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“Without the civil war?”
“Assuredly, without the civil war. Yea, more.
If we regard the question as a whole — the Negro's life in freedom as well as his life in bondage-the problem might have been solved sooner without the war than with the war. Neither the Black League nor the White League need have troubled the United States.
Moral emancipation would have come through moral means, and in a time of peace, with all good men disposed to make the best of it. Military emancipation came on us as a shock, occurring in a time of war, and sending up, in sullen rancour, some of the blackest passions of the human heart.
What has the war done?”
“Destroyed slavery.”
“Excuse me — the war has destroyed freedom.
Where is the Republic now?
Where is the commonwealth conceived for us by Franklin, left to us by Washington?
Shall we seek it in New Orleans, in Vicksburg, in Richmond?
Where is our boast of local self-government justified to-day?
”
At day-break, starting to my feet and peering through my cabin-window, I see a trail of land in the distance, with a fringe of forest trees, funereally
1875.
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