The Alternative: A Separate Nationality; or, The Africanization of the South — John Shaqi
The Alternative: A Separate Nationality; or, The Africanization of the SouthHolcombe, William H. (William Henry)
History
The Alternative: A Separate Nationality; or, The Africanization of the South
Holcombe, William H. (William Henry)
Secession; Slavery -- United States; United States -- Politics and government -- 1857-1861
To the professed Abolitionists, that motley crew of men who should be
women and of women who should be men; who see in Fred Douglass a hero
and in John Brown a martyr, whose venom is proportioned to their
ignorance, as some animals are said to be fiercest in the dark; and who
are ready to perpetrate the blackest crimes in the name of liberty and
under the garb of virtue, we have _nothing_ to say.
The Republican party itself, the best and the worst of it, we charge
with having outraged our feelings, violated our rights, and initiated a
policy which, if carried out, will be destructive of our liberties. It
is not an election but a usurpation, and if we acquiesce, we are not
citizens but subjects. The forms of constitutional liberty may have been
observed, but the spirit of tyrannic dictation has been the presiding
genius of the day. Suppose the people of the North were to repeal their
obnoxious laws, to confirm and abide by the decision of the Supreme
Court, to divide the territories in an equitable manner, and to
recognize the equality as well as the Union of the States, what and
where would the Republican party be? Dissipated into thin air, dissolved
like an empty pageant, not leaving a trace behind. With the Republican
party, therefore, as it exists at this hour we have no parley. If it
questions us, we have no reply, but the words of the gallant Georgian.
"Argument is exhausted, we stand to our arms."
To the conservative men of the North, who sacrificed their time,
treasure, interest and popularity in our behalf, and who have proffered
their blood in our defence, we have no language which can truly express
the gratitude of our hearts. Generous and faithful spirits! Stand
bravely a little longer in the imminent deadly breach, which is yawning
between the North and the South, and stay, if it yet be possible, the
bloody hand of fanaticism. Raise your eloquent voices once more for
equality and fraternity, for justice and union. If it prove in vain, as
alas! it will, keep firm at least to your principles and your faith;
work without ceasing as a leaven of good in your infatuated communities;
infuse into the contest before us some chivalric element, worthy of
yourselves and of us, which, if the worst comes, shall mitigate the
horrors of war, and hasten the returning blessings of peace. When we
think of you in the future, we will forget the violence of individuals
and the disloyalty of State governments; we will forget the calumnies of
Sumner and Phillips and Giddings, the blasphemies of Emerson and Cheever
and Beecher, and the vile stings and insults of the aiders and abettors
of thieves and assassins; we will willingly forget them all, and entwine
you tenderly in our memories and affections, with the immortal friends
and compatriots of our own revolutionary sires--with Otis and Warren,
and Hancock and Putnam, and Wayne and Hamilton and Franklin. And in the
fearful troubles which may come also upon your fragment of this
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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