The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-07-22
Gcrrett Smith ON our Duty TO the
ssuth-A Letter 90 Thad. Stevens.

uOH. NuuuCHo CtctcUcs
DEAR SIR-You are reported in the
New York Tribune as having recently
said on the floor of Congress:
1T is now held by one of the most
liberal and enlightened gentlemen in
the country Il mean Gerrett Smith,
that we should even pay portion of
the damage inflicted on the rebels, and
pay a portion of the rebel debts"
OF course, you do not mean that this is
literally so. My often-repeated pro-
position is that Government lend or
give moneys to the South to help her to
an upward start frem the depths Of her
poverty and desolatian. BY what logic
You are able to construct from the let
ter of this proposition your figure of
speech is for you, not me, to explain. /
am truly sorry thai it is in your heart to
hold up to ridicule my reasonable propo-
sition. You are too old and too intellect
ual to be making such concessions to
passion and prejudice. There are two
reasons why the North should be glad to
help the South. First, the South is
poor-very poor, and the North is rich
very rich. Second, the North is large
ly responsible for the fathers of the
South in making this land of slaves;
and in our own day the Nsrth has gone
with the South in upholding and ex-
tending slavery. Until the breaking
out of this war, every Congress was for
slavery. Tho repeal of the Missouri
Compromise was the work of the North
as we'll as of the South. So, too, was
the enactment of that internal Fugitive
Slave Act, which even the good Abra-
ham Lincoln was compelled by the pro-
slavery sentiments of the North as well
as the South TO enforce SO vigorously.
With comparatively few exceptions, our
Northern colleges, theological seminar
les. and political and religious parties
were ON the side of slavery, The com
merce of the North was emphatically In
the interest Of slavery. = . -
In the light of such facts, it surely
cannot be denied that the North made
herself largely responsible for American
slavery. But the war came of slavery,
and the poverty and desolation OF the
South came of the war; and, hence, to
the same degree that the North was
responsible for slavery, Is she responsi,
BILE for the war, and for its rui1ous re-
suits TO the South.
You call my sympathy with the South,
and my desire to have the North help
her, "sickly humanity" L call 1T simple
honesty. If my neighbor and join in
getting each other drunk, and he, in his
| frenzy goes TO tearing down my house,
and i, in self-defense, demolish his, |
am not to disown his claim upon my
sympathy, ] am to feel that honesty
requires me to help him rebuild.
Would to God that Congress were so
lust and wise as, at this very session, To
lend fifty millions of dollars to the Con-
federate' States--tos each of them Sc
much oft as would be- proportionate to
her population aud what she has suf'
fsred from the ravages of the war! The
share falling to each State to be dis
trbuted ,throughout her territory. in
loans upon adequate security. This, by
proving the love and pity Of the North
for her, would win the heart OF the
South, and would thus produce true
and lasting peace between them. : Ant
then it would be worth to the nation, Il
only in financial point of view, many
times fifty millions os dollars. Colo
would no longer bear among us Q pre-
MUM of 40 per cent. and our Govern
ment would no longer have to pay7 pei
cent. nor much more than half . pei
cent. interest on Its loans. ~ .
Very respectfully yours. aru
| - GEgRET SAITH.
ePErERoBoRo, July Is, 1857 - -