The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-10-04
WADE HAMpToN.

%SSN~ N--',
publishesa portion of Lieut. Gen. WADE HAMr-
ross speech, delivered before the soldiers meet
ing at Anderson Court House, on the 18th day OF
last August, and endeavors to make capital out OF
it for the Radical party. WADE HAMPTON neeos
no defence at our hands. The peerless soldier
and gentleman, there is not better living repre-
sentative Of Southern honor and manhood'-none
more beloved and trusted. Politicians may attend
Conventions and misrepresent the manhood OF the
South but we tell the Inquirer, that WADE HAhP"
TON told the truth in that meeting, and ne only
gave utterance to the honest sentiments OF our
people, when he ssprofesses to acquiesce in the
final decision of arms but at the same time INSISTS
that the cause for which he fought was that Of
right and justice,-I shall never say that We. had
not right on our side. shall never hold my State
guilty, or her sons traitors" BRowNLow, DuRAsT
and HAMILTON, may admit it, but no man OF re-
spectability and honor in the South will and
before high heaven and the assembled universe,
we pronounce the terms s'traitor" and "rebef'
when applied to Confederates, living or dead, foul
mouthed blackguardisms andrlies. Beneath the
mounds where sleep the martyred dead, there lies
entombed wealth of patriotism, virtue, honor'-
and noble loyalty, which the Radical host may
envy, but which they can never emulate nor IN
herit For the living and the dead, whatever may
be said of the loyalty dsloyalty of any, In the
late most lamentable conflict of arms, We may
safely assert, that there was on the part Of the
people of the South, no dsloyaly to the principles
of the Constitution of the United States To that
system Of representative Government; of delega-
ted and limited powers; that establishment which
embodied in q new form the great Magma Charter,
for the protection and security of life, liberty and
property. justified in our Interpretation Of the
written charter of our liberties, by the uniform
practice of its authors and the decisions Of the
Courts, having riumphed in every arena of debate,
the States lately confederated, when the Govern
ment passed into the hands of their Radical enc
mics, determined to Withdraw from the Union as
the surest means of securing good government.
With the people of those States, the question was
simply where their allegiance was due-which au-
thority was paramount in the last resort-State or
Federal. There was no disloyalty to the princi-
Piles of the Constitution; we thought our allegi-'
ance to the State was paramount, and risked oil,
and lost all, under the belief This did not con-
stitute us rebels or traitors, for we always were
more loyal to the Union, under. the Constitution,
than the whole radical faction. Nor do we admit,
that we violated our allegiance then in seeding
If we were to attempt secession .now, we would be-
traitors,-then and nosv are very different. Then
the Union was o confederation of sovereign, ince-
pendent States; no,O it is composed of dependent
States creatures of the Union, bound to it in per-
petuity. However. we have differed heretofore, as
to where our allegiance was due, none for any
practical purpose can exist now. We see and feel
that the sword has centralized the Government
Whether the Southern States were ever rightfully
out Of the Union or not, their Conventions have
annulled their ordinances of secession reordained
the Constitution of the United States the orgaric
law of the land, and are now in the Union so far
as depends on their will and deed. The whole
United States, therefore, is nov without sstion,
our country, to be cherished and defended assuch,
by all our hearts and by all our arms. While
therefore, we accept the issues of the war,-rcalize
fully the radical change wrought by them in the
structure of the Government, and intend to main-
tain an honest loyalty, we notify Jocobin Radicals
that they will have to do the same thing. If they
attempt revolution in the Government, we will
readily rally around General GRANT, and teach
them lesson of loyalty and good manners.