Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-10-06

| S''"' conquered sue Is HOG Gsnumlilateu :
though she submits she is not degraded: thot
she has not lost her sclfrcspect t,at she laid
down her arms on honorable terma; that she
has observed these terms with the host perfect
faith and that she has the right to demand
like observance Of them on tho BART of the
North, Would to God that somavoiea moro
potent pot than mine, would utter thbss truths |!
w you'd to Cod that the tongues ossshose great
Statesmen of Carolina, who in SSuea 5saet
warned counsced directed s,ss, s.sss
not hushcd i'll death, or that thosewhicI, more
recently stirred the Southern heart to its pro
toundcst depths, were not nowS&s silent as
death itself But perhaps in tl.o midst of
tins silence so profound, cvcrS my voice,
feeble IS it is, may be not without that
weight which always attaches to the ntterancc
of truth, and in this hope, | venture to dis
cuss our condition and our policy What
then is our condition? For fo0ryears the
South was the victim of crucl{and unncccs.
sary war-a war marked on thespart of her
| opponents by barbarity ncvcrSsn snrpasscd, if
ever cGnalcd, i'll the annals of cisilizcd war
fare The sword failed to con,1Sierlh her, for
on nearly every battlefield she wassictorous,
and her enemies were forced to- resort to wca.
nons more congenal to their nat;;re-rc and
famine The torch was applicdSwith M un-
Sparing hand. The mansion of therich the
| cottage of the poor; peaceful villnBcs; thriving
cities; even the Temples of thSaNIost High
God. fell before this ruthless destroyer, leav-
ing to mark the spots where onoasthoy stood,
but ashes and backencd ruinsaA3Al the in
dustrial resources of the Soutl:@ere ,wantonly
destroyed or stolen, and gaunt famine followed
III the footsteps of tho invadeIsy The men
who had borne without mnrinur every pri-
vatlon; who had faced death Ira thousand
G
against the cries which come fo them from
homeless and starving wives andsclildrcn,
They laid down their arms, Which they had
crowned with eternal lustrc, andthcy accepted
The terms offered to them by theNorih What
were thcsc terms Throughors the whole
war tho ,Nnrih l"nl"~nd in rtll5sssAS,n.. ynl.m,
and authoritative manner that she fought sole.
" to re establish the Union to bring back to
one fold all the States, and to give to all equal
rights and equal liberty. This was tho con
slant declaration of Mr.. LINCOLN. Mr. ST.
WARD not only announced the same principle,
but lie declared that whatever might be tho
result of the war, not only would all the rights
OF the Southern States be preserved, but that
all their institutions would be intact The
Congress of the United States in Resolution,
passed | think unanimously, and never re-
pcalcd, announced the object and the sole OBJ.
ject OF the war to be tho restoration of the
Union, under the supremacy of the Constitu
ton. The very powers under which We laid
down our arms, promised the protection of
the government and gave the assurance that
VIC should not be ntcrfercd with, so long as
We obcycd tho laws of the States wherein we
resided. These declarations were made not
only to the South, but to Foreign Nations;
and the South was assured that she had but
to acknowledge the supremacy of the National
Government to be received into the Union
as equal members of tho great family of States,
with all her rights and all her privileges un-
impaired. These were the terms uDon which
the South capitulatcd. On her part she was
to cease war-to renew her allegiance to the
National Government, and to express her 10y
atty to the Constitution of the United States
On the part of the North there was to be am
ncsty for tho pasta recognition of the South
crn States as equal members of tho Union
and solemn pledge that all their rights should
be held sacred This was tho construction
placed by the South upon the covenant en-
tered into, and it is the only fair and honcat
construction it will admit of. How have the
parties to this covenant fulfilled their obliga-
tions? | have said that the South has per-
formed hers with the most perfect faith. Let
me prove the assertion. She was to cease
war. When our commanding officers signed
the Conventions which put stop to the war,
every soldier of the Confedcraoy, from the
Potomac to the Rio Grandc, laid down lis
arms and returned to his home, or to the spot
where his home had been. The ncxt cond.
ton of the terms required from the South, a
renewal of her allegiance to the General Gov.
crnment. In every Southern State, the pco.
pie by their Conventions, their Legislatures,
and individually, conformcd promptly to this
condition. Loyalty to the Constitution of the
United States was cxactcd, as the only other
article of the terms required of the South.
assert that she has fulfilled this part of the
Al. IL