New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-04-13

to say a few words concerning the propriety O
according a universal amnesty to all poIitica
offenders now suffering under disabilities 70
the part they took in the rebellion. This dut,
was assigned me, not because of any specis
illness on my part, bat because I am a membe
OF an oppressed race, the race which has sui
/ tered most by the slavery the rebellion wa
inaugursted to maintain And if can rails,
my voice. and pray let bygones be bygones
then others who have not so much cause foI
hating the slavery gendered rebellion as
| do may be inclined TO listen TO the arguments
made by ADLER men in favor of removing the
disabilities imposed upon large class OF the
Southern people.
In few days six years will have elapsed since
Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomat-
tox Court House. The Confederacy has faded
from the sight and partially from the memories
OF men, Its leaders are many of them in exile,
ali In disgrace. The grass grows evenly over
the graves of Unionists and Confederates :
nature doing her part TO cover from sight the
wounds and rents of war. Disunion and State
sovereignty, wrapped in the stars and bars for
a shroud he buried in grave whence no po-
lltlcal conJuratiOn can evoke them. Yet we
have not peace. From the States which formed
the late Confederacy there comes the dissonal
cries OF two parties, each com planning of usures
each demanding justice.
The American people, especially they of the
North, are sitting as high court to adjudicate
these conflicting claims They must put be-
hind them the preiudices of race, which might
bind them on one hand, and the preju-
dtces of section, which might mislead on the
other. 1t is their duty to forget that
the freedmen, who are one of the parties
to this complaint, are black men, Of blood
foreign to the most of the inhabitants of the
country. 1t is their duty TO remember that
the politically disabled men of the South, who
are the other parties to this suit, are their fell
low-citiZens, mainly guided by the same social
and political principles and entitled, even by
the very sternness with which they fought for
the lost cause, to respect and Justice.
The freedmen and white Unionists of the
South, they 10 whom we have iutrusted the
task of upholdng the ark of the Union in that
part OF our common country, appeal to us TO
save their lives from the daily and nightly per.
lis by which they are surrounded. War, they
declare, is actively waged throughout all that
region. The enemies of liberty and the Union
though no longer mustered in military array
are no less active than during the war. The
knife, the pistol the rope of the assassin, the
torch of the incendiary have established o
reign OF terror which has no parallel 10 history
The recent amendments TO the Constitution
are laughed to scorn aud the unfortunate I'm
submission TO the demands of the murderous
clan-which by its actual and imputed deeds
has inspired such terror into the breasts of the
loyal men of the South that they do not dare
to oppose tor death.
The other complaint comes from communi
ties and from individuals. Our most useful
men are prevented from serving Us by the pro
visions of the fourteenth amendment Ia those
positions where the cearest intellects are
needed, we are compelled TO resort to those OF
inferior caliber. The order OF nature is re-
versed. Our society and States are ruled by
those who are fit only 70 be governed. sm
shut out from an honorable career" saws the
individual sc brand is placed upon my fore
head for a single fault, which was shared by
the entire community In which lived
sincerely believe that It is the mission of
the great party Of liberty and union, the Re
publican, to hear and adjust these complains
Much of this disorder In TIE South, perhaps
all OF 1t, might have been avoided, had IL not
been for what cannot help but characterize as
the indecent haste with which the rebellious
States were restored to their peaceful relations
with the Union. Had they been maintained
In territorial condition for twenty-five years.
or tai their social, Industrial and educational
interests were adjusted 10 the new order of
things, 1t would have been well. We have left
the Unlonists OF the South at the mercy of the
under classes of the secessionists while the
better class is prohibited from attaining those
executive positions which would enable them
to maintain order and protect those who so
sadly need protection.
L think the way out Of our difficulties is to
remove the disabilities placed upon these men.
Show them that the people who bred the heroes.
who carried the flag of the Union to the Gulf,
are capable of the sublime virtue Of forgive
ness. Make them, by the proclamation of gen
eral amnesty, friends Of the Union make them
the guardians Of the law in their communities.
Look to them for the peace we desire.
\ o sane man desires a peace in the South
which depends upon armies for it's maintenance
The order which reigned in Warsaw is not the
order we seek. We want peace based upon
the consent of the people. To obtain this we
must call to our aid the governing element OF
the Soath.
In every community there are men who are
by nature its leaders Some Of them are born
in palaces, some in novels upon them the due
ordering of the political, social, religious, aud
industrial life Of the people depends. If you
deprive the community OF the services of these
men, you disable it in all the particulars |
have named. Ia ancient times il was customary
to put out the right eve of the swordsman cap
tured In battle, that he might be disabled for
further military service. The exclusion of this
political service, is a putting out Of the eyes of
the communities to which they belong If it
was the putting out Of al eye which qualified
tor military service only, should not com plain
but you do more. You close the eyes which
see the difference between murder, and arson,
and robbery and their opposites. With these
eyes ciouded the community stumbles forward
into bloody anarchy, and that anarchy affects
not them alone. but us. We can sit quietly in
our homes and ignore the disordered condition
of the South that disorder reaches us, We
share it, whether we desire 1t or not
By the exclusion of which | complain, we
render this most influential class dissatisfied
They keep at enmity with the Government and
its upholders. They become fomentors of sed-
ton, the great influence which, if right should
be enlisted on the side Of law and order is
thrown into the other scale, with such results
as we see. The hopeful communities in the
South are those where men of the class of which
i speak have obtained control of affairs The
most hopeless are those where these men are
not permitted to act. There Is another view
TO this question TO which will call your atten-
ton.
The freedmen of the South are regarded al
most In the light of personal property by GER
tain class of politicians. In their eyes they
have but one function, and that is to place these
men In Office. They are kept In the traces by
being continually reminded of their obligsti
TO the Republican party, which are undeniably
great. / shall not stigmstize these men as
carpet-baggers, nor yet as scalawags. Too
many thousands of noble-hearted men and
women have gone South with the two fold pur-
pose of upholding the Government and training
the freemen to be inteiipent and virtuons citi