Page:The Clansman (1905).djvu/63

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
A Clash of Giants
47

religion, and system of government under conditions in which he can rise to the full measure of manhood. This he can never do here. It was the fear of the black tragedy behind emancipation that led the South into the insanity of secession. We can never attain the ideal Union our fathers dreamed, with millions of an alien, inferior race among us, whose assimilation is neither possible nor desirable. The Nation cannot now exist half white and half black, any more than it could exist half slave and half free."

"Yet 'God hath made of one blood all races,'" quoted the cynic with a sneer.

"Yes—but finish the sentence—'and fixed the bounds of their habitation.' God never meant that the Negro should leave his habitat or the white man invade his home. Our violation of this law is written in two centuries of shame and blood. And the tragedy will not be closed until the black man is restored to his home."

"I marvel that the minions of slavery elected Jeff. Davis their chief with so much better material at hand!"

"His election was a tragic and superfluous blunder. I am the President of the United States, North and South," was the firm reply.

"Particularly the South!" hissed Stoneman. "During all this hideous war, they have been your pets—these rebel savages who have been murdering our sons. You have been the ever-ready champion of traitors. And you now dare to bend this high office to their defence——"

"My God, Stoneman, are you a man or a savage!" cried the President. "Is not the North equally respon-