The tri-weekly news. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1865-1876, 1866-08-28

oe' uN''S ~ i'o pIOSiCsSS "hu OF "o'NioO III
its issue, have accepted defeat and its con-
| sequences with so much of good faith as
has marked the conduct of the people late
ly in insurrection against the United
States. Beyond all question this has been
largely due to the wise generosity with
which their enforced surrender was accept
| ed by the President of the United States
and the generals in immediate command Of
their armies, and TO the liberal measures
which were aftcrward taken to restore or
der, tranquility and law to the States where
| al had for the time been oYcrthrown. No
steps could have been better calculated to
command the respect, win the confidence,
| revive the patriotism and secure the perma-
nent and ailectionate allegiance of the peo-
pie of the South to the Constitution and
| laws of tho Union, than those which have
| been so firmly taken and so stcadfastly
pursued by the President of the United
| States. And if that confidence and loyalty
have been since impaired; if the people Of
| the South are to-day less cordial in their
| allegiance than they were immediately
| upon the close of the war. we believe it is
! due to the changed tone of the legislative
department of the General Government to.
| ward them to the action by which Congress
has cndcavorcd to supplant and defeat the
! Presidents wise and bencfccnt policy of
| restoration TO their exclusion from all
| participation in our common government
to the withdrawal from them of rights con-
| fcrrcd and guaranteed by the Constitution,
| and to tho evident purpose OF Congress, in
| the exercise of usurped and unlawful au-
| thorlty, to reduce them from the rank of
| free and equal members Of republic Of
States, with rights and diSnitios uuimpair-
| ed, to the condition Of conquered provinces
and conquered people, i'll all things sub.
| ordinate and subject to the will of their con-
| qucrors, free only to obey laws in making
which they arc not allowed to share.
No people has ever yet existed whose
| loyalty and faith such treatment long con-
tinucd would not nlienatc and impair. And
! the ten millions OF Americans who live in
the South would bc unworthy citizens of a
| free country, degenerate sons of any heroi C
ancestry, unfit ever to become guardians of
the rights and liberties bequeathcd to us by
fsihn faLhors and founders OF riiio- itvpubiio
II they conld accept, with 1uncomp!aining
submissivcness. the humiliations thus sought
| TO be imposed upon them. Resentment Of
| injustice is always and everywhere essen
| tial TO freedom and the spirit which prom,'
| the States and people lately in insurreotion,
| but insurgents now no longer, to protest
against the imposition of unjust and de-
| grading conditions, makes them all the more
| worthy To share in the government of u
| free commonwealth, and gives still iirmcr
assurance of the future power and freedom
of the Republic. For whatever response
| bihty the Southern people may have incur
red in resisting the authority of the Nations
| al Government and in taking up arms for it
| overthrow, they may be held to answer. as
individuals, bcfoee the judicial tribunals of
the land, and for that cold lduct, as societies
| and organized communities, they have al
ready paid the most fearful penalties that
can fall on offending States in tho losses,
| the suiferin8s and humiliatious of Unsnc-
| ccssful war. But whatever may be the
| guilt or the punishment of the conscious au.
thors Of the insnrreclion, candor and com
mon justice demand the concession that The
| great mass Of those who became involved in
its responsibility acted upon what they be-
| licved TO be their duty, III defence of what
| they had been taught to believe their rights,
or under n compnlsiOn, physical Nor can it
be amiss to remember that, terrible rs have
been the bercavcmeuts and the losses Of
this war, they have fallen exclusively upon
neither section and upon neither party
that they have fallen, indeed, with far
greaIcr weight upon these with whom the
war began that in the death Of relatives
and friends, the dispersion Of families. the
disrupsicn of social systems and sac tics,
the Overt hrow 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, anu moral
influence. in every shape and form which
great calamities can assumc.--rhe States
and people which engaged in the war
against the Govrnmcnt of the United States
have suffered tcnfod more than those who
remained in allegiance to its Constitution
and laws. go
These considerations may not as they
certainly lo not, justify the action Of the
people ofthe insurgcnt States Sbut 10 just or
generous mind win refuse to them very
considerable weight in determining the line
of conduct which tho Government of tho
United States should pursue toward them.
They accept if not with alac.lty certain
ly wit hout sullen resentment, the defeat
and overthrow they have sustained. They
acknowledge and acqniese in the results,
to themselves and the country, which dc.
feat involves. They no longer claim forany
State the right to seccdc from The Union
they no longer assert for any State an ale.
ginnco paramount to that VIII CT is due TO