New-York tribune., 1866-05-03
THE sOUTH AND THE NORTH.
RESPONSE TO GOV. PERRY.

readers so ignorant or misinformed as you presume
them but when you and agree that your letter is
fair expression of the views Of the better class oil re-
cent Secessioniss it seems that there should be no
room for further discussion the score Of misrepre
sentatOn.
The journals that sympathize with You will print
your letter and suppress my reply. No matter: since
further appeals to force repudiaed the truth can
afford that advantage to error.
l. You assure me that |" there is no feeling of un-
kindness on the part of the former slave-owners
toward their freedmen" believe this is true of the
better class of exmasters and shat this very large
one At the same time know-for the evidence is
oyerwhelming-that most ex-saveholders hold that
they have been wronguy divesed of the services OF
their freedmen-that Emancipation was and Is rob-
berry, whereby they deprived of what is rghtfully
theirs Can you wonder then, that we, who have
achieved that Emancipation, in spite OF your weapons
and your Northern allies denunciatons and votes,
should hesitate to ntrus the rights and privileges OF the
Freedmen to your uncontrolled discretion, your unre-
stricted powerl Can you wonder that the BLACKS
thus freed should object to being left at your mercy
H. believe all you say of abuses and wrongs IN
nicted on the Blacks by Federal soldiers Many OF
these are low-bred men; and every White ruiian or
rowdy drunkard or reprobate, whether at the North
or at the South is natural, instructive hater and
prosecutor of the Blacks. The same gangs OF Rebel
sympahzers who in July, 1853, mobbed and hred
The TRIBUNE Office, burned the Colored orphan
Asylum and hunted unofcnding fleeing Blacks
through our Streets killing them, whenever they
could, simply because of their color. We. who have
long hoped and struggled for Emancipation, do not
| l., tho NJ
villains, no matter whether they be Northern or
Southern. Union or Rebel Can you blame us
ILL., You say that your State has done for her
Blacks, pretty much all that the Civil Rights oIii
proposes TO do rcep, making them oit''ensot the State
and that there are rery c olTenses Lpenalties' IN
our criminal code which do not apply TO the White
men a, well as the negro" thank you heartily for
every step YOU have taken in this direction. thank
President johnson for every hint he has given you
that you must take them. Ifyou have gone part way
toward Equal Rights and Equal Laws the difficulty
of going all the way has been nearly surmounted.
". As TO the negroS desire to be fully enfranchsed,
| hold his own testimony as necessarily better thah
yours. | know personally great many Blacks and
I hear from very many more, who were residents oil
various parts Of our onion. know hundreds who do
desire the Right OF Suffrage: can you find dozen VINO
do noP The Blacks OF most States have organiza,loDs,
and have held large conventions From every one OF
these the demand for Equal Rights secured by Equal
Laws is unanimous and hearty. II you OF the South
will submit TIE question to an unconstrained, un'
awed vote of the Blacks, | agree to abandon the
demand foT the Right Of Suffrage if seveneghths OF al
who vote do no, vote to claim it.
V. You say that the negro, if enlranchised, "would
I'll i. hs1 .,,,,i, ~ Naf N
another place. You talk Of tho damning unishment
/ TO be inflicted on "the Southern people" by =" the
leaders of the Radical party in Congress"-of their
fendish purpose viz First the negro "a to be
invested with oil political power and then the ansgon'
ism Of interest JctNeea Capital and LABOR 10 to worA
out the result"-which Is to be "a horrible fate
for your people,
Gov. Perry, such hagrant suicidal contradictions
warrant me in telling you tha; you talk at randon-
that you equally wrong IN asserting that the negro
"would ai,ceys vote as directed by his employer,
and thl. he would necessarily vote against that en-
ploycr, under the Wild hallucnaiion OF "a natural
anita ,onism between Capital and Labor" l trust
vor have too mach sersc TO believe in any such
antagonsm at oil events, am sure your late slaves
have. | think the lahoring class naturally though
not uniformly. incline to vote with employers VINO
tIeat them kindly and respect their manhood, when
they can do so without hazarling the loss of their
own rights. have no doubt that those planters OF
your State who treat the freedmen well aud MAINTAIN
their right 10 be treated by all men, could quite
generally influence their votes. But, while YOU ub
borny resist enanchsement, and make noconcessions
of rights 10 tie Blacks but such are forced IRON
you, you seem to me to be squandcring precious
opportunities aud arousng feelings OF distruSt ana
dislike that il were better 10 preclude.
VI Let me say, once for all, that make no pro-
eson of love for the negro race, aud that your ca IN
10 superior "regard for or - interest in the Ba
race is wholly unrvaIcd. do not love negroes as
negroes; like Whites better: but comprehend
that ustiee Is all mems true interest, and that
wrong done to tho humblcst, the most despsed is an
injury and peril to all Ny superior regard for the
White race leads ne TO protest against and seek to
prevent to ioreeloSe, to preclude, any injustice By 1t
70 any race or class whatever Are not you Christian
enough to realize that it is more lamentabc to do
wrong than to suffer ~ Ii you are, why need |
constantly repe this assumption that am impelled
by special affection for Blacks'
VII. You tell me that the negro is inferior to the
White man (Which l have never dsputed)-
and you prove it by citing the fact that the Blacks
Of Hayi do not allow Whites to vote. If
thought the Whites Of this country inferior to the
Blacks, might seek to protect the former by Hay
tian exclusion of the latter from political rights
can quite understand why the negroes Of this country
if they possessed a monopoly of political power,
might seek to guard and pcrpetuate IT, from jealousy
of the superior mental capacity of the Whites but
or Me Uhi,ss to act in that panicky way is an
nneachment of their own relative abilities against
which Indignantly protest.
VIII anita o,,yoa Ia Won that DODulatiOu affordS