Year: 1865

tious editor of the New ork Tribun,


in holding that the true policy, fol


the South as we'll as for the North


is embraced in these words, which


are evidently becoming stereotypcd


upon the whole liberal mind of the
country: Universal suffrage and uni.


versal amnesty The exercise of &


noble magnanimity toward the un-


fortunate South, such as Julius


Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, or a VIII


liam the Third of England would not


have been ashamed to own, is now


being advocated by many of the first
intellects in the North, and more
sound and manly reasoning, and


touching and elevated rhetoric, are


being expended in our behalf by our


new friends there than any occasion


has called forth for many years past.


Let us, beseech you, meet this gen


eral and unexpected display i'll a


kind and becomin Q manner. Let us


cast aside as unworthy Of us and of


the great interests which it is our


business to serve, all silly and af-


fected fastidiousness; all false pride;
all scheming and selfish dilatoriness;
and embrace the present opportunity
of reinstating ourselves in the dearly
priced rights of American citizenship,
and in building up anew the strength
and unity and true honor of our be-
loved America. Our true friends
and future allies in the North are
those who are now pleading in our
behalf for justice and for kindly
and polite forbearance as to the
past. If we fail not to be equal to
the demands Of the present critical
eXigency, We shall in few short
years at most find ourselves once
more happy, and safe, and prosper
Gus. For | am not among those
who at all doubt the complete sue
cess of the new system of labor now
being introduced in the South; nor
do | agree with those who appre-
hend any great injury of any kind
rs likely to arise from the proposed
extension Of the elective franchise to
both classes of our Southern popula-
ton alike. / doubt not at all that
with proper judgment, diligence and
thrift, Southern plantations will be
as prosperous under the new system
of agricultural labor as they ever
were under the old one; and l am
decidedly Of opinion that there will
be as little Of fraud and unfairness in
our elections hereafter in the South
ern States. and upor the whole as
judicious and beneficial an exercise
of the right Of suffrage, as there has
ever heretofore been. Demagognism
and corruption will not be more like
ly to obtain dangerous ascendancy
among us than in former days; and
since it is fixed fact, that persons
Of African descent are hereafter to
be free, it will be far better to make
friends. and neighbors, and brethren
of them, than to retain them in our
midst rs pariahs or helots. Our
true interest is in assimilating cur
whole Southern population in politi-
cal rights, III settlement, in mental
culture, in q just and afectionate
neighborship, and in q true and loyal
brotherhood. At any rate, this eX-
pertinent is proposed to us under
which do not permit
us safely to decline its trial; and we
shall be worse than madmen if We
reject the opportunity rendered to us
of at once escaping from the fearful
domination of military power, and
once more to the yenerated
right of trial by jury, the regular adj
of justice by civil tribu.
nails, and all the accustomed arrange |
ments known to state of republican
freedom.


i remain your friend and fellow
citizen, H. s. FooTE.