The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1866-09-15
Eni-7IsS iI,afI~z;.

II the tLaste aaj b.a..i:ll Grafton de'iv>
cred BY q en- Dix, at The laying oCihe corner
stone Of the Douglas Monument, occurs me
following passage;
Fellow citizens there IS view Of this sud-
den revolution In rls social condition Of the
cJlrrp race. which ought never to be over
looked. The proclamation Of Mr.. Lincoln
absh,hiug slavery was al act %, war. and cN-
tended only to The states which lad taken W
arms against the government. Il d.i not
reach Maryland. Delaware, Kentucky or
Tennessee. which remained tfge 10 their
allegiance Slavery ,'.'l existed in those
states F.: aud for IL, Eual extinction, for lie
contamination O; the -rea, 81 sAssre of man
um.s,i4i, for the ubl'-rat.)n OF tn only
feature in orr political constitution winch
has ever been ra-a-l-d 81 Inconsistent with
its fuudamcnt1, principles # freedom aud
equality. the country l. indebted to the
present Chief NIgjstrate of the Union. His
personal Influence with The South has aehiev
ed what no power Of She government could
have eifectei-;he adoption By three fnur;hs
Of the states Of tie constitutional amendment
declaring slavery forever abolished through
out the Union. The glory of President Linz
coin is d. have. by an nc. Of his own Will,
emauciph ;cd all Slaves within the reach OF
his legitimate power. The glory a President
johnson i to have com pieted suat the ipr~
mcr left unfinished. and to have made the
constitution what eleven of the thirteen origI-
nal parties to It desired TO make it at its for
nation.
Two OF the slave states refused to concur
in the great measure Of 1855, and it vii, be
recorded in our history rs one of the marveis
of the times that slavery was abolished in
l - : II s.
Carolina, Georgia. Mississippi and Alabama.
Let the fact by procl rimeI IN honor of the
last named states. and it need not be dolbted
that the time is near at hand when they will
iini ia high moral considerations and an
immeasurablv increased prosperity cause TO
congratulate themselves that their names are
enrolled in the great army OF emanclpators
throughout the civilized world.
Tie country IS not only indebted to Presi
dent johnson for the contamination of the
great act of emancipation, but all his earlier
correspondence with the Governors and other
officers be appointed to reorsaHize the rebel
states, and with their conventions, shows,
that he plead earnestly for the admission Of
such negroes rs had served in the Union
army and other. or suitable Intelligence and
position, TO tn right Of suffrage. And we
have nd doui, now, had the radicals permit
ted the rebel states 20 move along smoothly
in the way pointed out to them by President
Johnson, ali negroes fit for 1t would be in the
enjoym int of The right Of suffrage in half the
Southet IN states to day. 1t is the same old
story over again. Maryland, Virginia and
Kentucky had taken the preliminary steps to
cmancipate their slaves thirty years ago, and
the gre bit act would have beea accomplished
in those states without n thought of violence
or blooEshed, but for the impairment inter>
,neddlih g of New England bisotry and fanati
cism and the same baleful inilunce now de-
feats qualified and judicious negro suffrage
! in those states. Fana,icism knows no mod.
Grafton or VISION. 1t is in lis element only
amidst destruction and carnage.