Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1865-09-21


to retain arms except by special permission
Those negroes who refuse to make contracts
are advised to do SO at once on the basis
prescribed by the nearest agent of the
Freedmen's Bureau. Either party failing
to CARY ont his part of the contract may b
prosecuted by the provost courts, which will
be ordered to hold sessions in that and the
adjacent localities at once.
Parties arrested for thieving, removing
wood, &c., from the plantations, are also tc
be brought before the court. Outrages
committed by either whites or blacks sub.
ject the party to be brought before mill
tary commission for trial.
W. F. BENNETT,
Brigadier General Commanding.
The Charleston Mercury is to be shortly
re-established under the auspices of its for.
mer proprietor II: B. Rhett, Jr. A good
deal of curiosity is felt to know what will
be its particular lipe of politics and doc,
trines to be advocated. 1t isreported that
the editor has already taken grounds against
the adoption by the State Convention Of
the constitutional amendment abolishing
slavery.
An opposition paper, called the ladepen-
dent african, to be published by T. iBurley
and John Bonum, the former white man
and the latter oolorod, is announced to ap-
pear almost.at the same time as the Her.
curry. The proprietors have issued their
circular and caused considerable of SEN
sation, some of our more, fiery tempered
youths having resolved that it shall never
have any other than feeble and short lived
existence. -
A letter from Hon. W. Fl. Trescott, ap-
pointed commissioner by Governor Perry
for the investigation of sthe question of
ssrestoration of abandoned lands and other
property" is published in the Courier Of
Friday, Mr.. Trescott gives very clear
and minute account of the course necessary
to recover property in the possession of the
Freedmen's Bureaa, and says all applioa-
tions must rest upon one or two grounds
only. First, that the lands were really not
abandoned in the sense of the definition of
the act of Congress of July, 1864, which
says :-"Psoperty, real os personal, shall
be regarded as abandoned where the lawful
owner thereof shall be voluntarily absent
therefrom and engaged, either in arms or
otherwise, in aiding or encouraging the re-
bellion." Second, "That the property was
bona fde before the war settled on women
and minors, who, when their interests are
cannot be punished for the acts Of
their husbands and fathers, which they
could in no way control"
The largest portion of the lands on the
coast between Charleston and Savannah is
now in possession of the Freedmen's Bu-
reau, as well as some in the interior, aban-
doned at the time of Gen. Sherman's march
through the State.
TIE coNFIscATIoN QUESTION.
The speech of the Hon. Thaddeus Ste.
vens, of Pennsylvania, delivered at Lancas.
ter on the 9th instant, is most important
one, as it may be accepted as an authorita-
tive exposition of the Southern reconstruc-
sfou faa.iaa- a4 ti.s aEortt9I,--aa
chairman of the House Committee of Ways
and Means of the late Congress, as leader
in all the confscation acts and other pains
and penalties against rebels passed by that
and the preceding Congress, and as the re!
cognised oracle Of the Pennsylvania radicals,
Thaddeus Stevens, it may be fairly assumed,
has in this speech declared the programme
of the implacable revolutionary abolition
school to which he belongs. We publish
below a commentary upon the speech from
the New York Times, which embodies all
the points Mr.. Stevens makes. The Times
says: -
The position held by Mr.. Stevens in
Congress, and his known ability and politi-
cal experience, give special interest to his
views upen the most important question
now before the country. The warts over; ;
the rebellion is ended, and the sovereign
authority of the National Government is
re-established over every foot of the Ma.
tional domain. In.What way shall We make
this victory most beneficial to the country ?
How shall we treat the great body of the
people lately in rebellion? Shall We re-
mahd them and their affairs to the great
principle of self.government,
or shall we assert over them the extreme
rights of conquerors, imposing upon them
such laws as we please, and holding their
lives, their property, their civil rights and
their political power subject, wholly and
exclusively, to our will and pleasure {. -.
Mr.. Stevens answers these questions for
himself with distinctness and emphasis -
He insists that we have treated the rebel
States as belligerents-tbat we have sub,
stantially acknowledged them to be de
tacto government, and we have, therefore,
the right to treat them now as q conquered
alien. enemy. Their lives, liberties and
property are subject to our final and absolute
control. All writers agree, says Mr.. Ste-
vens, that "the victor may infict punish
ment upon the vanquished enemy, even to
the taking of his Life, liberty, or the con6s.
cation of all his property; butthat this ex-
treme right is never exercised except upon
a cruel, barbarous, obstinate and dangerous
foe, who has waged an unjust war" And