December 28, '62.
This will be a crucial week. The counter proclamation, the edict
of emancipation, the opposition of Seymour & Co., and the mad desperation
of the reaction, — all will not avail. The war must proceed, and to its natural
result. Even Joseph Harper, the most Southern of the firm, said to me
yesterday, “The negroes must be armed, and if Seymour does not support the war
he will have no support.” Perhaps, if any possible way of settlement could be
devised, there might be a strong party for it, but in deep water we must swim
or drown. All our reverses, our despondence, our despairs, bring us to the
inevitable issue: shall not the blacks strike for their freedom?
SOURCE: Edward Cary, George William Curtis, p.
161
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