The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-10-31

/ Ten Tor puDllcaflOD, OUT as II COHldins
matters of interest and will serve to
show the spirit and temper of the peo-
pie of the South, and the cheerful and
hearty manner in which they accept
the situation" by permission of Mr..
Clark, we give it place in our col
umns:
MAGNOLIA PLANTATION,
PARISH OF PLAQUENIINE,S
Louisiana, Sept. 30, 1872.
Mr.. r. I'll. CLARK, Portage Co., Ohio.
Ny DEAR SIR:-Your esteemed fa-
vor found here q few days since on
my return home from flying visit to
New York. i passed rapidly through
your State, and l was glad to find, as
do again confirmed by you that there
! is strong hopes of your State for Mr..
Greeley.
You say that you were an abolition
ist for twenty-five years, and also that
your SON was among the first victims
of our late civil war. No stronger
proof could be given of the honesty
| of your opinions,-and of your right
to them-so long held by you, than
than that of Offering up your noble
and patriotic son as a sacrifice upon
the altar of your country.
This is as you well say a remarkable
epoch in the political history of our
country.
Twas the owner of three hundred
slaves, earned alone by the sweat of
honest toll in the cultivation of the
soil and upon this plantation. And
in looking back for a period of thirty
! years in which 1 was at the head of
SO large family, and of such i'm
mense responsibilities, feel that |
have nothing to reproach myself for
in so far as to my duty towards them.
They were of course, trained and
brought up with great industry, strict
temperance, economy and honesty,
and on every Sunday (until the war;
| appeared cl.,anly dressed in my own
church where they received good
moral and religions instruction, and
were taught TO have entire confidence
and faith in the merits of our Re-
| dee her. t} .Rf
When our section of the country
was taken possession of by the feder-
al troops, and for nearly four years
after, they were well taught in the
common school rudlments of ednca-
ton and by teacher, colored man,
that is now the State Senator repre-
senting my own district In, all this
| know you will "say fsWell dome" !"
| Two hundred of them are now living
few miles below me on the river,
occupying about two miles front of
their own property each family 'oceu
pying his own house and cultivating
his own lands, which for beauty oflo-
cation fertility of soil and means of
subsistence is, think, unequaled on
the face OF the earth. N Sir ijil
And when tell you that their ag-
gregate crop of rough rice will this
year sell for Thirty Thousand Dollars,
you will, think, agree with me that
they were not only well brought up
but that they will favorably compare
| with any agriculturist, white or black,
that inhabit our continent. AS you
may well suppose | take much inter-
est and feel great pride in their well
fare and rapid progress, as there is no
parallel to it i'll our State. But, sir,
is it not strange that in the coming
election these very negroes, except as
a great favor to me, would not one of
them vote for Horace Greeley, to
whom, as have often told them, they
owed more for their personal free
dom than to all others combined.
Still, this is the plain state of facts
that now exist in our State. But to a
great extent this is owing TO the bad
advisers who have come amongst us
since the war and who have taken
charge of them politically, solely for
the purpose of their own aggrandise-
ment and in opposition to the advice
of their best friends.
Again, as you say, how strange it is
that we who have SO violently oppos-
ed you for the last 25 years should
now be with you. But, no, it is not
so difficult to account for when we
remember what both sections have
passed through. When our people
returned from the war they came
home to find themselves almost we,
might say, houseless, foodless and
without clothes. To meet thousands
of orphans and widows with nothing
to help themselves to. TO this there
were thousands of MANNED and disa-
bled soldiers who had to be cared for
from the scantv means at hand. Our
people had fought the fight like you
of the north with an honesty of pur-
pose, that none will deny. The war
had ended, the die was cast. We had
lost, knew it and felt it; and all we
asked was peace and the privilege of
gaining a livelihood and support for
those who SO long had suffered and
who SO earnestly implored US for bread
and relief. ~ FsW esEh
There was no murmuring, and all
would have been well had it not been
there was i'll store for US what was
worse, ten thousand times worse than
the war we had gone into cheerfully
and were willing to abide the issue,
which was government. of tyranny
and despotism that has never, been
equalled. Taxed beyond our means /
to pay till we are compelled to see
around us not only. in our cities, but
in the country thousands ofoHr finest
estates. as well as hundreds of acres
in our great city of New Orleans, Ell
ther not rented at all or will not rent
for enough to pay the taxes. - a
With all this you can we'll see we
long for peace; not the peace prom
ised by General Grant and meted out
to us at the point of the bayonet and
mouth of the cannon, but that peace
which means reconciliation and re-
turn to that fraternal feeling which
should again exist betweensthe differ
ent sections of our common country.
These are the living issues of the day.
The war and the new amendments of
of the Constitution have settled for<@
ever all the old political issues SO long
and so earnestly contended for by the
two great political parties of our