Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-02-26
The Southern Question.

horrors, and we must suffer the penalty for
our national sin. -Four years of civil war,
the splitting Of rivers Of blood, the prostra-
ton Of business, north aud south, the depre-
citation Of our currency to the extent, al
most, of national bankruptcy, the heavy bur-
den Of taxation which must be borne for
years to meet our national debts, these are
not enough to atone Tor the hundred years Of
bondage to which death was preferable
which we have inflicted upon the millions Of
slaves at the south. Nor will this genera
ton suffice for tie expiration of our national
crime, but the iniquities Of the fathers will
be visited upon the children to the third aud
fourth generation, in accordance with the de-
cree Of the scriptures.
Vermont has ever been known throughout
the Union as a friend Of universal liberty.
The escaped slave, fleeing from bis blood
thirsty and inhuman pursuers, if he could
reach Vermont soil felt that he had almost
reached freedom. The sons Of Vermont, in
sturdy defiance Of those inhuman slave laws
which they despised and hated, would give
the fugitive every facility for reaching free
SOIL and oppose every obstacle to the success
Of the officials representing the majesty of
the law" As the sin of Vermont in this
matter was slight, so is her share Of the pun
ishment slight, as compared with that of
those sister states at the South who for ten
years have lain PROSTATE aud bleeding, suf-
fering all the horrors of anarchy. 1t is diff
cult for US even approximately to appreciate
the condition of things at the South.
In portions the tables are so completely
turned that the former masters are persecu-
ted aud overrun by their former slaves
Tho ugh this is but just retribution for the
wrongs heretofore perpetrated by those who
formerly were masters, it is the duty now Of
every law-abding citizen to use whatever
power he may have for the preservation Of
law and order. In other cases the reverse
is true The former masters, through that
intelligence and education which they have
denied the negroes the privilege Of obtaining,
are able, though but q small minority, to
control the majority and inAict upon them
the prosecutions and burdens which it is the
duty of the laws, and oflaw-abiding citizens
to remove.
Before peace, quiet, and good order can
again reign in the South a work must be
done for which, we fear, one generation will
not suffice. The negroes who have just been
enfranchised have ever been denied the OPP
portunities of education, every precautioD
being taken to keep them in darkness and ig-
norance, because their masters realized that
knowledge is power" aud now we have the
influence thrown upon our national politics
Of an immense vote in the hands of persons
who can neither read nor write. That is the
principal effect which we at this distance
feel-the effect on our national politics. The
establishment Of freedmen's schools at the
South has been a step in the right direction,
negro to that intelligence which would have
been his had he not been deprived of the
privileges of education in the past. The pro-
posal, often made in political talk, to limit
the franchise to those who can read and
write, looks very plausible to us at this dis
lance, where probably not one man in hun
bred would be disfranchised thereby, but i'm
agine the effect it would have in the South
if the ballot, enjoyed for several years, were
now takena way from the vast army Of litter
ate negroes. The policy Of giving them the
privilege of the ballot without restricting it
to those who could read or write, looks in
deed questionable, but it is too late to amend
that matter. The establishment Of that re-
striction might look harmless enough here at
the North, but the negroes Of the South
could but regard it as direct move for their
oppression in the interest Of the formerslave-
owners, and instead of the restoration OF
peace and the ending Of scenes Of disorder
and bloodshed, so much to be desired, we
should have a state Of affairs similar to that
which has been witnessed in Ireland in the
hopeless struggles of an ignorant and dlsor-
ganized people against the wrongs and OPP
pressons OF powerful, intelligent, and thor
oughly organized nation. If the whites OF
the South suffer wrongs at the hands Of their
former victims, it is but the Just retribution
Of heaven visited upon the perpetrators Of
the most wicked, cruel, and defenceless oui.
rage upon fellow beings that has ever dis
graced a civilized land-human slavery,
But what are we to do? Well it seems
the best thing we at the North can do is to
attend to our own affairs, keep our carpet
baggers at home, and let the South take care
of herself. Manufactures already begin to
spring up there, and they are already be-
ginning to raise their own bread, instead OF
sending their cotton to New England to be
made into cloth and carrying the cloth back
for their own use, or buying their corn and
wheat from the Northwestern states. If the
South could be well rid of the Northern med
dlers who have stepped in and seized the
state governments saddling them with enor-
nous debts aud putting the proceeds into
their own pockets, with the ballot equally
open to the black man and the white man,
and the United States troops in sufficient
numbers and proximity to inspire the only
half conqSered rebels with due respect for
the national laws and the constitution, and
no more, we think that section Of the Union
will gravitatO as rapidly towards peace and
prosperity as might, under the Circumstance
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