Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-05-01


to one or two of the members. Little was said
by any one but the President. Mr.: Bates ex.
pressed his very decided approval, but wished
deportation to be coupled with emancipation
He was, it was we'll known, opposed to slave
ry. Though born in slave State and always
residing in slave State and among slaves, ne
nevertheless wished them free, and that the
colored race should leave the country. 1t was
impossible, be said, for the two races to assim-
iate but by malgamation, and they could
not amalgamate without degradation and de-
moralization to the white race. The whites
might be brought down, but the negroes could
not be lifted to much higher plane than they
now occupied. He had been close observer
of the influence of slavery on the enterprise
and welfare of the country, and through a long
life, had deplored its effects, and himself had
given freedom to his own slaves, and wished
them and their fellows in Africa or elsewhere
than in the United States. He was fully con-
vinced that the two races could not live and
thrive in social proximity. The result of any
attempt to place them on terms of equality
would be strife, contention and vicious pop
ulation, as in Mexico. The whites might be
debased, but the blacks could not be elevated,
even by the disgusting process ofmixed breeds,
which was repugnant to nature and to our
moral and better instincts. He therefore
wished system of deportation to accompany
any scheme Of emancip patton. These were al
so the Presidents views.
"Mr. Seward, without expressing an opin-
ion on the merits of the question, thought it
would be we'll to postpone the whole subject
to more auspicious period. If the procla-
nation were issued now, it would be received
and considered as despairing cry-a shrek
from and for the Administration, rather than
for freedom. The President instantly felt and
appreciated the force and propriety of the
suggestion. We had experienced serious dis
asters Important results were in the imme.
diate future; high hopes were entertained
from army operations under Halleck and
Pope, who had just taken the direction of
military affairs. The President at once closed
his portfolio and suspended his proclamation
and all further proceedings on the subject of
emancipation. I do not recollect that it was
again alluded to in Cabinet until after the
battle of Antietam, which took place on the
7th of September-six weeks later"
As the disasters of the army under McClel-
Ian were not retrieved by Pope and Halleck,
the subject was not reconsidered until after
the battle of Sharpsburg, when the prelimi-
nary proclamation was issued. On that oc.
casion "he expressed the sense Of the RESPONSE
bility he was taking, both to himself and the
country. 1t had oppressed him"-and we'll it
might. 1t was the subversion of the Consti-
tuition. Mr. Wells calls it: "A despotic act
in the cause of the Union, and may add, Of
freedom" We realize to-day the sort of free
dom the despotic act has inaugurated. But
there was more in that act than any other in
our history. 1t was the first act Of conhsca-
tion of property-and the evils thereof will be
seen and felt for thousand years.
After the proclamation was issued Mr.. Lin
coin was earnest in his efforts to inaugurate
scheme for deporting the negroes. He consid-
cred deportation an integral part of bis eman-
cipation scheme, and he adhered to it till his
death. This, however, failed, and, it may be,
to the injury of both races.
Says Mr.. Wells: "Following the prelimi.
nary proclamation, and, as part of the plan,
was the question of deporting and colonizing
the colored race. This was part ofthe Pres
ident's scheme, and had occupied his mind
some time before the project of emancipation
was adopted, although the historians, biogra.
pliers and commentators have made slight, if
any, allusion to it. The President, however,
and portion of his Cabinet considered them
and that deportation should &C.
and be part Of the emancipation
1t will be source of eternal regret that
the author of this great and revolutionary
measure did not live to regulate its results.