Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1865-08-17
VOLUME XII.
spEECH OF GOVERNOR PERRY
60 OF SOUTH, CAROLINA.

TaOn ll6 Oh Gay Oh July UOVernOr ferrJ
addressed a public meeting at Greenville
South Carolina. The Northern papers are
making great ado ever bis speech. 1t il
sspabiished mall the Washington, Baltimore
Philadelphia and New York papers, and il
much commented upon-approvipgly by
ssome,s sdiaapprovingly by others. We give
below some of the most important passages
.s;of the address, which will be read with
much interest, from the fact that Mr.. Perry
has just received the appointment and en.
tered upon the duties Of the office of Pro.
visional Governor of South Carolina, and in
this. speech he defines his position in regard
to the war and the great issues that have
grown ont of it. !.
- ga cruel and bloody war has swept over
the Southern States. One hundred and
=. fifty thousand of our bravest and Laost gal
liant men have fallen on the fields of battle.
The land is filed With mourning widows
and orphans, There is scarcely house in
which there has not been weeping for some
one lost. Three thousand millions of dol.
lars have been spent by the Southern States
in carrying on this war. And now we are
called upon to give up four millions of
slaves, worth two thousand millions of dol
lars more. Our country has been ravished
and desolated. Our cities, towns and vii
lages are smouldering ruins. Conquering
armies occupy the country. The Confeder-
aey has fallen, and we have been deprived
Of civil government and political rights.
We have neither Law nor order. There is
no protection for life, liberty or property.
Everywhere there is decentralization, rapine
and murder. Hunger and starvation are
upon US, ..--.s..-s
Mr.. Chairman, as much as we feel the
:. humiliation and degradation of our present
situation, and deeply lament the losses
which have befallen the Southern States,
yet we should be happy to know that this
cfuel and bloody war is over, and that peace
is once more restored to our country. This
a Is great consolation amid our wants, dis.
tresses and humiliation. The husband will
no longer have to leave his wife and chill.
dren, the father and mother will not be
called upon any more to give up their sons
as victims to the war. 1t is to be hoped
that in very short time civil government
will be restored; that law once more will
reign supreme, and that life, liberty and
property will be protected everywhere, as
they heretofore have been.
How was it, Mr.. Chairman, that the
Southern States failed in their. rebellion !?
It is true the. contest was most unequal
one, 5000, 900 of persons fighting against
q 22,OO0,000 The one having neither gov
ernneut, army, navy or manufactures; and
the other having all these, with an inaax
Of foreigners and Southern negroes to IN
crease their strength.
-. Mr.. Chairman, I will here frankly say,
"a have often said during the past four
q. years, that there was not man in the Uni
= ted States who more deeply regretted the
- secession of the Southern States than did
at the beginning of the revolution and
there is not now in the Southern States any
one who feels more bitterly the humiliation
and degradation of going back into the
Union than I do. Still, I know that we
shall be more prosperous and happy in the
Union than out of it.
1t has bsen,too common, Mr.. Chairman,
toattribute the failure of this great revolu-
tion to tssa President of the late Confederacy
This, sir, is mistake. The people were
themselves to blame for its failure. They
were unwilling to make those sacrifices which
were essential to its success. Many who
were most prominent in the movement never
did anything forit after the war commenced.
Instead of seeking their proper position,
in front of the battle, they sought .sbomb.
proofs" for themselves and their sons
There were others who got into "soft pla-
ces" and "offcial positions" where they
could speculate and make fortunes on Gov
ernment funds.
In fact, towards the latter part of the
war, it seemed that every one was trying to
keep out of the army, and was willing to
pay anything and make any sacrifice to do
SO. When General Johnston surrendered
his army he had on. his muster roll 10000
men, but only IA 900 to be carried into bat
tie! General Lees army was in the same
condition. Where were the absentees
At home, on furiough, staying over their
d furloughs, deserted aud struggling! At no
time during the last three ysars Of the war
was there more than one-third of the army
ready to march into battle How was it
possible for the Southern people to succeed
acting thus ?
Congress, too, Mr.. Chairman, is greatly
to blame for their exemptions. All between
the ages of eighteen and forty-fye should
have been forced into the army and kept
there. 1t mattered not whether he vas a
doctor, lawyer, preacher, or school-teacher,
if an able.bodied man, he should have been
sent to the army. But, strange to say, the
three classes Of men who were mainly in
strumental in plunging their country into
this mad revolution, we're all exempted by
Congress from fighting. This was not fair
The man who gets up fight should always
take his share Of it.
It has been said, and repeated all over
the Southern States, that the South has sus.
tained great loss in the death of President
Lincoln. T do not think so. President
johnson is a much abler and 6rmer man
than Lincoln was. he is in every way more