Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-06-28
SAINT r. BUNTING, Esq;
KEMP P. BATTLE,
Public Treasurer
Letter from Governor Vance.


Letter from Governor Vance.
Tt will be remembered that some weeks
ago we published, by request, an invitation
/ to Governors Wise, OF Virginia, and Vance,
Of this State and Rev. Mr.. Williams, from
| the colored citizens of Rocky Mount and
vicinity, to address them upon the ques-
/ tons Of the day. Governor Vance, in de-
clning the invitation, addressed to the
! committee the following letter
| CHARLOTTE, n. c., June 1G, 1867.
| TO Mrssrs. Josoa Cooper, lear ArchbeU and
! others, coIOred citizens Of Ed!1ecOz1be and
! North Cag0Iinu
! SIRs Your call upon Rev. Mr.. Will
hams, ExGov. Wise and myself to address
! you on the question nows before the coun-
Try, at such time and place as we might Sc
! lect, has been before me for some time
Hoping that might be able to find an OPP
/ portnnity to comply, / have this long de-
10 we'd replying but finding that there is
little or no certainty OF my being permit
ted by business engagements to do SO, L
have concluded to decline, and to answer
your invitation, as you requested, through
the public press.
frankly confess, my friends, that did
not hope greatly to profit you, had I been
able to speak to you in person. Such in
dustri0us efforts have been made to make
you think i'll of those who were lately your
masters, and to cause you to regard with
distrust everything which they might do
or say, that l had little hope of making you
believe in either my sincerity or good will.
With some honorable exceptions, the great
mass Of your people are becoming widely
estranged from their former owners, and it
is nor hardly possible for us to prevent it,
melancholy as it is. Time will, however,
soon showyo where your true interests are.
Your good sense will soon enable you to
friends, nor their disreputable camp-follow-
ers among the Southern whites, who are so
jealous in your behalf now, can be of as
much value to you as the true and consistent
men Of the South, with whom you were born
and raised.
However many friends man may have
abroad, he is i'll at ease if his neigzbor is his
enemy. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself," is not only q divine command,
but is full of worldly wisdom. If you want
a kindness, you don't go to Massachusetts,
for it, but to your neighbor; if you want
employment, You don't go to a ranting po-
Etician,-you go to your neighbor; in
short, in sickness or in health, in prosperi-
dependent for more than half OF that which
renders life endurable upon our meighbOrS.
Your neighbors and your employers are
those against whom they are now seeking
to array you, and I greatly fear they will
succeed at first. Your old masters do not
come to you eating their own words and
giving the lie to every profession of their
lives; nor do they come betraying the rights
and liberties OF their own color to ingrati-
ate themselves with yours. Many others
do however, and the majority of your peo-
pie will believe them, until they learn
very plain and simple truth; that q bad man
among the arhites ocW bejust as bad, or 'corSe
among tie blacks, and the change of sides is
far from making an honest man of hypo~
critic and IL trickster.
Much damage will doubtless be done be-
fore your people see the designs of those
who wish to lead them now, but [ hope
soon for better things. When actual and
bitter experience has opened your eyes,
then will be our time to address you with
a hope of success. When you come to know
the true power of capital and labor COM
bined in friendly effort, how dependent the
one is upon the other, and how ruinous to
both is enmity and distrust, then i shall
hope to see the day when slavery shall be
abolished in fact, both for black and white,
industry, harmony, and love of country
and of human progress, all shall labor to
make our State blossom as the rose, and
turn her waste places into seats of refine
ment and delight. My word for it, my
friends, there is not a good man among
your former masters, but prays for the hour
to come when he--may, without disfranchiss
sing himself, work for you! AS you are
to be citizens, we want you to be intelligent
citizens rs you are to be our neighbors,
We want you to be kind and loving neigh
bors. In every aspect of the case, it is our
true interest to help you fit yourselves for
the new life to which you are called. If
You will permit us, we will do it.
Thanking you for the confidence your in
vltatlon manifests, i'll my desire to do you
good at all events and trusting that the
same quiet and commendable spirit which
your race during four years
OF terrible civil war, may continue to ami
mate you during the times through which
we are passing, in all good feeling and ami
ty, remain,
Most sincerely your friend,
ZEBULoN B. VANCE.