Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-09-02

Gen. Grant We are told that when he saw
the generosity of Grant to his shattered army,
he was IS overcome with emotion that he
was profuse with thanks. Since that fear
ful day, however, he has been silent. He
knew what the welfare of the South demand
ed-that amnesty was at hand if suffrage
were g ven-that the North merely wanted
Justice secured to tho race it had freed-to
throw down every barrier, and unite every
interest IN the harmony of restored Union.
| lie saw the Cobbs and Hills of the South,
the men who have been warriors in peace
ana citIzens in war, fermenting discord and
bitterly assailing every plan of reconstruc
tion. lie saw these cowardly myrmidons of
hatred filling the South, like many evil
spirits Like the witches in Macbeth, they
nave worked their charms-to a dismal-fated
end-and infected tho very air with their
:. hell-broth, boil, and bubble Like the
Centaures in Dante's hell, their aim seems
ever to drive back the race so long at their
mercy into the dark river of blood. See
what have made the South Emigration is
arrested-capital shrinks from her cities and
seaports-cOmmerce seeks less congenial but
more secure climes-credit is dead-her vast
resources are neglected-there is no indus
try, no enterprise, no national progress, no
public splrit-nCthing but political chaos
and social anxiety The men whose energy
/
those whose industry would make her fields
to- blossom as the rose are held in cruel and
dreary subsection. This has come because
| her people have listened to prophets as false
as johnson, and Toombs, and Wise, and be-
cause the men whose voices should have been
commanding-men like Lee and his generals
have been either silent or sullenly antago-
nlstlc- Lee, especially, has had the happi-
ness of great States at his bidding, and he
no oh -.
duty and responsibility behind the groves of
his Lexington Academy. Instead of acting
the part of Washington to which he is said
80 aspire, he has been merely the Turvey-
drop Grandson of the South The people
he led to ruin have looked for leadership
and action. He has merely given them de-
pertinent and phrases
! Now, when enthusiastic and not over
cautious soldier rushes into his presence and
tells him that Ire can, and must, and shall
speak, the oracle of department opens his
mouth. What he has said to our diploma
fist we have not learned. We presume it is
in the eyes of Gen. Rosecrans, a most i'm
| pOrtant declaration, for we learn that he has
visited Washington to confer with Mr.. John
son. We may have it in ian address, at
any moment. According to one narrative,
the General addressed Lee certain questions
In substance as follows
w neither we can hope for any permanent
peace and prosperity under the present Con-
gressIonal plan of reconstruction, which sur
renders to the control of negroes and a few
whites nearly all Of the southern States
| Whether, if the few whites were all enfran-
chlsed and given to the control of the South,
they would treat the negroes justly and kind
| ly? &C. Gen. ROSecrans requested Gen. Lee
to center with other leading southern Gen
erals and civilians, and obtain their views in
connection with his own.
To this Gen. Lee made reply, "a care
| full ''and well digested statement" in which
he was joined by Gen. Beauregard, Mr..
Stephens, and others. The burden of this
is said to be as follows
Gen. Lee, in his reply, states that he be-
lleves the people of the South sincerely de-
sire peace and reconstruction of the Union.
Tie did not think it possible that the country
could prosper while the control and manage
ment of the Government of the States of the
South remained in the hands of the negroes and
few whites, and the mass of the men repre-
sentlng her intelligence are DISTINGUISHED.
He beheOes If the lohites Of The South loere re-
hered Of ali political disaJiiitieS and therein
gtren dscendaHcy, they would, If left to them
selves, treat negroes Cifh kindnesS f0rbeGrdnce,
and justice. The southern people, in his
opinion, regard the questions of Slavery and
Secession as settled finally by the war, and
they have no disposition or inclination to re-
establish the one or to again try the other
1t Is the unanimous wish, sey~ Gov, co. %
the southern people that we shall have last
ing peace. They long for it. The people Of
the South have the greatest interest in hav-
ing Il good and stable Government that Will
protect them in their rights and their prop
erty, under which they may 20 to work that
whatever they may accumulate by their la
bors may be secure for themselves and chill
dren.
In the first place, what right has the
W bite man in the South to demand a politi-
cal IS ascendancy ," If the white men of the
South are superior to the negroes, they need
no law to make it manifest The superior
race Will always control the inferior To
ask for legal status is to confess weakness.
In the North, we have hundreds of thousands
of strangers coming to us; peasants from Ire
land, serfs from Russia, Germans, and Welch
and English. They know less about our
country than the negro, for they are aliens
while he has lived here for generations
They are strangers to our laws, our custom,
and language. Yet we ask no protection
from these myriads of foreigners. Nor do
We promise to treat them with * forbear-
ance. We give then an opportunity, and
they must do the best tAey can afterward.
| So long a maa is neither felon, nor an
incapable, he has the right to a voice in the
elections We are willing to trust the ne
| gro, and the rule we impose upon ourselves
we do not hesitate to apply to Gen Lee
| But we told these negroes are an in
| ferior race, and that the southerners, if We
only concede that inferiority, will treat them
with g kindness, forbearance and justice.
Well, the southerners, Robert E. Lee and the
rest of them, had the negro race in their
power. They were its masters They
bought the negro and sold him, and under
the broad domain of our Republic the own
ership was protected. What g forbearance,''
what :. Kindness" what ''justice > was
shown? Read the laws of the southern
states before the war, and find an answer in
that shameful history of oppression and out
rage. Education made crime-children
torn from their parents licensed concu-
binage-labor stolen-the whipping post, the
cudgel, the bloodhound, and the iron collar,
this is what the negro received from the
southerner, and the right to do all this was
contended for by Robert E. Lee upon a hun
dred hattIe-felds This hAforo tho /
w hat has been done since? Have we seen !
any southern movement to educate or elevate |
the new race? Where is the least evidence /
of the proposed rebel Justice " to the ne
gro, Not only have the southerners neglected /
the colored race, but they have denounced as
tyranny every effort of northern men to ele- |
vate and improve it. When we see Justice /
proffered we may believe it, and not before
There is something whimsical and absurd
in this attempt of Lee and his colleagues to
dictate to the North policy which means
the reversal of all that has been done toward
reconstruction. Repeal the fourteenth amend
ment, abolish the southern governments.
withdraw the army, take power from the /
negro and give So ascendancy' to the rebel.
and what then? In sixty days every loyal
white man will be an exile, every loyal black
1ot., g