that did not commend itself to the com- this continent, as their chief peculiarity, good word again; but it must stand out FAITH IN MAN. They got their idea out from among the people, as did the leper of the New Testament, a very good under the old Jewish law, until it got place to get ideas out of. They measured well. Our democratic principles had man by God's standard, considered him shaped our policy and our social with respect to his possibilities, not by customs. Nowhere else in the world what education might have made him. did professionalism law, divinity, With them, man was a being to be learning-aristocracy of every kind, developed a creature requiring two find itself compelled to do obeisance to summers to ripen-time and eternity. the people. Here nothing could stand From this belief sprung another faith, the capacity of man to receive education. It had formerly been the custom "All these results sprung from the of legislators and teachers of mankind great radical idea of faith in man. Some to believe that man must be restrained; imagined that a few men were responthat it was unsafe to trust him with sible for all the disturbance created in liberty. Our fathers believed that man our politics, and believed that if a few was more safe in proportion as he was agitators were shot, everything would more free and more fully developed. move quietly on in the old grooves. Without education they regarded man As well might they think of draining as a man and animal, with the animal the ocean dry by corking up a few on top. It was education that placed springs among the Alleghanies. the two parts of his nature in their proper relation, making the true Christian centaur. "The education of mankind had redeemed labour from the realm of muscle. Brain-work exalted labour to a dignity never before known. He who had learned to work, first through the head and then through the hand, had redeemed himself from drudgery. "The Jews had believed that God was the father of all mankind in Judæa, and there were some among us, who believed that God had an especial regard for the Anglo-Saxon. He believed that "It was the want of faith in man that God was the father of all mankind. had been the greatest weakness of the For ages God had stood almost alone South. There they had believed in on the side of humanity. Our fathers learning, in endowments, in adventitious had believed the best way to educate manhood, but had shown no faith in man a man was to let him learn to govern as God made him-simply as men they himself. The exercise of our civil had a thorough contempt for him. The functions has been to us a constant result of their belief had been seen in process of education. Speaking of our the issue of a great war. If God had fundamental principles of civil polity, made a proclamation two centuries ago he said he could scarcely think of any that the opposing principles of faith in other word than democracy. That had man and the want of it should be fairly been a good word once until it was tested side by side, their respective smitten with leprosy. It would be a merits could not have been more forcibly i illustrated. The speaker here showed that the section wherein labour was despised, and wherein the capacity of men for improvement was ignored, had enjoyed the finest natural advantages and should have outstripped the other. Like two knights, the rival forces and principles had grappled with each other, and the white knight had ground the black knight to powder. It was simply impossible that men despising labour and debasing humanity should compete successfully with men breathing the atmosphere of freedom. SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” And, whereas, it appears from official docu. ments on file in this Department, that the Amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the Legislatures of the States of Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Ne "The speaker went on to urge in eloquent language the necessity of carrying the fundamental principles of West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Republican liberty into all our political action. We must give the freed-man his rights: the right of person and property; the rights of labour as they are enjoyed on the prairies of Illinois. Liberty must be to the black man what it is to the white man. "The speaker glanced at the objects of the Commission, and in conclusion drew a hopeful picture of the future in the South.' vada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, WisHampshire, Connecticut, South Carolina, Alaconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, Arkansas, New bama, North Carolina, and Georgia, in all twenty-seven States: And, whereas, the whole number of States in the United States is thirty-six: States, whose Legislatures have ratified the And, whereas, the before specially named said proposed Amendment, constitute threefourths of the whole number of States in the United States: Now, therefore, be it known that I, WILLIAM ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE U. S. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State of the United OF AMERICA.-DEC. 18, 1865. PROCLAMATION. States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second section of the act of Congress approved the To All to Whom these Presents May Come, 20th of April, 1818, entitled "An Act to proGreeting: Know ye, that, whereas, the Congress of the United States, on the 1st of February last, passed a resolution, which is in the words following, namely: "A resolution submitting to the Legislatures of the several States a proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States: vide for the publication of the laws of the United States and for other purposes," do hereby certify that the Amendment aforesaid HAS BECOME VALID TO ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES AS A PART OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the DepartResolved, By the Senate and House of Re-ment of State to be affixed. Done at the City presentatives of the United States of America, of Washington, this 18th day of December, in in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several the year of our Lord, 1865, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 90th. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Sec. of State. Correspondence. PLAN FOR GIVING PROTECTION TO THE pensable to the permanent prosperity of the entire country. Resolved, that in view of the fact that efforts by private enterprise to draw capital and intelligent labour to the Southern States, must in their results be remote and contingent, and however ultimately useful they may be, cannot be relied upon materially to increase the agricultural products of next year, or even for several years to come, it is vitally important to interests of the nation that the Government should, within the sphere of its legitimate powers, aid forthwith in sustaining and organizing such portion of the labouring classes now in the Southern States, as cannot be reached by private capital, not only on the ground of a considerate humanity, but also to save their labour to themselves and to the country." Mr. Tobey in support of these resolutions said: "Nearly the same working population which raised the four millions of bales of cotton and other products in 1860, is now there to plant and raise the crops of 1866. How can this labour be made available so as to affect the productions of 1866? Let private capital, so far as it exists in the South, or to the extent to which it can be transferred there from the North, or elsewhere, by adequate wages, stimulate the labouring classes, and a much greater and more general response will be made than has been supposed. But capital, as already observed, is greatly depressed in Resolved, that the commercial and financial the Southen States, and as it is seldom placed interests of the United States alike demand by its possessors where society is disorganized that speedy and efficient measures be and life and property comparatively unproimmediately employed to organize and tected by a stable and efficient government, develope industry in the Southern States, it cannot be presumed that it will seek investin order to increase the production of ment in Southern property in the present their staples, and especially of cotton. unsettled condition of society there to an Resolved, that while we recognize the fact amount materially to affect the crops of next that the causes and principles which more year, when in other portions of our country or less affect the ability of the banks to so great inducements offer in the developement redeem their circulation in specie are of mineral wealth and the various branches of various, the quantity of cotton raised in industry, which have already made profitable this country must in a degree determine returns to a degree without a parallel in the the time when specie payments can be history of this or of any other country. This safely resumed, and that to hasten that deficiency in capital and the protection and time is the part of sound political economy organization of labour now there, can be and a wise statesmanship, and is indis-measurably, and perhaps I may add in a "Whereas by the recent civil war, many of the Southern States have become greatly desolated, and a large part of their capital destroyed; and no inconsiderable portion of the labouring classes are destitute of employ. ment, whose labour, unless now aided by capital, must be lost to the country. L great degree, provided by government, and at the present moment by it only-and this being done to meet the present emergency and as a temporary measure, private capital will soon follow order and security, attracted by low prices of land, a supply of reliable labour, and high prices of product. Happily for the country, congress at its last session created an agency and a power which in the hands of the President may do much towards accomplishing these most important objects through the operations of the Freed-men's Bureau, as a military branch of the government." After giving an outline of the plan for "protecting alike the labourer and the employer in their respective rights of contract, and otherwise until the States shall be in a condition to adopt a similar policy," Mr. Tobey adds: “No part of the country can have a greater interest in the results and advantages of such a method of action as has been proposed than the people of the South, and it is to be hoped that a candid and comprehensive view of the subject will lead them to welcome such reports on the part of the government. Security to life and property in these States is the first condition indispensably necessary to their future developement and prosperity. Southern people freely allege that it is their desire to interest northern capital and co-operation in the work of repairing the desolation of war and in promoting their commercial and agricultural enterprises. Can it then be the part of wisdom and of sound policy to await the slow process of immigration of white labourers, which it must require many years to gather in sufficient numbers largely to affect productions, and in the meantime allow a considerable proportion of the labourers now on the spot, where they are acclimated and have been trained from childhood to the pursuits of agriculture in the South, to perish, and their labour to be lost, merely from want of power or disposition to make temporary provision for them, and to employ measures to secure their industry?" occupies a high position in the commercial world, and as a Christian philanthropist and senator commands the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens. Whatever may be the fate of his proposals it is to his honour to have submitted them for practical adoption. His example is worthy of imitation. Too much conceit and affectation, there is reason to fear, have sometimes mingled with our benevolent operations. A philanthropic mission is proposed in haste-the worthy delegates pack up their trunks in a few hours-start for the scene of oppression or distress-raise a fund-publish a pamphlet or a volume--and reap the glory, such as it is, of their rapid excursion. We want more forecast, greater patience, and a single and steady aim to do the work thoroughly, with perfect indifference to the opinions of superficial and sanguine men. I hope you observe attentively what the British Quarterly says of Jamaica and the negro-"It is worth our while to study his nature and needs thoroughly; for the negro will hang to our skirts inevitably, and be the source of our most grave embarrassments, if we cannot lift him and set him by our side. Other coloured races with which the ever-widening sweep of our empire has brought us into contract seem likely, alas! to spare us the solution of the difficult problem which the negro forces on us. The New Zealander, the South Sea Islander, the American Indian, wither slowly before our advancing steps. The breath of our civilization wastes them; the most earnest and strenuous efforts fail to arrest the steady progress of decay. But nothing withers the negro. He can live with us, and multiply, and can retain his careless, joyous nature under the yoke of the sternest toil. It needs surely no prophet's eye to foresee that God is nursing the race for a great future, and that substantially our work is to train them for the possession and civilization of some of the fairest tropical regions of the earth." We must welcome light from every quarter to ascertain the real facts and to arrive at sound principles. Unless we do this, our labours will be It is not within my province to pronounce a judgment on a question of political economy, in vain. but nothing can shake my conviction that the course of sound commercial prosperity the track of justice to humanity. Mr. Tobey in I am Sir, Yours faithfully, London, January 12th, 1866. Fred. Tomkins, Esq., M.A., D.C.L. Dear Sir.-I fear, that through misapprehension, my remarks made at the Manchester Meeting, and reported in the January No. of the "Freed-Man," may prove detrimental to the cause of the Freed-men, in this country. I am reported as having said "The slave was perfectly able to take care of himself, for had, during the last two hundred years, supported not only himself, but his master, and his master's children." I used substantially the words thus reported, but I connected immediately with them, the qualifying words not reported, "Give him compensated labour." By giving this explanation a place in the "Freed-man," you will much oblige, Very respectfully yours, ALBERT L. POST. COLONIZATION. To the Editor of the "Freed-Man.” Sir,--The negro haters in the United States, and their allies on this side of the Atlantic are now doing all they can to prove the negro unfit for freedom. Among other devices our old enemy "Colonization" seems destined to another revival. It is the custom of this foe to appear at intervals like "the famous Sea Serpent." I have no word of objection to offer against free emigration either for white or black men, if they emigrate of their own free will. But I do oppose any coercion or This may be inferred, but I think it of too much importance to be left to a mere inference. I wish, in all that I have to say upon the sub-pressure of any kind which in the least forces ject, as meaning, that the slave on becoming free, loses none of his ability to take care of himself. The Freed-men of America are just as able now to work as when they were slaves, and far more willing. Their former masters, to a great extent, are either unable or unwilling to compensate them for their labours. Here is the ground for the Freed-man's suffering, and the reason for furnishing him aid. This case is by no means that of the lazy pauper who is likely to starve or perish, because he will not work. Permit me here to introduce an extract from the inaugural address of the Hon. Charles J. Jenkins, recently chosen Governor of Georgia. I copy from the N. Y. Weekly Tribune of 30th December, ultimo. anyone to live anywhere, but in the locality which their own head and heart dictates. Still more will I oppose colonization, when this pressure grows out of hatred to an oppressed race, or because a dominant race has neither the moral courage, nor the justice to do as they would like to be done by. I well know the other side of the question: that there are honest men, some whowish well to the negro, and who think it would elevate his hated race if they could build up a Republic for themselves. But it will be proved in the long run, in fact the only sound policy which will bo effective, and the only way to really elevate any oppressed race is to bring them within the influence of the most civilized races. And this is particularly true of races long enslaved. "Since the fiat of emancipation, although This has long been the opinion of the most sometimes unsettled in his purposes, and in- eminent friends of the negro on both sides of consistent in his services by contract (the the Atlantic, and history also gives abundant natural result of a transition so thorough and proof of the result. Never until our friends as so sudden) I take you to witness, that in the well as our enemies understand and act upon main his conduct has been praiseworthy beyond the principle which underlies this essential all rational expectation The fidelity fact and to which they may add another fact of the negroes in the past, and their decorum of much importance, that coloured men and under the distressing influences of the present, women desire to be treated according to their are without a parallel in history, and estab-intellectual and moral worth, or in other words lish for them a strong claim upon our favouring patronage." Surely no better proof than this need be giving to any person to convince him that the Freed-men of America, are worthy objects of sympathy and aid. without any reference to their complexion, exactly the same as any white person would be treated when placed in similar circumstances. Until this is done no real advance to their advantage can be made. The spirit |