Dixie After the War: An Exposition of Social Conditions Existing in the South, During the Twelve Years Succeeding the Fall of Richmond — John Locke — John Shaqi
Dixie After the War: An Exposition of Social Conditions Existing in the South, During the Twelve Years Succeeding the Fall of Richmond
John Locke · en
To a committee of negroes waiting on him in the White House, August 14,
1862, Mr. Lincoln named colonisation as the one remedy for the race
trouble, proposing Government aid out of an appropriation which Congress
had voted him. He said: "White men in this country are cutting each
other's throats about you. But for your race among us, there would be no
war, although many men on either side do not care for you one way or the
other.... Your race suffers from living among us, ours from your
presence." He applied $25,000 to the venture, but it failed; New Grenada
objected to negro colonisation.
Two months before his visit to Richmond, some official (Colonel Kaye, as I
remember) was describing to him the extravagancies of South Carolina
negroes when Sherman's army announced freedom to them, and Mr. Lincoln
walked his floor, pale and distressed, saying: "It is a momentous
thing--this liberation of the negro race."
He left a paper in his own handwriting with Judge Campbell, setting forth
the terms upon which any seceded State could be restored to the Union;
these were, unqualified submission, withdrawal of soldiers from the field,
and acceptance of his position on the slavery question, as defined in his
proclamations. The movement gained ground. A committee in Petersburg,
headed by Anthony Keiley, asked permits to come to Richmond that they
might coöperate with the committee there.
"Unconditional surrender," some commented. "Mr. Lincoln is not disposed to
humiliate us unnecessarily," was the reassurance. "He promised Judge
Campbell that irritating exactions and oaths against their consciences are
not to be imposed upon our people; they are to be encouraged, not coerced,
into taking vows of allegiance to the United States Government; Lincoln's
idea is to make allegiance a coveted privilege; there are to be no
confiscations; amnesty to include our officers, civil and military, is to
be granted--that is, the power of pardon resting with the President, he
pledges himself to liberal use of it. Lincoln is long-headed and
kind-hearted. He knows the best thing all around is a real peace. He
wishes to restore confidence in and affection for the Union. That is
plain. He said: 'I would gladly pardon Jeff Davis himself if he would ask
it.'"