Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-07-31
UNEFICATEON.

When the South decided to throw OIL
the allegiance she owed to the conslltu-
ton and laws of the United States, and
establish a government upon the prlncl-
pies of human slavery, as its corner
stone. one of the first men selected by
her to conduct her military operations
was General Beauregard, and during the
five wears that the war lasted, no man
stood higher in her military counsels
than he, and no man has, since the war,
shown more determined good faith in
his acceptance of the situation, and
earnest labor to bring back his unhappy
country to its former prosperity and
glory as an integral part of the best gov
eminent on the face of the earth.
We are aware that the last movement
of the distinguished General of the Con-
federacy, has thrown many conservative
people in all parts of the country into
spasms, while others express a lively in
terest as to the exact amount of ''equal-
ity," which is to be conceded to the col
ored race in this new unifcation move
ment, and even the hOnored chairman
Of the Louisiana meeting, that gave eX-
preston to this movement, felt war
ranted in giving an equiyocal answer to
the inquiry of an opponent as to whether
che would send his children to school
with colored children" The previous
directness and honesty of Gen. Beaure-
gard in all his public expressions of
policy, both while he was leading the
rebel armies, and since he has been en-
deavoring to reconstruct the distracted
and impoverished Southern States, leads
us to suppose that he proposes and is adj
vocating the abolition of all distinctions
on account of color in good faith, as a
practical measure for the white people
of the South as well as the negroes, and
we trust that the time will soon come
when all its advocates will give candid
affirmative answer to the inquiry as to
whether they will practice what they
preach.
Mr.. Groesbeck, in his famous letter,
recently published, says 'sNegro suf-
frage is the bloody consummation of a
great war, and nothing short of war can
undo it in our day" The people of the
South are made painfully conscious that
the old political superiority of white
men has passed away, and that the col
ored man has political rights which they
are bound to respect. Now, as we UNI
derstand this unifcation movement, it
means just this, that as the negro must
be the political equal of the white man,
that he be made the social equal, and
that TO bring about this great union of
the people of the South, the public
schools be the first to be relieved from
these class distinctions. This is move
in the right direction, for when the chill
dren of the South have been educated
upon terms of equality in the same
schools, and the colered boy comes to
his manhood and assumes the rights of
citizenship, conscious of being the peer
of his pale faced associates in Education
and culture, as well as in natural and le-
gal rights, he viii refuse to take a lower
social position than his merit entities
him to maintain. There will always be
social distinctions, founded on thediffer-
ent habits and requirements of individ-
uals; those of kindred tastes, naturally
becoming associates. But we hope to
see the time when the accidents of birth
or the color of ones skin will cease to
be the criterion by which social standing
is guaged. Equality of rights should
carry with it an equality of opportuni-
ties. We have faith in the sincerity of
Beauregard and his white allies in this
reform, and we believe that the colored
race win be only too anxious to accept
this measure, and by the immediate in
stitution of course of training and ed
ucation, prepare the coming generation
for a social as well as political equal
ity.