RECONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS.

SEWARD AND THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT.

CONTRIBUTED BY DUANE MOWRY, OF MILWAUKEE, WIS.

[The letter which follows exposes to public view the sentiments of a resident of the South at or about the period immediately succeeding the Civil War. There is no date on the letter, and there are no certain data among any of the papers and documents of the late ex-Senator Doolittle which fixes the time of its writing, or of its receipt. Nor is it quite apparent what speech made by Judge Doolittle the writer has in mind. He is, evidently, semi-critical of the views expressed by Mr. Doolittle, and it would appear to have been written shortly after the war, perhaps, in 1865, certainly, not later than 1866. Judge Doolittle's term in the Senate expired in 1869.

There is nothing to indicate with certainty who “J. Smith" is, or whether he is a real personage or a supposititious name only. The letter is evidently written with care and with much apparent sincerity. The paragraphing and capitalizing belong to the author. The writing is excellent. It would be impossible to fail to decipher a single word. The author's letter shows some knowledge of our political history preceding the Civil. War

It would be interesting to know what was Judge Doolittle's reply to this letter. It is our opinion that one was made, but, if made, there is, unfortunately, no record of it among his private papers and writings. Mr. Doolittle was not a man who was afraid of his convictions nor was he afraid to express them. And as this letter is in the nature of a criticism of his speech, he would not hesitate to give

the writer a full and complete personal reply thereto, if cessation from his public duties permitted it.—D. M.]

ATLANTA, GA., 3RD NEGRO SATRAPY.

HON. J. R. DOOLITTLE.

MY DEAR SIR:

These are not the times to write long letters. What I have here written, I hope you will have patience to read through to the end.

The epochs of which you speak (of) in your speech does not go back far enough.

I would wish you to go back to the time, 1837, when Seward declared the "Irrepressible Conflict."

This declaration implied everything that has overtaken our poor nigger-stricken country from that date to this very hour.

It implied Negro insurrection in which was to ensue the indiscriminate Butchery, rape, robbery and arson of white men, women, and children at the South.

This part of the Irrepressible Conflict finally ended at that time by the hanging of John Brown, and the cowardly flight of Seward to Europe to avoid the consequences of such an attempt.

This attempt is again to be renewed by Congress arming the Negroes, as you perceive to-day.

The 2nd branch of the Irrepressible Conflict implied (if the Negroes failed in the first) destruction to the Union in order to bring on a war between the Free and Slave States, which you have witnessed.

John Brown sacrificed his life to secure the first branch and Abe Lincoln was a victim in securing the 2nd.

You have witnessed the war between the white races, you have yet to witness a war between the white and negro races before the full designs of the Irrepressible Conflict is fully and finally accomplished.

Peace was always and always will be death to Abolition

ism. Without war Seward could not have taken one step towards destroying Slavery, hence, his first step in the matter was to declare war.

When Seward first undertook this negro business, say 35 or 40 years ago, he then based his whole Idea on destroying the Union on this foundation, to wit;

That the Southern people would not be so pusillanimous or mean-spirited as to quietly submit to the entire destruction of their labor system, as his nigger crusade professed to have in view.

To carry on his negro crusade to final sweep he had to operate alone on the Northern mind.

About the time he began this operation Birney ran for the Presidency and rec'd about 8 thousand votes out of millions cast. This shows the status of the radical party at that period, it was only a free soil party then.

To show you how Seward commenced his work on the northern people to secure his nigger designs, I will quote his own words in the shape of an honest confession, to wit: "My friends, I have called the attention of the people away from the Union, when the Union was in no danger, to that of Freedom or Nigger Beast which was then in danger, and now having secured the Negro Beast, by the election of Abe Lincoln, I call the attention of the people back to the Union which is now in danger, &c." This confession is conclusive and damning, and the more you reflect on it the more damning it becomes. To call on the people to disregard the Union of the States, for the sake of accomplishing the Negro Beast, was about the first step he took after he had declared for the Irrepressible Conflict or war.

His second step was to convert this religion of the Northern people into Negro Idolatry by dragging the Negro into the pulpits by declaration of High-er-law-ism. This you might call the 3rd epoch, the declaration of war being the first, and his declaration against the Union the 2nd.

His declaration of Higherlaw converted the whole mass of Northern Parsons into negro worshippers, and these parsons converted their congregations, men, women, and children into worshippers of the Black Idol with intense hatred for the white race of the South. This is the way Seward worked to delude the Northern people into the negro business, which finally culminated in the election of an entirely sectional man. Abe Lincoln believed honestly that he was elected purely on an abolition platform, and so declared by the first public words he uttered after he was elected. Lincoln's election was the 5th epoch in the Negro Crusade.

All through the long Negro Crusade Seward feared Compromise more than the Devil does Holy water. Compromise is a Heaven-given principle vouchsafed to man for self-preservation. Its rejection is the work of the Devil for man's destruction.

Seward was aware that as long as compromise stood in his way, he could never accomplish Niggerism.

Therefore, about the year 1850, he had the impudence to get up in the Halls of Congress and issue a decree to the people in the words to wit: "That the day of compromise is past and gone forever." I will simply ask you to refer your mind to how this decree was obeyed in the winter and spring of 1861? All has been lost, I firmly believe, by obeying Seward's mandate of 1850, when all could have been saved by disobeying him. The epoch or points by which Seward secured Niggerism was, Ist-Irrepressible Conflict; 2nd-Declaration against the Union of the States; 3rdDeclaration of Higher law; 4th-Mandate against Compromise measures; 5th-The election of Abe Lincoln.

Seward himself declared immediately after the election of Lincoln was ascertained, that his election was the deathblow to Slavery, say 3 days after the election in 1860. Ask

Seward if this is not a fact and all other facts which I state in this letter.

Everybody must admit that Seward's control over the Abolition party was as Omnipotent as God Almighty's control over the Universe.

This Negro Crusade of Seward's was a long, bitter, political contest between Clay and Webster on the side of the white man and the white man's Union, against Seward, who was against the white man's Union and for the nigger and a nigger Union. This is the way the thing stood for a period of 35 years.

To look back now it appears that Clay and Webster were swept aside like chaff before a tornado, immediately after Seward issued his decree of Higherlaw. Do you remember what a rebuke Clay administered to Seward on the occasion he issued this decree of Higherlaw, by simply asking Seward to produce his credentials from the High Court of Heaven?

As early as Feb. 7th, 1839, Clay told the people what Seward's party was drawing this country into, about in these words, to wit: "With the Abolition party, the rights of property are nothing, the deficiencies of the powers of the General Government are nothing, the acknowledged and incontestable rights of the States are nothing, a civil war, a dissolution of the Union and the overthrow of a government in which is concentrated the fondest hopes of the civilized world are nothing. A single Idea has taken possession of their minds, and onward they pursue it, overlooking all barriers and regardless of all consequences.”

Clay on this occasion portrayed a large-sized nigger monster, but it was far beyond his conception that the American people could bring themselves to the attempt to degrade the white race below the negro level and forcing this degradation by arming the negroes against the white

race.