The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-05-10
What tho War did not Decide.

magazine, The Old Guard, for timely and power
1ui reply to oil the ignorant vicious and un-
manly bosh which has recently been written and
spoken upon tho text that estate sovereignty
is dead, having been determined against by the
lato war"
We agree with Mr.. BURR, says the Richmond
| Times, that the war has no more killed State
sovereignty than it has habeas corpus, trial by
jury, or those manly and splendid qualities of
head and heart which belong to the people who
failed in their great effort to achieve distinct
nauonality. 1T is not in the power Of war to
kill State sovereignty; it can overcome it for a
moment as giant can overcome a weaker man,
but can never destroy the principle, nor ALLEVIATE
the right Of sovereignty. States stripped of the
power to exercise their legitimate and proper
sovereign rights, have no moro lost their rights
than the man who is robbed Of all his property
loses the right to hold, property. A man NAV
have rights which he cannot for the moment exer-
else, because Of defeat, misfortune, or of some
| wrong or illegal force in his way; but does he
therefore, lose the sacred quality Of his riehts2
Does he, therefore, passively sit down and consent
| that he has been transformed into a creature
without rights, and without manhood2 No. GER
tainy unless he be the verest fool or coward that
ever disgraced the human form. Because q war
has for the hour overcome State sovereignty, arc
we therefore to acquiesce in this great crime
against liberty, and admit it to be our deplorable
status for all time to Gomez Not unless the war has
also made us nation Of sneaks and towards.
And even admitting that, for the present moment,
we are thus cowardized and belittIed by the war,
mas the devil 80 far got possession OF US that We
mean to lie down forever in swinish rest and seep2
No, In Gods name, mol Rather let us cherish at
least 30 much of the pluck and deoency of man.
mood frDa tba
when we shall arise in wrath and seize this ei
gantio, monarchical, despotio centralzing heresy
by the throat and assert again the liberty which can
never be lost except by our own weakness and
crime! 1t is the nature of sovereignty that It can
neither be destroyed, alienated divided nor given
away 1t ls to the State what the aoH is to the man.
state can no moro lose or give away its sover-
| eighty than the man can lose or give away his
| will No war can SO far kill State sovereipnty
that it will not, during all future tmc, have the
sacred and eternal right to hang whomsoeyer
| has attempted it's destruction. When old JOHN
Brown made his attempt upon the sovereignty of
Virginia, all admitted that he was jnstly and
| legally executed. There can never come time
when Virginia will not have the right to admin
lister similar punishment to any party violating
her sovereignty. Her. inability to enforce her
sovereign rights cauhot be quoted as proof to tho
contrary. On the other hand, that very inability
must be received as a presumptive evidence that
her people will never cease to watch and pray and
struggle to re-assert their sovereignty, and TO
punish tho criminal violators Of it.
In this State for twelve months the strong hand
OF the military subordinated civil to martial law.
The toW OF the soldier was omnipotent. It over
rode the organic as we'll as the statutory law of
the Commonwealth. It determined who ehould
and who should not hold Office. It set aside con-
sttutional elections, and utterly ignored every
article OF the bill OF rights. nullifed acts Of the
Legislature, disregarded the orders Of the Execu.
tive and the decress Of the Judiciary It asserted
and exercised the most rigorous censorship of the
press, suppressed public journals, and imprison-
ed editors at will But this exercise of the most
| absolute powers by the army Of occupation did
not destroy single constitutional or legal right of
the Virginia citizen. It did not change the charac
ter OF our State Government, nor permanently
disqualify any gentleman who was excluded from
Office by order of the military. With the Presi-
dents proclamation of peace we were at once re-
habilitated in those rights which martial law
denied US for twelve months.
As soon as the proclamation OF peace announc.
ed our liberation from the thraldom Of the sword,
with the noble manliness Of a free people we
straightway assorted those rights. Nowhere WAS
this assertion of our civil rights more speedily
than in Richmond. The late charter election
show that our people, did notsfegard come Of our
best citizens as disqualified from holding offices
because they were not acceptable the military
The war has not ''destroyed' a single civil or
polit ical right State or Federal which is guaran.
teed by the Constitution and laws to the Citizen
- ----><e- ...a...
PAnDoNs.-1he following named gentlemen, on
applying to THEODORE srARKE, Esq, Mayor Of
Columbia, will receive their "pardons," recently
sen. by the President to Governor ORR:
Orangeburg District.-J. W. Dantzler William
Rrnp Mil