five years
But this involves another inquiry vastly
more important than the individual repre-
sentative of a million OF Lincolns and Da-
iyises, the cause of the conflict between the
States they represented and therefore the
j right or wrong Of the positions Of the par
| ties to that conflict This cause was as sim
/ pie, defined and unmistakable as it was and
! is momentous, for though tariffs and class
/ legislation bear hardly on the States repre-
/ scented by Mr. Davis, all this was so trihing
/ in comparison with the one overwhelming
! and tremendous question, chat they need not
/ be considered, and certainly will not even
/ be referred to by the future historians Of
these times.
The cause was slavery so-called, the status
! or condition. of the negro element Of our
population, which was held to be wrong, and
! the party that combined the northern States
and elected Mr. Lincoln, sought control of
! the. common government Of the States to use
] it as an instrument for the abolition of that
/ condition. Was that condition, that called
! slavery, the normal condition Of the negro,
or was it wrong, and therefore right to abol-
/ ish it and amalgamate the negro element in
| the general citizenship? This question must
! be decided efOre the acts of Abraham Lin
| coin or those of Jefferson Davis can be de-
/ termined, or before the right or wrong of
these acts can be understood If the condi-
! ton Of the negro or so-called slavery be
| wrong, then the election Of Mr.. Lincoln was
! legitimate and proper, and even if we admit
| the abstract right Of secession, as we do, or
/ as held by Mr.. jefferson, that In q case of
last resort, a State must be the judge of its
| own rights, Mr.. Davis viii no doubt be held
| by posterity to have been the great criminal
! Of our time But on the contrary, if the
negro element was IN its normal condition
| in the southern States, or in other words, if
! this sO-called slavery was right, of course no
| such party as that which elected Lincoln mad
/ any. right to exist at ali, for it was an anti
social as well as anti-constitutional party,
and Lincoln himself the embodiment of the
greatest crime ever committed in the history
| Of our race.
If the northern States had combined to-
| gether to abolish Democracy and set up
monarchy, or to abolish marriage and set up
! Aiorm0nism, every one would see that the
! southern States not only should not submit,
/ but that it would be q sacred and imperative
/ duty to resist them and save their institu-
tions and society itself from overthrow and
| social destruction. And if the negro was in
I his normal condition at the South if sO-ealled
! slavery was naturally and socially as well as
| legally right, and Iiongrelism or common
condition for whites and negroes naturally
wrong, then not only was jefferson Davis
right IN defending the former, bat Abraham
! Lincoln, in striving for the latter, was the
! greatest human monster that ever offended
/ heaven or afflicted mankind by his crimes
/ There is no question Of mere incidental i'm
perfection, for allhuman institutions are more
or less imperfect. 1t is simply a question
! whether whites and negroes should be placed
on a common legal condition, or whether
/ they should be in different conditions.
| OF course no citizen in Massachusetts
could say to a citizen in the South, /" 1t IS
| true negroes should be in a different legal
! condition from white people, but | object to
your practice, and though | am necessarily
! ignorant of the nature and wants of the ne
| gro, [ know better than you do what IS best
! for both him and yourself" On the con trary,
/ this Massachusetts, man said, The negro is
naturally and legally entitled to the same
condition as yourself, and believing that it
| will benefit both him and you to abolish
his present status and force whites and ne
! grOes to q common condition, ] propose to
| use the common government to accomplish
/ atend" Ibwass and is therefore not ques-
ton Of modifying or improving the negro but
simply and exactly this question-shall the
! legal condition of the negro be abolished and
! the whites and negroes Of the South be forced
| into the same condition? Surely it should
| be a seIf-evidCnt truth that God having made
! the negro, He designed him for different
/ condition. The simple fact that he exists
/ carries with it the necessity of a different
! existence. Women exist, and therefore are
designed for different condition. Children
exist, and therefore must be in a different
condition from adults. So with animals, with
horses, dogs, etc. God has made the negro
! given him different body and a different
/ mind; in short, different nature, and there
fore as with women, with children, with our
I domestic animals etc, designed him for
different condition from ourselves, and it Is,
or should be, q selfeyiaent truth that to
! ignore this fact 10 disregard it. to strive to
violate 1t and force whites and negroes to
exist together in n common QegaD condition,
is the most impious, audacious and most
mOnstrOus crime against t}Od and Ills crea-
lures this earth has ever witnessed. True
Europeans may commit this crime in their
utter Ignorance Of the negro, but that Ameri-
cans, who, every day of their lives, should so
stultify their senses as well as reason, and
strive to degrade their kind to a common
level with negroes, viii be a startling Won
der IN all coming time.
But not only Is it a selfevident truth to
the reason that white men and negroes should
be placed in different legal conditions, and
the very crime of crimes to force them into
4 common condition, but our daily experience
shows US that it cannot be done The French
Convention attempted IN Hayti what Abra-
ham Lincoln has attempted IN the South, and
the natural instincts Of both white and negro
impelled them to slaughter each other, and
Il -. Gz-E- H.