Wilmington journal., 1872-08-02
FRIENDS AT THE NOR TIL.

If any one doubts that friends are rising
UP for us atsthe North, let him read the
following extract from q late articlesin the
| New York He,dll. s ~
TIE proverbially keen scent Of the Her
aid for the popular side, and the persi5-
| tence with which it is pressing this view of
the case, makes its utteranceS worthy of
consideration
Apart from its review ofab3ae financial
policy of the administration, it was, in its
political aspect, a dangerous and reprehen-
sible effort to array the Southern blacks
against their white, feflow-citizens and to
scatter the seeds OF distrust, hatred and
revenge broadcast over the South. The
Secretary of the Treasury denounced and
spurned the proposition that the people OF
the Northern and Southern States-the
men who had fought the battles of the
COnfederacy under the banners of Lee and
Stonewau Jackson, and the men who had
marched to victory under tie lead of
Sheridan and Grant-shall now clasp hands
across the bloody chasm made by the war
and bury forever the bitter memories of
| tie past. No > rather let us keep alive the
anlmosities and hatreds that led to the re
beilion, until the chasm shall be filed, j.:
may be, with the lnaugled victims of more
cruel war, war Of races. Slavery, says
Mr.. Boutwell,, was the cause of this ''deep,
dark and pOrtentous chasIn," and injustice
| is the essential characteristic Of slavery. He
refuses to recognize the fact that slavery is
| dead that it can never again be revived
| in the United States while the world con-
tinues; that the Southern people, one and
| all, accept the results Of the war; thai the
white citizens Of the South ask only to be
Irli Il to 10 rtI1N0 hDI
| shattered fortunes, to reconstruct their
| des0latcd homes, and to place their States
! once again on the road to prosperity and
| happiness. lie sees in the solid vote of
| the blacks, ignorant, idle and vicious
! though a majority of them undoubtedly
are, a prospect Of securing the SOuthcrn
| States for the administration of which he
! is a member, and SO he tells the negroes Of
| North Carolina that it must still be war
| between them and their white fellOw-citi-
Zens; and he pOurs into their credulOus
ears the insidious poison Of suspicion. If
you are wise, he says in substance to the
| black crowd he harangues, you VIII never
| trust your liberties and imInUnities to
your old masters, tor whenever they obtain
the power, if they cannot destroy the for
mer, they will deny you the latter. Their
professions may be fair, but their hearts
are false, and ii you would protect your
selves your cry must be, no peace with
such OppressOrs. Clasp hands across the
bloody chasm? No; rather fill it up with
more blood and with the cOrpses of men,
women and children whose white skins
point them out as your natural enemies.
We do Secretary Boutwell, no injustice i'll
this Interpretation of his unfortunate
speech. 1t will bear no other. Ills a.
dress is an effort to excite the worst pas
sions of an ignorant and violent people; to
array race against race; TO persuade the
negroes that the white democrats of the
South are their mortal enemies TO revive
the deadly animOsities of slavery when
slavery itself has persisted; to open atresh
the wounds made by the war when the
country is at peace. If the language used
by the Sc :retary is less brutal and coarse
than the ideas it conveys, the talent dis
played in his rhetoric only renders the
offence against humanity the more unpa:
donable.
We warn
General Grant and Secretary Boutwell, that
such a policy is full of danger and trouble
! i'll the future, for it cannot fail to bring
forth bitter fruit for any administration. =
1t must inevitably lead to disturbances OF
the peace, if not to more Sc eriouS evils; and
IN the train Of these must come more mill
tary uSurpation, more cOercive ! GislatiOn,
more of that course Of oppression and in
| Justice towards the Southern States which
| has already been pursued too long, and
| which, We insist, must and shall cease.
! whatever administration may be in power.
The people of the North viii no longer suf-
fer this unconstitutional treatment Of States
within the Union or tolerate the acts that
lead to its continuance. They know that
the South would be peaceful if let to it
self; they will not allow its peace TO be dis
turbed by the selfish intrigues Of narrow
minded politicians. They do not intend
that the fair Southern States shall be the
Ireland OF the American republic.