Year: 1866

ne Interview between the President and the


COlOred Delegation.


CHIcAeo, Feb. l2.-The interview between
the President and the eolOred delegation, on
Wednesday the 18th, was colloquial, and MY
hrst dispatch covered the substance Of it as re-
ported here. From full report Of the inter-
view In the NatiOadI {ntellgencer, filling two csl-
umns, take, the following: After the Presfdeut
had expressed dssiTe 10 do all things proper
and Just for the benefit OF the colored race, and
Il they could fnd no other Noses, be would be
tneir Noses, 10, lead them from land where
they had been in bondage to a land CT freedom,
ne said turning to Fred Douglas


Hare you lived en- plantation7


PPSSTTshasa hRHHT5f SG E9gE wits dEaTsSellsney


see man who had large family struggling
hard upon a poor piece of land, you thought
great deal less of him than of your own master2


D.-NO. H.


P.-Well, | know such was the case with o
large majority of you in those sections. When
such is the case we know there is ehmity-we
know there is hate. The poor white man, on
the other hand, was opposed to the slave and
his MASTER for the colored man and his master
combined and kept him in poverty, by depriviug
him of a fair participation in the labor and pro-
duetions of the country. The query comes up
then neither these two races, situated as they
were before the war, without preparation, with
out time for passion and excitement to be ap-
peased, and without time for the slightest inn
2royement, whether one should be turned loose
upon the other, and then thrown together at the
ballot-boX with this enmty and hate existing
between them, the query arises, if then we do
not commence war of races? | think l un-
derstand this question. Especially is this the
case when you force it upon a people without
their consent Now, where do you begin2 For
instance, Supposing Congress should pass law
authorizing election at which all over TWEEN
Il
shall be allowed to vote, and majority should
decide that the elective franchise should not be
universal, what would you de- who would
settle it2 Do you deny the first great principle
of the right of the people to govern thenselVes2
Will you resort to arbitrary power and say the
people shall receive state of things they are
opposed TOT


D.-That was said before the war.


P.-I am talking about a principle not about
what may have been said before the war.


D.-Apply what you have said, Mr., President,
to South Carolina, for instance.


P.-Suppose you go to South Carolina, sup
pose you 60 to Ohio. That does not change the
principle at all. Each community is to deter
mine the depository of its political power. 1t is
the fundamental trust of my creed that the will
of the people, when fairly expressed at the ball
lOt-box, must be Obeyed. Is there anything
wrong in that?


D.-A great deal of wrong.


Pit is the people of the States who must
| for thAnAaAlrAse AAtArInirR thA matter. l don't
want to be engaged ial h work thas will ooll.-
mence war of races. l want to begin the work
of reparation. l would that it were so that all
you advocate could be done in the twinkling Of
an eye, but it is not the nature Of things.
don't assume or pretend to be any wiser than
Providence or stronger than the laws OF nature.
D.-My own impression is, that the very thing
your Excelency would avoid in the extreme
Southern States can only be avoided by the very
measure we propose. l would state to my broth
er delegates, that because perceive the Presi-
dent has taken strong ground in favor of given
policy, and distrusting my own ability to remove
any Of these impressions which be has expressed,
| think we had better end the interview.


P-I think you will find, that so far as the
South is concerned, if you will all. incalculate
that idea in connection with the one you urge
that the eolored people can live and advance in
civilization to better advantage elsewhere, than
crowded together in the Southern States, it would
be better for them.


D.-But we cannot get away from the planta-
tions.


P.-If the master now controls in labor, would
he not control the vote. Let the negro once un-
derstand that he has an organic right to vote,
and he will raise up party in the Southern
States among the poor Who will rally with him


D.-There is a conflict that you speak Of be-
tween the ealthy STAKEHOLDER and poor man.


P-You touch the right point there. There
is conflict, and hence, l suggest emigration,
If the negro can't get employment in the Sontht
he has 1t In is power TO 60 where he can get1t
In parting the President said they both were de-
sirous Of accomplishing the same ends, but pro-
posed TO do so by travelling different routes.