while these sad days and nights of heaviness hung over us, we were painfully conscious that some of our own people misunderstood my husband's position in new york. our having left virginia was resented at the time, and now general pryor's avowed belief that the salvation of the south could only be assured by acquiescence in the inevitable, and in the full exercise of justice to the negro, was most unacceptable. this was before the right of suffrage had been conceded to the negro; in the interval between the fall of the confederacy and the reconstruction period,—an interval during which the south was in a condition of resentment and agitation which portended a possible renewal of the conflict,—one of general pryor's friends wrote him of the feeling against him and the cause.
the following answer to this letter was sent by my husband to the richmond whig, and puts him on record before the world at a time when such opinions were decidedly adverse to the feelings of many of his own personal friends. it required courage to write this letter. since that time the prophetic words have been fully justified by subsequent events, and the unwelcome sentiments are to-day fully indorsed by the south. they are pregnant with wisdom, 326perhaps as much needed now as at the time they were uttered.
"new york, october 5, 1867.
"my dear sir: i was apprised before the receipt of your letter that a certain paper of virginia had stigmatized me as a 'radical' and had otherwise imputed to me sentiments inimical to the interests of the south. but the silly story i disdained to contradict, while it rested on the authority of the irresponsible person who propagated it. since you say that my silence is construed into a sort of acquiescence in the reproach, i empower you to repel the accusation with the utmost energy of indignant denial. i have not the vanity to imagine that my opinions are of the least consequence to any one; but, because they have been brought into controversy, and have been the occasion of subjecting me to some unmerited animadversion, i will tell you very frankly and freely in what relation i stand to the politics of the day.
"in the first place, then, neither with politics nor parties have i the least concern or connection. on the downfall of the confederacy i renounced forever every political aspiration, and resolved henceforth to address myself to the care of my family and the pursuit of my profession. but for all that i have not repudiated the obligations of good citizenship. when i renewed my oath of allegiance to the union, i did so in good faith and without reservation; and as i understand that oath, it not only restrains me from acts of positive hostility to the government, but pledges me to do my utmost for its welfare and stability. hence, while i am more immediately concerned to see the south restored to its former prosperity, i am anxious that the whole country, and all classes, may be reunited on the basis of common interest and fraternal regard. and this object, it appears to me, can only be attained by conceding to all classes the 327unrestricted rights guaranteed them by the laws and by obliterating as speedily and as entirely as possible the distinctions which have separated the north and the south into hostile sections.
"with this conviction, while i pretend to no part in politics, i have not hesitated, in private discourse, to advise my friends in the south frankly to 'accept the situation'; to adjust their ideas to the altered state of affairs; to recognize and respect the rights of the colored race; to cultivate relations of confidence and good-will toward the people of the north; to abstain from the profitless agitations of political debate; and to employ their energies in the far more exigent and useful work of material reparation and development. striving out of regard to the south to inculcate that lesson of prudent conduct, i have urged such arguments as these: that the negro is, in no sense, responsible for the calamities we endure; that towards us he has ever conducted himself with kindness and subordination; that he is entitled to our compassion, and to the assistance of our superior intelligence in the effort to attain a higher state of moral and intellectual development; that to assume he was placed on this theatre as a reproach to humanity and a stumbling-block to the progress of civilization would be to impeach the wisdom and goodness of providence; that, considering the comparative numbers of the two races in the south, it would be the merest madness to provoke a collision of caste; in a word, that it is absolutely essential to the peace, repose, and prosperity of the south that the emancipated class should be undisturbed in the enjoyment of their rights under the law, and should be enlightened to understand the duties and interests of social order and well-being. but it has appeared to me that the chief obstacle to a complete and cordial reunion between the north and the south is found in the suspicion and resentment with which the people of these sections 328regard each other. hence, while on the one hand assuring the northern people of the good faith with which the south resumes its obligations in the union, i have thought it not amiss, on the other, to protest to my southern friends that the mass of the northern community are animated by far more just and liberal sentiments toward us than we are apt to suspect.
"and thus, leaving to others the ostensible part in the work of reconstruction, and abstaining studiously from all political connection and activity, i have hoped in some measure, and in a quiet way, to repair the evil i contributed to bring upon the south by availing myself of every appropriate private opportunity to suggest these counsels of moderation and magnanimity. passion, to which in truth we had abundant provocation, precipitated us into secession; reason must conduct us back into the path of peace and prosperity.
"hard it may be to purge our hearts of the resentments and prejudices engendered by civil war; but until our minds be enlightened by a philosophic comprehension of the exigencies of our situation, we shall never recover the repose after which the wearied spirit of the south so eagerly pants.
"at whatever risk of personal obloquy, and at whatever sacrifice of personal interest,—and you know it involves both obloquy and sacrifice to talk as i do,—i am resolved to employ all the energy and intellect i may command in the incessant endeavor to promote peace and good-will among the people of the lately belligerent states. what the country needs, what in a most especial manner the south needs, is repose; freedom from the throes of political agitation, and leisure to recruit its exhausted energies. the experience of the past six years should have impressed on the mind of the american nation this most salutary lesson,—a lesson sooner or later learnt by every nation in the development of its own history,—that civil war is the 329sum and consummation of all human woe. protesting solemnly the integrity of motive by which i was then actuated, yet i never recall the names of the noble men who fell in our conflict; i never look abroad upon our wasted fields and desolated homes; i never contemplate the all-embracing ruin in which we are involved, the sad eclipse of our liberties and the sinister aspect of the future, without inwardly resolving to dedicate all i possess of ability for the public service to the task of averting another such catastrophe, and to that end of cultivating a spirit of forbearance and good feeling among all classes and all sections of the country.
"these, my dear sir, are the opinions, very briefly and dogmatically delivered, which i entertain touching the actual condition of the southern states, and the policy proper for them to pursue in the present juncture. they are the result of anxious and conscientious reflection, of much observation of the popular temper of the north, and of extreme and unabated solicitude for the welfare of the community to which i am attached by the strongest ties of filial devotion. with the utmost sincerity of conviction, i believe that, by a system of conduct in conformity to these suggestions, the southern people may achieve a prosperity and happiness equal to any they ever enjoyed; while on the contrary, i am as firmly persuaded that, by a vain and impatient resistance to an order of things they cannot change, and to a destiny they cannot escape, they will infinitely aggravate the miseries of their present condition, and besides, bring down upon themselves calamities appalling to contemplate.
"i am not acquainted with the classification of parties, but if these opinions make me a 'radical,' then i am a 'radical'; for they are deliberately the opinions of
"very truly yours,
"roger a. pryor."