The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1866-08-29

with far greater weight upon tnose Win
whom the war began. That in the death
of relatives and friends, the dispersion Of
families, the disruption of social systems
and socia al ties; overthrow Of Governments,
OF law, and of order; the destruction Of
property. and of forms, and modes and
means Of industry; the loss of political,
commercial, and moral influence, in every
shape and form which great calamities Can
assume, the States and people which en-
Gagged in the war against the Government
Of the United States have suffered ten-fold
more than those who remained in allegiance
TO the Constitution and laws.
These considerations may not, as they
certainly do not, justify the action of the
Deople of the insurgent States; but no Just
or generous mind will refuse to them very
considerable weight in determining the line
of conduct which the Government of the
United States should pursue towards them.
They accept, if not with alacrity, certainly
without sullen resentment, the defeat and
overthrow they have sustained. They ac-
knowledge and acquiesce in the result, to
themselves and the country, which that de-
feat involves. They no longer claim for
any State the right to secede from the Union.
They no longer assert for any State an allie.
glance paramount to that which is due to
the General Government. They have ac-
cepted the destruction of slavery, abolished
it by their State Constitutions, and concurred
with the States and people of the whole
Union in prohibiting its existence forever
upon the soil or within the jurisdiction Of
the United States. They indicate and
evince their purpose just so fast as may be
possible and safe to adapt their domestic
laws to the changed condition of their So
ciety, and to secure by the law and its tri-
bunals equal and impartial justice to all
classes of their inhabitants. They admit
the invalidity of all acts Of resistance to the
national authority, and of all debts incurred
in attempting its overthrow. They avow
their willingness to share the burdens and
discharge all the duties and obligations
which rest upon them in common with other
States and other sections of the Union, and
they renew, through their rep esentatives
in this Convention, by all their public con-
duct in every way, and by the most solemn
acts by which States and societies can
pledge their faith, their engagement to bear
true faith and allegiance, through all times
to come, to the Constitution of the United
Stctes, and to all laws that may be made in
pursuance thereof.
Fellow-countrymen, we call upon you, in
full reliance upon your intelligence and your
patriotism, to accept with generous and un-
grudging confidence this full surrender on
the part of those lately in arms against
your authority, and to Share with them the
honor and renown that await those who
bring back peace, concord to'jarring States.
The war Just closed-with all its sorrows
and disasters-has opened new career Of
glory to the nation it has saved. 1t has
swept away the hostilities Of sentiment and
of interest which were standing menace to
it's peace. It has destroyed the institution
of slavery-alwaysa cause Of sectional agi-
tation and strife-and has opened to our
country the way to unity of interest, OF
principle and of action, through all time to
come. 1t has developed in both sections a
military capacity and aptitude for achieve
ments of war, both by sea and land, before
unknown even to ourselves. and destined to
exercise hereafter, under united councils,
an important influence upon character and
destiny of the continent and the world,
and while it has thus revealed, disciplined
and compacted our power, it has proved to
US, beyond controversy or doubt, by the
course pursued towards both contendinS
sections By foreign powers, that we must
be the guardians of our own independence,
and that the principles Of republican free
dom we represent can find among the nations
of the earth no friends or defenders but
ourselves.
We call upon you, therefore, by every
consideration of your own dignity and safe
ty, and in the name Of liberty throughout
the world, to complete the work of restora-
ton and peace which the President Of the
United States has so we'll begun, and which
the policy adopted and the principles as
serted by the present Congress, alone OBJ
struct. The time is close at hand when
members of a new Congress are to be elect
ed. Ii that Congress shall perpetuate this
policy, and by excluding loyal States and
people from representation in it's halls, shall
continue the usurpation by which the legis-
lative powers of the Government are now
exercised, common prudence compels US
to anticipate augmented discomfort, sui
len withdrawal from the duties and obliga-
tions of the Federal Government; internal
dissensions and general collision of senti-
ments, and pretensions which may renew, in
a still more fearful shape, the civil war from
which we have just emerged.
We call upon you to interpose your pow
er to prevent the recurrence otso transcend
ant calamity. We call upon you in every
Congressional District of every State to Sc
cure the election of members who, what
ever other difference may characterize their
political action, will unite in recognizing the