Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-12-11

For it may be safely assumed that no politi
cal truth il better established than that sucl
indiscriminate and all-embracing extension
of popular suffrage must end at last in it.
overthrow and destruction. / repeat the cx
preston of my willingness to Join in any
plan within the scope of our constitutions
authority, which promises to better the con.
dition Of the negroes in the South, by encour
aging them in industry, enlightening thei
minds, improving their morals, and giving
protection to all their just rights as freed
men. But the transfer of our political in
heritanec to them, would, in my opinion, be
an abandonment of duty which We owe
alike to the memory of our fathers and tht
rights of our children The plan Of putting
the southern states ~ATholly, and the general
government partially, into the hands of ne
groes is proposed at time peculiarly unpro-
pitious. The foundations OF society have
been broken up by civil war industry mus,
I be reorganized, justice reeStablished, public
credit maintained. and order brought out oil
confusion. To accomplish these ends would
require all the wisdom and virtue of the
great men who formed our institutions orig
inally.
confidently believe that their descendants
will be equal to the arduous task before
them ; but it is worse than madness to cx-
| pect that negroes will perform it for us
Certainly we ought not to ask their assist
ance until we despair of our own competen-
cy. The great difference between the two
races in physical, mental and moral charac-
teristies will prevent an amalgamation or
! fusion of them together in one homogeneous
mass. If the inferior obtains ascendency
over the other it will govern with reference
only TO its own interests for it viii recog-
nze no common interest, and create such :;
tyranny as this continent has never vet wit
messed. Already the negroes are influenced
by promises of contiscatiOn and plumber.
They are taught to regard as enemy every
white man who has any respect for the rights
of his own race. If this continues it must
become worse and worse, until all order will
be subvcrted, all industry cease, and the fer
tile fields of the South grow up into Il wilder
ness. OF oil the dangers which our nation
has yet encountered, none equal to those
which must result from the sucrcss Of t c
effort now making 10 Africanize the half Of
our country. / would not put considerations
of money in competition with justice and
right, but TO the expenses incident to - re-
construction under the system adopted hv
Congress, aggravate what | regard rs the IL
trinsic wrong of the measure itself. 1t has
cost uncountei millions already, and ii per-
sisted in will add largely 10 the weight OF
taxation already too oppressive TO he borne
without Just complaint, and NAV finally re-
duce the treasury of the nation to a condition
of bankruptcy We must not dclu1e oar
selves. 1t will require strong standing
army, and probably more than twI hundre /
millions of dollars per annum, t. maintain
the supremacy of negro governments after
they are established The sum thus thrown
away would, if properly used, form sink
ing fund large enough to pay the whole II
tional debt III less than fifteen years. IL Is
vain To hope that negroes will maintain their
ascendancv themselves. Without military
power they are wholly Incapable Of holding
in subsection the white people of the South.
rHE PUBLIC CREDIT.
| submit 10 the Judgment Of Congress
whether the public credit NAV not be in ur
iously affected by system of measures ike
this. With our debt, and vast private in
terests which are complicated with it, we
cannot be too cautious ot a policy which
might by impossibility impair the confidence
Of the world in our government. That con-
fdence can only be retained by carefully IN
culcating the principles of justice and honor
IN the popular mind, and by the most scrL-
pulous fidelity 10 all our engagements Of
every sort. Any serious breach of the or
ganic law, persisted in for q considerable
time, connot but create fears for the stability
Of our institutions. Habitual violation Of
prescribed rules which we bind ourselves -
observe, must demoralize the people. Oar
only standard of civil duty being set at
naught, the sheet anchor Of our political
morality is lost the public conscience swings
from its moorings, and yields - every i'm
pulse of passion and interest. If we repu-
date the Constitution, we will not he expect
ed to care much for pccuniary obligations
The violation of such pledge we made
on the 22d Of July, 1861, will assuredlv
diminish the market value of our other
promises Besides, if we now acknowledge
that the national debt was created. not TO
hold the states in the Union, as taxpayers
were led to suppose, but to cxpel them from
il and hand them over TO be governed by
negroes, the moral duty to pay it may seem
much less clear. | say it may seem SO, for |
do not admit that this any other argument
in favor Of reputation can be entertained as
sound but its influence on some classes of
minds may well be apprehended
The financial honor of great commercial
nation, largely indebted, and with a rcpub-
lican form of government, administered by
agents of the popular choice, is thing Of
such delicate texture, and the destruction Of
it would be followed by such unspeakablc
calamity that every true patriot must desire
to avoid whatever might expose it 10 the
slightest danger. The great interests of the
require lnLncuIIle TtIIcl ITbtu lIcSt
enactments. Business in the South is paral-
wed by q sense Of general insecurity, by
terror of contiscation and dread of negro
supremacy. Southern trade, from which the
North would have derived so great profit
under n government of law, still languishcs,
and can never be revived until 1t ceases to he
fettered by arbitrary power, which makes all
it's operations unsafe. That rich country,
the richest in natural resources the world
ever saw is worse than lost if it be not soon
placed under the protection of a free consti-
tuition Instead Of being, as it ought to be,
a source of wealth and power, it will become
an intolerate burden upon the rest Of the
nation.
THE RECENT ELECTIONS.
Another reason for retracing our steps Will
doubtless be seen by Congress in the late
manifestations of public opinion upon this
subject. We live III Il country where the
popular will always enforces obedience to it
self, sooner or later. 1t is vain to think of
opposing it with anything sh ort of legal au-
thority, backed by overwhelming force. 1t
cannot have escaped your attention that from
the day on which Congress formally present
ed the proposition to govern the southern
states by military force, with view to the
ultimate establishment of negro supremacy
every expression of general sentiment has
been more or less adverse to it. The atfec-
tions of this generation cannot be detached
from the institutions of their ancestors
Their determination to preserve the inheri-
tance Of free government in their own hands,
and transmit it unimpaired to their own pos
| terity, is too strong to be successfully op-
posed. Every weaker passion will disappear
before that love of liberty and law for which
the American people are distinguished above
all others in the world
REsIsTANCE TO UNCONSTITUTIONAL LEGISLATION.