Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-07-05
THE WILMINGTON JOURNAL
The Fourth of July.

surrendered
ties. and, so far as the Southern people were con-
s,erned. the war closed They were tnen re-
s1ured to swear that thenceforth they Woplo 1al'h
fully support, protect and defend the Consntutlon
of the United States and the Union OF the States
formed Hereunder. But few OF our cltlzenS oe
clined to take this oath and never did people
subscribe to an obligation in better faith and with
nober Intentions Andin order to conform them
selves to the new order of things, and accept
fully the political situation established by force "
arms, the Southern people went beyond LLl7
For although President Lincoln had otnclally ue-
clared that he had neither the Will nor the power
to interfere with slavery in the States, the South
gave its solemn obligation that it would abide by
and faithfully support all laws and procamatlons
made during the war with reference to the enan-
cipation of slavery.
The heroism and devotion that has rendered the
Southern people Industrious, wherever MANHOOD
and patriotism are regarded as virtues, should
have been esteemed the best guarantees that these
OBLIGATIONS were not entered into with a craven
spirit but in the hope of peace and in the inter-
ests of the future prosperity of common country.
4 courageous devotion to principles, which STOOD
the seyerests tests to which mems honesty OF pur
nosa have ever been subjected, the surest evil
,lence that present declarations could have been
confided in.
The quiet and, under the circumstances, manly
submission to the demands made upon them.
seems to have infamed their conquerors against
The Southern people. Their cheerful concessions
were responded to by renewed exactions, evlnc1ng
by degreesa determined purpose to degrade Them
The South was not only called upon to acquiesce
fully in the legitimate results of the war, but Is
now asked to make treason odious. The noble
men who bore our banners in triumph over the
bloody fields of Manassas, through the memorable
swamps of Chickahominy, amid the terrific char
pes Mt charlottesville and sealed their honest
devotion to the cause in which they had embarked
by the devoted attempt for mastery, against odds
and resources without parallel in history, almost
against hope in the desperate struggle Tor victory
from the Wilderness to Petersburg, and in the
the stern and sullen retreat to Appomattox and
those who at BentOnsville illustrated the mighty
power Of true patriotism in the hour OF despair
must be denounced by their own people as trail
tors, or, if dead, their memories must be dishon-
Ored and their blood 1espsed The virtues and
deeds of the dead Jackson must be ignored or re-
Inembered with excavations, and the character OF
the living Lee must be blackened with abuse, and
the iniquities Leaped upon the llustrious prisoner
at Fortress Monroe, applauded.
In order to be regarded as loyal and to be re-
stored to the Union, the Southern people are not
only called upon to belle their natures, but must
voluntarily execute the bond oftheir own
infamy. They must not only submit to great hui
initiation but profess that they cheerfully submit
to it as the just need of their tratorous actions
To-day the South would have been glad to have
united with the North in honest and grateful re-
ioicings at the return of this national holiday
throughout the North, excited orators to more e1-
cited audtories will utter patriotic harangues be-
cause returning peace has restored this great
country the blessing of the Constitution and the
Union Tens of thousands of ioydI tongues will
utter excavations against Englands tyrant as their
chosen readers with faultless articulation, read
from the Declaration of independence, that immor-
tai document of our old rebel forefathers, how
varms of officers have been sent to harass the peo-
ple and eat ont their substance how standing az
miles, in time of peace, vebeenkept among them
without their consent !; how they have been sub
iected to jurisdiction foreign to the Constitution
and unacknowledged by their laws how taxes
have been imposed without their consent how
they have been, in many cases, deprived Of the
benefits of trial by jury; how their charters have
abolished how the civil government has been
made subservient to the military how their sea-
coasts have been ravaged, their towns burnt, and
the lives of their people destroyed how domestic
instructions have been excited among them ;
and how their petitions for redress, in the most
humble TERMS have been answered by repeated
injury Throughout the length and breadth OF
the prosperous North, will countless multltudes,
filled with patriotism, and in the enjoyment OF all
the comforts and luxuries of teeming wealth, and
clothed in the panoply of intense loyalty and
blinded by the completeness of their success, res
pond with fanatica zest to each separate count IN
the terrible bill of indictment, and denounce as
disloyal and traitorous, those who might suggest
that the substitution OF 6 the present Congress"
for "the present King of Great Britain III that
remarkable paper, would he but submitting
facts to candid world.
Then as brave and noble people, with pro-
found admiration for true freedom and good sense,
whose self-respect has not persisted with their de-
feat, we are glad that our people have not vel
coined the Fourth of July with senseless rproar
and pretended reioicings. They know and ap-
preciate all that is implied in the due observance
of this day, and have done and will continue to
do all that their obligations require and their
honor permit to be regarded as worthy to assem-
BILE upon this national Sabbath with the other
States as worshippers around the alter OF constl-
tutional liberty.
The Southern people feel most powerfully the
full truth of the remark of ex-President Davis to
his humane Surgeon-for cruel outrages which
have told with fearful effect upon his health, have
spent their fury i'll vain upon his mind and his