The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-01-08
The South indicated by a IN
English nam.

York gave a reception co Hon. W. +.
Forster, member of the British Parliament
on the eve of his return to England after
a short trip through the United States.
Mr.. Forster was a warm sympathizer
with the abolitionists before the war, and
with the North in the late war; therefore
his testimony in behalf of the Southern
people is impartial and worthy of credit.
His father was a philanthropist, and
came to the South, before the war, and
visited all the Governors, with view OF
getting some plan on foot by which the
negroes could be made free, and while
engaged in this he died in Blount county,
East Tennessee. Hon. ". E. Forster, On
the occasion above referred to, made the
following remarks:
Il doubt whether there ever was civil
war, or any war which was waged with
greater destruction of life on each side,
with greater suffering, and may say with
greater courage, greater heroism, greater
endurance. And when | say that, don't
say on one side only, for your fellow
countrymen of the South showed that
they were Americans l might
say, that they were of English descent,
Applause. We know the courage with
which they fought was wasted on wrong
side; it was expended in what was indeed
a bad cause, but they did not think so.
They were in rebellion because of the
circumstances that surrounded them.
There was such fate and destiny hang
ing over them, and these men who were
fighting against the Union and fighting
for slavery thought, as they told me in the
South, that they were fighting for their
firesides, But not only was the war wag-
ed one of the greatest wars in the world
for the valor and heroism with which it
was waged, but there is another fact
which is brought home to me by the short
visit which have paid you, and that is
there never was a civil war which, | fully
believe, has left less hatred and less ran
cor behind it Applause; less hatred be-
tween the freedmen and their masters.
don't say that there is absolutely no i'll
feeling or ill-will left on the part of any of
the men in the South, or that what hap
pened to the men in the North has been
entirely wiped out of their memories; but
| do say this to the credit of our common
race, there was never contest that we
can find anywhere but itself, no civil war
for any length of time prosecuted that has
left so little of feeling of hatred on the
part of the cOmDatants, and has made it
so easy for them now to unite together.
and to be, as the President said, one
country, hardly remem berlng their diff
culties. Applause.l was introduced
last week by Federal General to Con-
federate General, on the floor of the
House. | heard, as | went through the
country, men who had been fighting in
different camps, talking over the battles
in which they had been opposed to each
other, and in fact was always told that
if there was any difficulty or disagree
ment left it was not between these who
fought, but rather between those who had
not fought. IA. laugh
THE MASTER AND THE SLAVE.
Well, sir. then as regards the master
and the Save, | do not deny that you have
a terrible problem-a most difficult
problem before you-the problem of deal
ing with the freedman, and considering
what the antecedents of slavery are, what
slavery made him--aye, what slavery
made his master, the problem of having
to deal with these men in their new con
ditiOns is one that may well call for al
the torbearance and all the wisdom of the
government, and politicians and people.
And even then, although do not mean
to say that you have not difficulties in the
present; that you have not difficulties per.
haps in the Immediate future; yet, even
then, you ought to be full of hope, for
great is the progress ofthe past. | am
not here to tell you what you yourselves
know so Euch better than do. 1t would
be presumptuOus on my part to put before
you the little experience | have learned
in this short and hasty tour have made
through your country, but ! must say that
20 h. ~ h.
intense interest in the fate and condition
of the freedmen have come from it with
a great feeling of hOpefulness, in spite of
every difficulty there may be at the pres
ent, and in the spite of every disturbance
we sometimes hear of and lament over,
that you will be really able to solve that
problem.
CONDITION OF THE SOUTH.
One or two little things which | noticed
in the South impressed me very favorably;
and though they may not be new to you,
they were details which very deeply i'm
pressed me. | went to sugar plGnta-
ton near New Orleans, and there | found
only two changes. One change was-the
slaves were free. But there | saw two
women and man working, and a white
man walking down the canes. He was
their foreman now; he had been their
overseer. He said that the freed-women
whom he had in the times of slavery to
drive to work with the lash cheerfully
earned their thirty dollars a month, with
rations for the men, and seventy-fve
cents day for the women, with rations.
That is fact you may set up against all
you hear from Nicksburg-and the Re
turning Board of New Orleans. Laugh
ter. Then again there was another lit
tie fact. | only mention it among thou
sands of such facts. In place in which,
a few years ago, it would have been a
crime to teach any cOlOred persons to
read we went to an excellent colored
school, and tie parents came with the
children, and we asked how many of
these had been slaves, and we ascertained
that almost every one of them had been.
And again, we asked how many had lit
tie bits of land, and large proportion of
them we found had little bits of land.
There again is progress in the past that
shows how really you are working out
the problem, and | believe, if | may be
allowed to say it, that all that is wanting
now is to leave matters very much to
and you will find the whites
and blacks, the masters and their slaves,
will accustom themselves to the new state
Of society, to the new position of the la
OOrer. There remains this most impor-
tant fact-a fact which is of importance
TO US as we'll as to you. Contrary to the
of the West Indies, the actual
amount of produce raised in the South, |
he actual crops that have been taken |
rom the soil, including cotton, rice and to- |
0accO is as great as it was before the abo- |
itien of slavery. Well, | must not detain
you with any extended remarks. [Cries of |
Go on, go on" I will mention one |
)ther fact that came before me when | |
vas there. Whenever l could | heard |
-our oratory-never missed speech, if |
Gould possibly help it, and l heard one
Eloquent gentleman responding to a well
.ome which was conveyed, not as con-
eyed to me tonight, but in the form of
Grenade. | cannot repeat his speech,
,ut there was one sentence in it which
truck me very much. He was returned,
believe, by the Democratic party at any
ate he was favorite Of the Democratic