It is the fear
of this treachery which makes them so few as they are, and so weak. It
is these men whom we wish to see sustained, recognized as the loyal and
the new South, and aided in the work of reconstruction, when the
somewhat distant period for it to be safe and wise shall have arrived.
They are the men who will teach us wisdom, if we will follow their
advice; and they, be assured of it, will not clamor for any early and
thoughtless surrender of our present advantages, for fear of hurting the
sensibilities of the South by imposing a sense of 'subordination.' With
the agony of despair, such men would remonstrate against any such
suicidal policy, and entreat the Government of the United States and the
people of the North to stand by them in their great distress, through,
until the end. While writing, the following newspaper paragraph attracts
our attention, and is a fair expression of the truth we are seeking to
inculcate:
'The Hon. Silas Casey, of Kentucky, brings news of the most intense
feeling, on the subject of holding slaves in the Border States,
among Union men. They contend that the restriction in the
President's Proclamation has made Kentucky and Tennessee a
'national slave pen,' where slaves, fleeing from the 'confederate'
States, are bought and sold by the thousand.
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