Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/303

Rh stealing. Since the negro is no longer a slave and no longer costs a thousand dollars, his life is not deemed worth a wisp of straw. I have a list of the murders committed by Southern “gentlemen” upon negroes, which would enrage the people of the North, if I were to submit it to a mass-meeting there. If we were to remove our troops to-day, the Southern States would swim in blood to-morrow. I am expressing convictions based on experience, when I say, that the only high light in his dark picture is the conduct of the negro. Not only has the colored population passed from slavery to freedom without making a single attempt to take vengeance for past sufferings, but they are at this very moment engaged with laudable zeal in the effort to found for themselves a substantial future. Wherever a negro school is opened, it is full of children. It is delightful to see the little woolly-headed pickaninnies studying their spelling-books in the streets. The negroes are unjustly accused of not wishing to work. They are the only people here who do work. I have not seen one white man in the fields. Strangely enough, only the negroes have money; they are the only persons that do not shrink from any sort of remunerative labor.

If I can only make my main report, I shall open the eyes of the people of the North.

&emsp; In Vicksburg I spent two days with General Slocum, who had got into conflict with the governor of the State. He welcomed me as a rescuer in the hour of need. Slocum is entirely right in his opposition to the governor's plan to organize a State militia, especially of the proposed dimensions. If the Government disavows him and supports the governor, it will be the most unwarranted trick yet perpetrated at Washington. I did all that was possible in the way of reports and telegraphic despatches.