Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/385

Rh which this question must be looked at in order to be appreciated in its most important bearings. I may state, without fear of contradiction, that, in every case where permission was asked for reorganizing the militia, the privilege or duty of serving in that armed organization was intended to be confined to the whites. In the conversations I had with Southern men about this matter, the idea of admitting colored people to the privilege of bearing arms as a part of the militia was uniformly treated by them as a thing not to be thought of. The militia, whenever organized, will thus be composed of men belonging to one class, to the total exclusion of another. This concentration of organized physical power in the hands of one class will necessarily tend, and is undoubtedly designed, to give that class absolute physical control of the other. The specific purpose for which the militia is to be reorganized appears clearly from the uses it was put to whenever a local organization was effected. It is the restoration of the old patrol system which was one of the characteristic features of the régime of slavery. The services which such patrols are expected to perform consist in maintaining what Southern people understand to be the order of society. Indications are given in several of the [originally] accompanying documents. Among others, the St. Landry and Bossier ordinances define with some precision what the authority and duties of the “chief patrols” are to be. The militia, organized for the distinct purpose of enforcing the authority of the whites over the blacks, is in itself practically sufficient to establish and enforce a system of compulsory labor without there being any explicit laws for it; and, being sustained and encouraged by public opinion, the chief and members of “county patrols” are not likely to be over-nice in the construction of their orders. This is not a mere supposition, but an opinion based upon experience