The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1868-09-30


procured. This concurrence of opiD-
ions and Wills. ali tending to peace,
order and stability, will reassure our
Union soldiers and COngressmen who
want substantial and solid peace, and
cause them to rise above the level of
party politics and take such steps to
meet yours as, will insure a lasting
peace with all its countless blessings.
Very truly, your friend,
..--.. w. S.. RosECRANs.
To General R. Z Lee, White Sulphur
Springs, West Virginia.
GENERAL LEES REPLY. -....-
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. }.
w. VA. August 26, 1868. g.
GENERAL Il have had the honor
to receive your letter of this date, and
in accordance with yoursuggestions l
have conferred with a number of
gentlemen from the South, in whose
Judgment have, confided, and who
are acquainted with the public sentf-
ment of their respective States. They
have kindly consented to unite with
me in replying to your communica-
ton, and their names will be found,
with my own, appended to this an
sWer. With this explanation, we
proceed to give to you, according to
staten ent, what we believe to be the
sentiments of the. Southern. people in
regard to the subject to which. you
refer. .....'..
Whatever opinion may have pre-
vailed in the past with regard to AT
rican slavery, or the right of State
TO secede from the Union, we, believe
we express the almost unanimous
Judgment Of the Southern people
when we declare that they consider
that these questions were decided by
the war. and that it is their intention
in good faith toapide by that decision.
At the close of the war the Southern
people laid down their arms and
sought to resume their former rela-
tions with the United States Govern
ment. Through their State ConYen-
tions they abolished slavery and an
nulled their ordinances of secession,
and they returned TO their. personal
pursuits with purpose to. fulfill all
their duties to the Constitution of the
United States, which they had sworn
to support. q. If their action in these
particulars had been met in a spirit
of frankness and cordiality, we be-
lieve that ere this old irritations
would have passed away, and the
wounds Inflicted by the war would
have been in great measure healed.
AS far as we are advised, the people
Of the South entertain no unfriendIy
feeling toward the Government of the
United States, but they complain that
their rights under the Constitution
are withheld from them in the adj
ministration thereof. The idea that
the Southern people are hostile to the
negroes, and would oppress them if
it were in their power to do so, is en-
tirely unfounded. They have grown
up in our midst, and we have been
accustomed from childhood to look
upon them with Kindness. The
change in the situation of-the races
has wrought no change in our feelings
toward them. They still constitute
the important part of our laboring
population. Without their labor the
lands of the South Weuld be compar-
atively unproductive; without the
employment which Southern agricul-
ture affords, they would bedestitute O!
the means of ubsistence, and become
Paupers, dependent on public bounty.
Self-interest, even it there were no
higher motives, would therefore
prompt the whites of the South to
extend to the negroes care and pro.
lection. The important fact that the
two races are, under existing circum-
! stances, necessary to each other, is
gradually becoming apparentto both,
and we believe that, but for influences
exerted to stir up the passions of the
negroes, the relations of the two races
would soon adjust themselves on 8
basis of mutual Kindness and adVan.
tage. 1t is true that the people of the
South, together with the people Of
the North and West, are, for Obvious
reasons, opposed to any system of laws
which would place the political power
of the country in the hands of the
negro race, but this opposition springs
from no feeling OF enmity, but from 8
deep-seated conviction that at present
the negroes have neither the intelli
gence nor the other qualifications
which are necessary to make them
safe repositories of political power
They would inevitably become the
victims Of demagogues, who, for sci
fish purposes, would mislead them,
to the serious injury of the public.
The great want of the South is
peace. The people earnestly desire
tranquility and the. restorasion of The
Union. They deprecote disorder and
excitement as the most serious absta
Gle to their prosperity, They ask :
restoration of their. rights under the
r Constitution. Above all, they would
appeal to their countrymen for tht
establishment in the Southern States
. of that which has justly been:regordeC
the birth-right of every. American
! the right OF self government. ......
Establish this on firm basis, and
we can safely promise, on behalf o.
the Southern people, that they will
: faithfully obey the Constitution and
: laws of the United States, treat the
negroes with. kindness and humanity
} and fulfill every duty incumbent on
peaceful citizens, loyal to the Consti-
tuition of their country. DID gu.ulus .a
We believe the above contains q
succinet reply to the general topics