“The press and people here, with one voice, are loud in their
praise of President Johnson, for his wholesale manner of
dispensing pardons. But I have yet to see the first signs of
repentance on the part of those who have received clemency from
the Chief Magistrate of the Government. The existing feeling
is, that no man who did not support the Confederacy is worthy
of trust; and all offices are given to those who did their best
to break up the country. President Johnson will find in the end
that he has been too liberal in the exercise of clemency. And
unless he changes his course, or is checked by Congress, the
most corrupt men in the South will again get into power, and
sway the destinies of this section of the country.
…
“And until the labor question is adjusted between the
planters and the freedmen, we cannot look forward to a time
of prosperity. The indications at present are not favorable
to a satisfactory solution of this difficult problem. The
planters hate the negro, and the latter class distrust the
former; and while this state of things continues, there
cannot be harmonious action in developing the resources of
the country. Besides, a good many men are unwilling yet to
believe that the ‘peculiar institution’ of the South has been
actually abolished, and still have the lingering hope that
Slavery, though not in name, will yet in some form practically
exist. And hence the great anxiety to get back into the Union,
which being accomplished, they will then, as I have heard it
expressed, ‘fix the negro.’
…
“I look forward with deep solicitude to the approaching
session of Congress. I hope there will be strength and moral
courage enough in that body to keep the ship of state right.
The President has a difficult position to fill, and needs all
the sympathy and aid he can get from right-minded citizens.
But there is no question that he has been most sadly imposed
upon within the past few months by designing and corrupt
politicians.”
Another private letter, from a person so situated as to be accurately
informed, makes this painful report:--
“The Government, in taking the responsibility of freeing this
people, tacitly engaged to protect them in their freedom. The
various departments of Government have solemnly declared the
black man entitled to equal rights before the law with the
white man. Yet it is the simple fact, capable of indefinite
proof, that the black man does not receive the faintest shadow
of justice. I aver that in nine cases out of ten within my own
observation, where a white man has provoked an affray with
a black, and savagely misused him, the black man has been
fined for insolent language, because he did not receive the
chastisement in submissive silence, while the white man has
gone free. It is the simple truth that the most flagrant crimes
against the blacks are not noticed at all; and, indeed, a man
loses caste, if he interests himself about them.
“It is the simple truth that black men are not allowed to use
their own property to the best advantage, or in any way to make
such use of their capabilities as would be likely to elevate
them in social position.
…
“The above are but specimen facts, and they are facts. Every
provost-marshal who has been in office here will testify to the
truthfulness of the picture. Meantime companies are forming
to import coolies and European immigrants to drive the black
man from the little chance that is left him. The whole thing
may be summed up in one word: _The South is determined to have
Slavery,--the thing, if not the name._ And if all restraint
is removed, it is as certain as fate that their condition
will be far worse than it ever was before. It will be the old
system, with all its mitigations rescinded and all its horrors
intensified.
…
“The prospect for the coming winter is overwhelming in its
horrors, at best. If the freedmen are left friendless, it will
be the very valley of the shadow of death. Let Congress keep
these States out of the Union till the shape and tone of their
legislation is seen and understood as relating to freedmen, and
then keep them out until it is clearly shown whether the people
will obey the legislation or make it a dead letter from the
beginning.”