Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-08-21


of the cOlOred people of Boston to address
them on the political duties of the hour.
We give the letter in full below
SwAMPsCoTT, August 8, 1872.
Gentlemen: You ask me to address you
on the questions involved in the canvass
between President Grant and Mr.. Greeley
thank you for the confidence implied in your
request. Among you | zee many who have
been workers with me in the anti-slavery
cause for years.
My residence here makes i. inconvenient
for me to attend a public meeting in Boston {;
and indeed think / can state my views more
satisfactorily in a letter than in a pub-
lie address. If you please, therefore, viii
communicate with you in this way, rather
than in the one you suggest.
OF course the first thought that occurs to
you and me Just now is, that one of your
best, ablest and most watchful friends Mr.
Senator Sumner, advises you to vote for Hor-
ace Greeley, and believes that your rights
will be safe only in his keeping. | touch
with reverent hand everything from Mr.
Sumner. | can never forget his measureless
services to the anti-slavery cause, and to
your race. Whenever | read his words
read them OvershadOwed by the memory of
his early and entire conservation to the ser
vice of impartial liberty-of that zeal which
has never dagged-that watchfulness which
has seldom been deceived-of that devotion
which has so rarely shrunk from any sacrifice
which no opposition could tire and no dan
ger appall From such a counselor | venture
to differ with great reluctance, and only after
mature elaboration. | should hesitate TO
publish my dissent if | were not sure that
was right, and that he was wrong-that the
occasion was very important, and his mistake
rrb5 ,t, 10 70 10 ai
My judgment is the exact opposite Of Mr.
Summers. l think every loyal man, and
especially every colored man, should vote for
General Grant, and that the nation and your
race are safe only in the hands of the old
regular, Republican party.
Some may ask how | come to think thus
when | was one Of the few loyal men who
protested IN 1868, against Grants nomina-
ton, and seeing that have 50 often affirmed
that the Republican party had outlived its
usefulness.
Gentlemen, the reasons which lead me to
my present opinion, in spite of my former
views, ought to give my Judgment more
weight with you. l am forced by late devel-
Opments TO my present position.
You remember that in lobS l emphaucally
denied General Grants fitness for the PresI
dency- Derided by the Republican press, |
went from city to city protesting against his
election. In private, with Mr.. Sumner and
others, | argued long and earnest y against
the risk Of putting such man into such an
office. At that time they saw cnlv his great
merits and supported him heartily. The de
tects Of his administration are no surprise to
me. | may say, without Boosting, that
prOphesied those defects I DO not wish 70
hide them to day. | entirely agree with Mr.
Sum ner as to the grave fault and int0lcrable
insOlence Of the administration in the St
Domingo matter. | think the frequent put
ting of relatives into Office highly objection
able, and the sad career of Webster is warn
ing enough against any man in public lite
vcnturIng 70 accept gifts from living men.
There and other defects are no surprise TO me
The eminent merits of General Grants
are, | confess, surprise 70
me
His truly original, statesmanlike and
Christian policy toward the Indians is admir-
able, and, standing alone, Is enough To mark
him statesman. His patience amid inuu-
mcrable difficulties in our foreign relations is
wonderful in one bred a soldier The aid the
administration has given to the industrial
and financial prosperity of the country is a
great merit. General Grants prompt inter-
ference for Justice TO wOTking-IuCn in defiance
of those about him, relative TO the execution
of the eight hour law, shall always remem-
Der The crime of the Republican party in
the Ku-Klux is fragrant But tho
President and his immediate friends deserve
our gratitude for their efforts and success in
that matter. His services to the fifteenth
amendment shall never forget W hen some.
even Of the foremost aboltionsts doubted
and were lukcwdrm. ! wrote 70 Senator VII .
son asking him 10 urge General Grant 10 put
three lines into his first message, commencing
that measure to Congress and the country
The answer came back, - You are too late
General Grants message was finished before
your letter arrived; and the recommendation
you wish IS n It, - 1t still remains lamentably
true that the cOlOred man has no full recog-
milton at the North, and no adequate protec-
-or in the South-shame TO the administra-
ton and to the Republican party But their
friends may fairly claim that during the past
three years the negro has steadily gained in
The safe exercise and quiet enjoyment of his
lights.
know the defects Of Gen Grants admin
stration as well a. any other man | think.
as | was of him, am able TO see
he good service he has UNEXPECTEDLY rendered
he nation.
But no matter for those defects. At the
most they are not fatal and events have lift Il,
ID President Grant into being to-day the
ymbol and representative of LOYALTY. The
conspiracy between Southern secessionists and 1
Northern copperheads, Of which, very nat
rally, Mr.. Greeley is the tool, and, unfor-
unately, Mr.. Samner is the endorser and, 1
hink, the dupe-leaves room but for two /
'artles-thOse who for the nation and {
hose who are against 1t. | bate no lot Of
ny brotherly regard and sincere esteem for i
1r- Sumner in thus holding him deceived 5
The entire faith | have in his honesty of pnr-
'ose Obliges me to think him duped. The
My wonder is how this is possible when the
outh is so insoleut and shameless in pro- ,
tanning her intentions. The South has long t
cen her mistake and often confessed 1t. The
Tribune itself makes this statement as late as
une, 1871. That mistake was to contend |
Or her ideas with nluskets and outside the
Jnion-leaving US the Government and TAX d
ng herself the part of a rebel She has f
item annOunced-in the last instance by the :
FPS of Jefferson Davis-that the cause was :
OF lost, and must be won by getting posses +
ion of the Government and leaving us in the
position Such is the present plot. That e
lr. Greeley sees it would never prevent his
lding it. That Mr.. Sumner does not see il. t
} to me matter of profound establishment. i
It such moment the regular Republican c
arty becomes again the accepted and only
OF resistance, and Grant repre- t
ents loyalty as Lincoln did in 1861. do not .
~ IOI MS ueIects were they ten III1es larger
nathan and Junius rightfully forgot even {
be lmfamy of Wilkes when he stood the re- q
resentatlve and symbol of the rights of a c
rltlsh subject. Even if ] accepted Mr.. [
umner's portrait of President Grant-which {
/ some sense is true, but IN no sense is the c
hole TRUTH should still vote for him il
gainst a rebellion at the ballot box to which a
gives all the strength, and childish Il
-edulty all the character. r
To stop now for criticism of such faults as Ii
lose of General Grant, is like blaming a c
ans 4wkwardness when he is defending YOU 0
yainst an assassin. t