Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-10-30
SENSE.

EEGAA1 " AAS-
and many, half honest, doubtless, call
for evidence before they Will believe in
such q state of things. Even some Alb
olitionists consider their work finished,
and wonder that any of their old CON-
rades can deem special effort necessary
for the protection of the victim race.
In fact The wonder would have been
If the state of the nation had been any
other than what it is. We are passing
through Just those trials and dangers
that every mar must have looked for.
The unphilosophical minds are those
which suffered themselves to be de-
luded, by any appearances, however
suspicious, into believing that it was
possible for a victim race, like the ne
gro, to be dragged out of danger and
suffering by a mere victory in battle
The craftsmanship which believes in
such miracles is qusckery.
Consider a moment. The working
force If this nation to-day is the loyal
masses of the North. Out of what pit
has it been dug? Up to 1861 that
mass IVES corrupted to the core by sla-
very. The poison Showed itself in pol
itics, commerce, literature and relig-
ion. Merchants kept their principles
and goods equally on sale. They were
always ready, even at the busiest sea-
son, to give their clerks a holiday to
mob down free speech. Harrison Gray
Otis, in Faneuil Hall, sneered at fanat-
les who thought the sermon on the
Mount weighed more than the Consti-
tuition. Webster ridiculed the higher
law amid q million plauGits. Horace
Mann let US know that he would not
have committed what he deemed infa-
nous sin unless the Constitution had
ordered it. The very ethics taught in
our colleges were wrenched away by
this influence. Professor Stuart d.
vorced conscience from the Constitu-
ton. 1t was while President Way
lands hair was shorn by this Delilah
that he wrote his "Limitations of HUI
man Responsibility" The American
Tract Society struck Christianity out
overy essay stole from the English au-
tbors. In that farrago Of prejudice and
affectation which Bancroft calls "a
History of the United States" he re-
modelled a chapter 10 appease this idol.
Philadelphia editors omitted Longfel
lows a~nti-slavery poems. Episcopal
priests struck the negro out of AIRY
Shelters Christus C0nS0LatOr, and the an
ti-slavery chapter out of the English
Bishops History of their Church.
While mobs burned negroes in the
streets, the pulpits fastened to prove
that mobs were a form of law ! and
eagerly snatched every chance TO wal
low in this iniquity. They ~expurged
hymns so as not to offend sinners;
elected shareholders to the highest
honors /; sent their sham gospel to the
heather, with money from the sale of
slaves maintained g slave pen in each
church served blacks at the commun-
ion after all the whites were done, and
ended with making the Bible the 0
nerstone of slavery, and stamping eV-
cry man as "infdel" who doubted that
such was the proper place for the book.
Such teaching had its full effect
Can we expect that, after half q
century of If, four years of gunpowder
will cure all these sores? VIII the
smoke of a dozen battles purge away
the film from such eyes7 VIII such a
people see clearly, resolve promptly,
and execute with relentless fidelity 10
Justice? Of course not; they viii
stumble and grope-go astray and be
easily misled, even while their hearts
are right. For q long time "they will
see men as trees walking" A Divine
hand could not cure more quickly than
that. Can we expect the rough expe-
rience of a camp to do 1t?
Such was the North, and such was
its leaders in Church and State. What
was the South? OF course the South
had neither religion nor literature. It's
commerce was an exotic, like the ira
ding stations on the Guinea coast. 1t
was simply vanished with bar5arism.
1t had all the Incidence, the coward
ly cruelty, the waste, the senseless
pride, the infamous and hasty vices
Inoa nominanda inter C~hTiStianos) the
blood thirstiness and brutal obstinacy
common among savages.
Now take a war between two such
sect ions. Let the first, in a moment
of passion, and largely from = desire of
victory-not from pure love of justice
set free the slaves of the second, in
defiance of it, then leave such freed
men in the hands oftheir late masters,
and present enemies. Does any man
acquainted with his own nature, or IA
miliar with history, doubt what would
be the result? Can any such man
need testimony and statistics to prove
that the slave section would exhaust
every device which rage, hate and lust
could suggest to avert its fate-and
that it would be met with faltering,
i~rresolute and laundering Ignorance
by the other section? Do men gather
grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? ?
How, then, can the calm judgment,
the impartial justice and clear fore
| sight needed in such an emergency be
expected from such a North? or that
loyal submission, that generous and
~forbearing magnanimity the hour
demands be expected from such q
South?
Five or six years are not time
enough for the eradication of so fell a
disease. We exhort our friends abroad
and those, who, at home, Judge with.
out reflection, to apply their common
sense to this problem. The accident
of a traitor in the White House-ihe
timidity and s~ellfshness of Republican
leaders-hardly more in amount than
all parties necessarily have at such
times-much as they complicate the
problem, do not constitute the whole
or the special danger Of the hour. The
root of the difficulty is the old disease
not vet wholly cured. The poison o
slavery still c~onvulses the cody poll
tic. Both sections, North and South,
are. TO be sure, infinitely more intelli
gent aud well disposed than the mos
sanguine of US dared to hope ten year
ago. The primal still come
from a South-bankrupt gamblers WIKI
play ed for an empire and lost-whicl
heaYes and losses with sullen pride o
race, robbed of its victim sectlona
hate nursed for years. and now sore
with defeat; Ignorance dazzled BLING
with sudden light, and pride rudely
humbled. Meanwhile, the North-the
present pilot of the Stste-though mar
vellously educated by the war, still
shows the supplying effect of the lonl
false teaching from pulpit, mart anC
forum. Its means well, but from un
|, der the heavy eyelids sees coniusedly
The fierce d%irectness of urpose on th'
field of battle has been satisfied by vic
tory. Old %prejudices revive. Bite
/; party spirit re-appears. Low ambition