American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1866-04-21

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Judge Campbell assurances. authorizing
him to say to the commissioners III feel
entire confidence that Fort Sumter win be
evacuated in the next FIVE days" For
! tunately. in the daysof the Hartford con-
vention there was a General Jackson, as
there is now a General Grant. The Brit.
ish have felt his power throughout the
war in the Southwest, as well as the vigor
of the navy on the seas. and when the
ESSEX jantoN commissioners arrived in
Washington to renounce the Government.
the victory Of New Orleans and the news
Of peace met them. They lost the voice
which they came to utter when they
found the roar OF the British lion hushed
on the ocean and on the plains of New
Orleans. They went home, but they
were not prescribed The Governments
Of New England had sympathised with
the foreign enemy, but the mass Of the
people had not as yet been forced into
the ranks Of the enemy-their means had
been largely contributed to support the
British power under the awe its presence
inspired and the influence Of the traitors
among them exerted. But none Of these
men were punished. Maine, which was
in fact under the paw Of its ensign as a
conquered country, was not considered
out of the Union. Its officials, though
they obeyed the orders emanating from
British authority, and rendered imports
ant service to that Government, and we're
in fact guilty of treason. if the power of
compulsion, though not exerted, had not
justified it, we're not questioned by our
Government, farther than to draw from
our courts decisions that submission to q
power that could not be resisted rendered
reasonable acts justi6able.
But now the tables are turned, and
there is no such allowance for the people
Of the South. who we're under duress
while the conspirators were establishing
an absolute usurpation over them by mil.
itary force, and the leading men in the
administration going out and that coming
in, at Washington, were both united in a
negotiation with that usurpation TO &C
knowledge peace and amity' with it., as
result of "a manifest and accomplished
revolution in the Government of the
Union" and this confirmed by the prom~
Use of the premier that the stroug.holds Of
the United States in the harbrr of Charles
ton should be surrendered 10 that usurp-
ing government. The men who stood by
the Union in the South until the whole
regi, n was given over by the government
bound TO protect them, but which. instead
Of interfering in their behalf. was capitu.
lating for their surrender, had no alterna-
tive when thus permitted to be environed
within the lines Of the military foe, which
expelled everything Union beyond their
border. but submission. What right has
the National Government now to hold
those men subject TO penalties for acqi,
escing in their enforced condition and
yielding to the will Of the State govern
ments and the military power thus estab-
lished, and going into the war, more than
the United States had to hold the men Of
Maine liable to punishment for giving aid
and comfort to the British army there in
the war of 1919? The districts there
found no difficulty after the war was over
in getting a representation in Congr IS.
There were no test oalbs imposed to ex
clude them. Why should the conspiracy
of the Calhoun junto bring greater pun.
ishment on its innocent victims than did
that of tie Essex junlo and its Hartford
convention The scheme of each was
equally criminal--a dissolution Of the
Union-but the means of the latter we're
much more invidious, for foreign force
was introduced into the heart Of the coun.
try hostile to all the essential principles
of our republican system.
And is there no atonement in the ca
lamities with which the unfortunate mass
ps of the South have been visited from
The despo,ism of the usurpation which
would never have been but over t. I'm had
not the treachery and collusicn Of our Ma
lional Government assisted ?-nothing 10
the utter ruin which succeeded 10 the ill.,
vason Of our army. which necessity made
destroyers, to plead for justice and gener-
osity to the victims Of a war guiltless Of
its provocation The whole South has
been field Of battle-all its agriculture
has been to great extent, PROSTATE for
four years. Towns and homesteads in
have been swept away In
flames. Half a million Of its most vigo-
rous youths have persisted in BATTLE-GROUND
less millions Of money, invested 10 the
means Of production, have been lost. and
is proudest cities are ruins. Charleston
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