The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1866-08-29

find more prompt and entire obedience
than in those States, among those people
who were lately in arms against them, or
where there is less purpose or danger ofan7
future attempt to overthrow their autho'
rity.
It would seem to be both natural and in-
eVitable that, in States or sections so re-
Gently swept by the whirlwind of war, where
all the ordinary modes and methods of or.
ganized industry have been broken up, and
the bonds and influences that guarantee So
cial order have been destroyed, where thou
sands and tens Of thousands of turbulent
spirits have been suddenly loosed from the
discipline of war, and thrown, without re-
sources or restraint, upon disorganized,
chaotic society, and where the keen sense
of defeat is added to the overthrow of am
bition and hope, scenes of violence should
defy, for time. the imperfect discipline OF
law, and excite anew the fears and fore
bodings Of the patriotic and well-dls-
posed. Il is unquestionably true that To-
cal disturbances of this kind, accompanied
by more or less of violence, do still occur,
but they are confined entirely to the cities
and larger towns of the Southern States,
where different races and interests are
brought most closely in contact, and where
passions and resentments are always most
easily fed and famed into""outbreak. And
even there they are quite as much the fruit
of untimely and hurttul political agitation
as of any hostility on the part of the people
to the authority of the National. Govern
ment.
But the" concurrent testimony Of those
best acquainted with the condition of so
ciety and the state of public sentiment il
the South, including that of its representa-
tives in this Convention, establishes the
fact that the great mass Of the Southern
people accept, with as full and sincere sub
mission as do the people of the other States,
the re-established supremacy of the nation
al authority, and are prepared, in the most
loyal spirit, and with zeal quckened alike
by their interest and their pride, to co-ope-
rate with other States and sections in what
ever may be necessary to defend the rights,
maintain the honor, and promote the vel
fare of our common country.
History affords noSinstance where a.peo-
pie so..powerful in numbers, in resources,
and in. public spirit, after war so long in
its duration, so destructive in its progress,
and so adverse in it's issues, have accepted
defeat and it's consequences with so much
of good faith as has marked the conduct
of the people lately in insorrection against
the United Sta.es Beyond all question,
this has been largely due to the wise gene
rosity with which their enforced surrender
was accepted by the President Of the United
States, and the generals in immediate COM
Aand of their armies, and to the liberal
measures which were afterwards taken to
restore order, tranquility and law to the
States, where all had for the time been
oyerthrown No steps could have been
better calculated to command the respect,
win the confidence, revive the patriotism
and secure the permanent and affectionate
allegiance of the people of the South to the
Constitution and laws of the Union, than
those which have been so firmly taken and
so steadfastly 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 alle-
glance than they were Immediately upon
the close of the war-we believe it is due
to the changed tone of the legislative de-
partment Of the General Government to-
wards them; to the action by which Con-
gress has endeavored to supplant and de-
feat the Presidents wise and benefcent
policy ef restoration; to their exclusion
from all participation in our common Gov
ernment; to the withdrawal from them Of
rights conferred and guaranteed by the
Constitution, and to the evident purpose of
Congress, in the exercise of usurped and
unlawful authority, to reduce them from the
rank of free and equal members Of Re-
public of States, with riehts and dignities
umimpaired, to the condition Of conquered
provinces and conquered people-in all
things subordinate and subject to the will
of their conquerors-free only to obey laws,
in making which they are not allowed to
share.
No people has ever yet existed whose
loyalty and faith such treatment, long con-
tinued, would not ALLEVIATE and impair, and
the ten millions of Americans who live in
the South, would be unworthy citizens of q
free country; degenerate sons of an heroic
ancestry, unfit ever to become guardians
of the rights and liberties bequeathed to US
by the fathers ann founders of this Repub- !
lie, if they could accept, with uncomplain-
ing submission, the humiliation thus sought
to be imposed upon them. Resentment Of
injustice is always and everywhere essential
to freedom; and the spirit which prompts
the States and people lately in insurrection,
out 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
a free commonwealth, and gives still frmer
assurance of the future power and freedom