‘ [124] nothing. In other words,—as in your own country,—universal suffrage will be hard to win and to hold without a general preparation of feeling and sentiment. But it will come, both at the South and with you; yet only by a struggle on the part of the disfranchised, and a growing conviction of its justice, “in the good time coming.” With the abolition of slavery in the South, prejudice or “colorphobia,” the natural product of the system, will gradually disappear—as in the case of your West India colonies—and black men will win their way to wealth, distinction, eminence, and official station. I ask only a charitable judgment for President Lincoln respecting this matter, whether in Louisiana or any other State.’1In the closing numbers of the Liberator volume, Mr. Garrison laid stress on the grave problems involved in the reconstruction of the rebellious States, at the hands of2 Congress, and on the duty of securing the enactment of the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. For this3 Amendment the President, in his Message to Congress, made an earnest plea, and solemnly renewed his vow never to retract or modify his Proclamation, or to return to slavery any person emancipated by its terms, or by any of the acts of Congress. ‘If the people should,’ he added,4 ‘by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to reenslave such persons, another, not I, must be their instrument to perform it.’ Once more the expediency of consolidating the Liberator and Standard was privately considered, the everincreasing cost of paper making it difficult to sustain
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1 Another indictment, constantly reiterated, against Mr. Lincoln was his assent to the Labor System established in Louisiana by General Banks, who was accused of having forced the freedmen back under their old masters and reduced them to a state of serfdom scarcely better than slavery. Mr. Garrison refused to accept these assertions until he could investigate the matter, and it subsequently appeared that they were altogether unjust and exaggerated. The Labor System, which insured employment at fair wages to the men, and provisions and shelter for their families, saved hundreds from the demoralization and death which decimated them when they swarmed about the Union camps; and the Educational System, which went hand in hand with it, gave instruction to more than 11,000 children. Both departments were under the charge of radical abolitionists and friends of Mr. Garrison, Major B. Rush Plumly of Philadelphia, and Rev. Edwin M. Wheelock of New Hampshire (Lib. 34: 155, 160, 181, 182; 35: 30, 34).
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