118. CXVIII.
AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE JUST BEFORE THE
OCTOBER ELECTIONS.
Post Offis, Confedrit × Roads, }
(wich is in the Stait uv Kentucky),
October 1, 1866.
President Johnson, who hez bin likened to Androo Jaxson,
and wich, since my appintment I conseed him to be, in many
partikelers, his sooperior, requested me and William H. Seward
(his secretary and chaplin) to draw up and publish to the Democracy
of the various States holdin elecshuns this fall an address,
or ruther an appeal, firmly beleevin that hed he extendid
his tour to Maine, and isshood an address to em, that that
State wood not hev gone ez it did. William refoozed to take
part in the appeal, sayin that it warnt uv no use, and so the
dooty devolved upon me.
Democrats and Conservatives uv the North:
Appresheatin the gravity uv the isshoo, I address yoo. The
signs uv the times is ominus. A Radikle Congress, electid
durin the time when the Southin States, wich comprises reely
all the intellek uv this people, didn't take no part in the elekshen,
bein too bizzy gettin out uv Sherman's way to open polls,
— a Congress, I repeat, in which there ain't no Southern man,
and wich consekently kant, by any stretch uv the human
imaginashen, be considered Constitooshnel, hez dared to thwart
the President uv the United States, and set up its will agin
hisn! I need skarcely recount its high-handed acts uv usurpashen.
It passed a bill givin rites to niggers, wich, accordin to
Scripter (see Onesimus, Ham, and Hagar, the only three texts
in Scripter uv any partikeler account) and the usages uv the
Democrisy, ain't got no rites; and the President, exercisin the
high prerogatives put into his hands by the Constitooshen,
vetoed it. Here the matter shood hev endid. He hed expressed,
in a manner strikly Constitooshenel, his objecshens to
the measure; and a proper regard for his feelins, and just
deference for his opinions, ought to hev indicated the right
course. Here wuz peace offered this Congress. Here wuz
the tender uv a olive branch. The President didn't want a
quarrel with Congres; he didn't desire a continuance uv the
agitation wich hed shook the country like a Illinois ager; but
he desired Peece. Congres cood hev hed it hed they only
withdrawed their crood noshens uv what wuz rite and what
wuz wrong; ratified, ez they shood hev done, sich laws ez the
President saw fit to make: in short, hed they followed the
correct rool when we hev a Demokratic President, and put the
Government in his hands, with an abidin trust in his rectitood
and wisdom, we mite hev avoided this struggle, and thus wood
hev bin peaceful. But this reckless Congris, bent upon concentrating
power in its hands instid uv dividin it between him
and Seward, passed the bill over his head, regardlis uv his
feelins! The responsibility for the dissension rests, therefore,
with Congres.
But these questions are altogether too hefty for the Demokratic
intellek, and I fling em out for the considerashen uv
the few Post Masters we got from the Union ranks. To the
Dimocrisy I address myself more partickerlerly.
Do you want to Marry a Nigger? This ishoo is agin
before yoo. Are you in favor uv elevatin the Afrikin to a
posishen where he kin be yoor ekal, or perhaps yoor sooperior?
That ishoo is agin before yoo for yoor decision, only the danger
to yoo is increased. The matter has become threatening; for,
disgise it ez we may, thousands uv em kin read, and they are
accumulatin property, and wearin good clothes to a extent
trooly alarmin to the Dimokratic mind. We hev alluz consoled
ourselves with the soothin reflection that there wuz a race
lower down in the scale uv humanity than us uns. Shall we
continue to enjoy that comfort? That's the question for every
Dimokrat to consider when he votes this fall. Remove the
weight uv legal disability, and ten to one ef they don't outstrip
US even, and then where are we goin to look for a race to look
down upon? It's a close thing atween us now; and ez we uv
this generation can't elevate ourselves, why, for our own peace
uv mind, we must, — I repeet it, — MUST pull them down.
Agin then I repeet, Do you want to Marry a Nigger?
Yoor daughters wunst carried banners onto wich wuz inskribed
that trooly Dimokratic motto, “White husbands or none!” and
in consequence they've bin mostly livin in the enjoyment uv
none. Are they to go back on that holy determinashen to
preserve the Anglo Sackson race on this continent in its
purity? Do yoo want the nigger — the big buck nigger —
the flat-footed nigger — the woolly-headed nigger — the long-heeled
nigger — the bow-legged nigger — the Nigger — to step
up aside uv yoo, and exercise the prerogatives uv freemen in
this country? Do you want the nigger aforesed to be mayors
uv your towns, with all the hatred they hev towards us? Wat
chance, O Dimokratic dweller in cities! think yoo yoo'd hev if
hauled up afore a nigger mayor on a charge uv disorderly conduct?
Wat chance wood yoor children hev in a skool uv wich
all the teechers wuz niggers? Wat chance wood yoo hev wen
arrestid for small misdemeanors, afore nigger judges? How,
let me ask, in the name uv High Heaven, wood yoo like to be
tried for hoss stealin afore a nigger jury?
“But,” say some uv yoo, who, set ravin by drums, and flags,
and sich, went off violently into the war, and wuz, perhaps,
saved from starvin by niggers, “these niggers wuz our friends
in the late war — they fought agin the South!”
O, wat a deloosion! O, wat blindnis! Troo, they did; and
that shows the danger that's afore us; that lifts the fog from
the precipice onto wich we are standin, and shows us our
danger. Wat does this fact prove? It proves the onreasonableness
uv the Nigger — his discontentednis with the posishen
to wich nacher assigned him, and his cussid disposition to
upset the normel condition. The Bible makes him a servant
unto his brethren (see Ham, Hagar, and Onesimus, three
blessed texts). Science proves him to be, not a man, but a
beast; and so, take him ez we may, either ez our brother or ez
a beast, — and Dimocrisy, with that liberality wich hez always
distinguished it, gives every man his choice wich theory to
take, — his condition is servitood. But he, with a cussidness,
a perversity wich I never cood understand, flies into the face
uv the Divine decree, flies into the face uv science, and asserts
his independence! He turned agin them ez hed fostered him;
turned agin, in many instances, his own parents (in these
instances, for convenience, the parents adopted the brethren
theory), and for an abstract idea fought agin em. That restlessness
under bonds alarmed the Dimocratic mind. We who
owned em under the Skripter (see Onesimus, Hagar, and Ham),
and under the eternal laws uv scientific trooth, wuz content
with the arrangement, and why shood they not hev bin?
Things wuz normal. They worked, and we eat; and ef they
hed bin content with this ekitable division uv the labor uv life,
all wood hev bin smooth to-day.
Their takin part agin us at the South, and in favor uv the
Federals, is, instead uv a coz uv feelin good toward em, a
source uv oneasiness; instid uv bein a reason for elevatin uv
em, it's my principal reason for depressin uv em. Sich
onsettled minds shood be quieted; this itchin to raise theirselves
shood be crushed out uv em, that Science and Holy
Writ (see Onesimus, Hagar, and Ham) may be vindicated.
Shel we desert Androo Johnson, after all the trouble he hez
bin to in gettin back to us? Shel we elect a Congres this fall
so soaked in Ablishin — so filled with objeckshuns to our
Southern brethren, ez to refooze to receive em back into the
seats which they vacated? Consider! The Southern Dimokracy
hevn't, and don't, lay up nothin agin yoo. They are
willin to forgive and forget. They failed, but they are willin
to forgiv the cause uv the failyoor. They hevn't got the government
they wanted, but they find no fault with that, but are
willin to take charge of the wun they hev bin compelled to
live under. Kin they offer fairer? The fate uv war wuz
agin em. Buryin all hard feelins, they extend to us Chrischen
charity, and say, Here we are — take us — give us our old
places. They hev bin chastened. Their household gods hev
bin destroyed, and their temples torn down. Wun neighbor
uv mine lost two sons in the Confedrit army; another son,
which he hed refoosed $1500 for in 1860, he wuz compelled to
shoot, coz he wuz bound to run away into the Federal army;
and two octoroons, which he hed a dozen times refoosed $2500
for, each, in Noo Orleans, he saw layin dead on the steps uv a
skool house in Memphis. Hez he suffered nothin? And yet
he is willin to take a seat in Congress — forgettin all he hez
suffered, and forgivin the cause thereof. What wickedness it
is wich would further bruise sich a broken reed!
Therefore, ez yoo love yourselves and hate the nigger, I implore
yoo to act. Take yoor choice uv the platforms uv the
different States — vote ez a Johnson Unionist, or ez a Democratic
Johnsonian — but vote.
Kentucky holds out her hands appealingly! Kentucky implores
yoo to build up a bulwark North uv the Ohio River to
save what little is left uv pure Dimocracy there! Kentucky
will back yoo in yoor endeavors. Will you heed her cry?
Shel she appeel in vain? Forbid it, Hevin!
Petroleum V. Nasby, P. M.
(wich is Postmaster).
