Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-01-24
HERALD.
TUESDAY, JANUARY -, 1867.
The Question of the Hour.

means are required 10 secure to the
American citizens everywhere, the priv
i!eges of the church the school house,
the ballot box and the right to seat in
the iury-boX The conflict or the settle
meut of this question is removed from
the bloody battle field, TO the stormy
arena Of public debate, to the polls, to
the people, to Congress. The people are
to sit in judgment upon it. And K
they, in this b.oodess strife, will but
exercise the same courage and devotion,
the same unwavering principle as our
soldiers manifested in the heat Of war
.he victory will be ours on this field, as
i was theirs on the fields OF more re-
uown. II we will but learn that the
Federal arm should be still stretched
over those States, which have not yet
recognized the decree Of freedom made
by the war, all will be well If WE still
hesitate to invite the Senators and Rep
resentatives of States even now hugging
slavery and rebellion TO their hearts, all
will be well. If we will insist, that a
State which allows Its Judges 10 sell
men into slavery as punishment for
crime, and to bind black children to
bondage worse than slavery, because pos
sessed Of none of its domestic ties and
interests, is not fit to participate in the
work Of free government and an advance
step in the right direction will have
been taken. We should not forget that
today, without the protection Of the
Freedmen's Bureau, supported as it is
by the military power Of the Govern
ment, the negro could not pursue any
employment in safety at the South.
These newborn citizens have been
hunted down in the streets; a price set
upon their heads, as if they were wild
animals; every form of ingenuity exer-
c,sed to deprive them of fair reward
FOR their labor, by those who were born
with the btterest contempt for their
color, and who have been taught to de-
test their prOteCtor-that Government
they could not overthrow. The mad
dened press of the South clamors for
another revolution, Union men are
driven to their hiding places, or are
scorned and insulted in their daily walk.
Even the naughty leaders Of that still
untamed section, claim for their States
the constitutional right OF withdrawal
from the confederation of States the
recent owners Of CmanCipatcd slaves
still hope for compensation and the
holders of Confederate bonds are waiting
for the day, when their Representatives
in the Federal Congress shall fund these
bonds as part OF the National debt.
The leaders have asked the people Of
Ghe South to submit as gracefully and
patiently as may ha to the consequences
of their defeat on the battle field, and
Nothing more.
With frw exceptions no appeal has
been heard from the pulpit, in behalf Of
christian devotion to that faith and
church which may embrace all in its
ample fold. The people have heard no
voice from the platform, telling them
chat they enjoy a new and glorious op-
Dortunity, as free ctti2eus-a favorable
time for elevation and even. handed
prosperity. No public teachers have yet
arisen to teach men there that now a
dav has dawned in which the sky is not
darkened. No wise counsellor seems to
have told his Southern brethren that
slavery is dead, secession crushed and
citizenship established, and that the way
is now opened for them TO be enrolled
among the unblemished commonwealths.
We hear nothing Of these voices but
appeals to sectional passion, pride and
prejudice, naughty demands for place
and power in the government, eulogy OF
the rebellious chiefs, sccrnful refec-
tions upon the intelligence of the North
new and ingenious attempts to defeat by
oolitical intrigue a victorious people,
whom they could not vanquish by force
of arms in fair conflict, and yet we are
asked to humble ourselves to these sen
timents and call it re. construction.
Are we ready to do this We trus
not we do not ask for revenge, nor TO
cruel punishment Of the erring and way
ward, or that the vanquished shoult
be led at the car of the victor. But WI
do claim that our government shoul
secure such guarantees for its futur
safety, aa rest upon a uniform civil
i.ation, respect for its power and a
understanding that It's mission is to pre-
tect the down trodden and lowly an
develop social virtue, intelligence an
religion. We do expect that q stat
once in rebellion, should gracefully a.
cept the conditions laid down for her r
turn that she should so amend her col
stitution aud enact laws, as to confor
to the republican theory of government
o,4or unon svstem OF free educ