House of Representatives not yet organized, no Speaker
elected and government at a deadlock. Members spend their time during the
interval between the ballotings in speech-making about John Brown, fugitive
slaves, Hinton Rowan Helper’s Impending
Crisis, and the irrepressible nigger generally. That black but comely biped
is becoming a bore to me. No doubt he is a man and a brother, but his monopoly
of attention is detrimental to the rest of the family; and I don’t believe he
cares much about having his wrongs redressed or his rights asserted. Our
politicians are playing on Northern love of justice and a more or less morbid
Northern philanthropy for their own selfish ends by putting themselves forward
as Cuffee’s champion. But the South is so utterly barbaric and absurd that I’m
constantly tempted to ally myself with Cheever and George Curtis.2
_______________
2 The Rev. George B. Cheever, author of God Against Slavery (1857); George William Curtis, now attacking slavery in his speeches and writings.
SOURCE: Allan Nevins and Milton Halset Thomas, Editors, Diary of George Templeton Strong, Vol. 3, p. 3-4
