The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1866-01-24

ALLEGIANCE to any pnrty, especially such party
as the Radical Disunionists, which is now cppo-
sing the noble efforts of the President to restore
tranquility to the country, by rcuniting the bro
ken fragments under one protecting government.
| This party IS not less the enemy of the North
than it is the enemy of the South, for its policy
looks to ravishing from the lips Of the North the
fruits of that triumph of arms which II paid Tor
in hecatombs of lives and mountains of treasure
that fruit was a restored and unbroken Union.
When we attack the policy and principles Of this
obnoxious party, let no Union man, more ardent
than tbouchttul mistake our zeal against these
enemies of the American people for vestge or
taint of the old ''Rebel' leven. 1t is in this same
spirit of an earnest desire to smooth the way to
reunion of broken country, in heart as well as
in political interest and fact, that approach
The subject Of the unseemly and unnecessary row
that occurred in the theatre. 1t opens an oppor-
tunitv to say to the officers of the United States,
and especially to the younger gentlemen among
them, who are more likely to be carried away
from sound judgment by the ardor Of their feel
ings, something's that have been on our mind,
and which, perhaps, they have not thought Of.
With few and rare exceptions, the hospitaole
doors of Southern houses have not been opened
to these officers With ample leisure on their
hands, which young men love to devote to socl-
etv: feeling that as gentlemen residing in South
ern communities, belonging to an honorable o.
fession and the soldiers of powerful Govern
ment. they are entitled to the hospitable civlIl-
ties On the citizens they are naturally not pleased
at an exclusion, which they incorrectly attribute
to rcbelious insincerity in Southern professions
Of ALLEGIANCE to the Government. Now, gentle
men oficeFS-we address ourselves only to the
gentlemen among them, for We have long since
found that reason is thrown away upon all who
are smitten with the Radical mania reflect
little. You hold that, if our people keep aloof
from you socially, or show some signs of restlVe-
ness when Yankee Doodle" is played for their
entertainment at the theatre, they give tokens of
disloyalty to the government, and in your opln-
ion, their rebellious spirit is not quenched, and
re0nires a little more chastsement and bayonet
argument Now, as to the first, do you remem-
Der that there is scarcely domestic circle In
this land in which your presence would not pull
safe painful reminder on bruised hearts not yet
scred by the healing hand Of time, that the place
of a loved son, brother, husband, or lover, or
revered father, the stay of the household, was
made vacant by the power of your arms? Do
you suppose because this people is conquered,
and has shown every manifestation OF sincere
and earnest purpose to return to and be faithful
to the renewed allegiance to which it has sworn,
that, therefore, the natural feelings Of the human
heart have been eradicated? Though beaten IN
the great political conflict of thirty years brew
ing, and at |, ,st submitted to the arbitrament Of
the sword, do you forget that we are yet men
and women? We should be angels otherwise.
But if it were only the remembrance Of kindred
bloodshed, the difficulty We mention would not
be insurmountable. There are others, weightler
still. Let US ask any candid officer o. the United
States army, Gin what capacity are you here? Is
it in that of soldier of the United States, on
United States soil, as you would be in New York
or Philadelphia? Were it So the doors ofSouth-
ern hospitality would fly open to you. But are
YOU not here to keep 'watch and ward" over
conquered people? Are you not, in some sense,
our jailors, jealousy watching our words and ac-
tionS, and keenly expectant Of and ready to pun
ish every symptom of rebellious feelings which
has no existence? If a drunken fellow, with his
brain not his own, cries ''hurrah for JEFF Davis !"
do you not make great " to do about 1t,
and clap him into military prison? DO you
not confscate and &ne for arms found on white
citizen? Do you not scratinize and interfere
with our laws, and watch the proceedings Of our
courts with nervous sensibility, lest we should
act like brutes to the poor and ever-to-be-pitied
freedmen? If you say "yea," then, in what
sense are we your fellow citizens? You order
Yankee Doodle" to be played as a "National
air" (which it is not), and then indignant be-
cause We do not applaud. Where is the nation.
ality that you require US to stand by, and love
and adore? We 4Gue avne. Having done all
We could to secure it, shaped our laws according
to your wishes, and contrary to our own judg-
ment and principles, to please ycu-we haze no
nationality. We are without country. We
cannot thrill under the tones and the inspiring
poetry Of the ''Star Spangltd Banner" because
your Congress has just dedided, by ANONYMOUSLY
excluding our representatives, that that banner
is not for us, except to pin US down with its bay
onets, and make slaves Of us under its folds, con-
secrat by our common ancestors to liberty.
That Congress has decided that we are not States,
nor citizens of the United States, but rebels and
territorial subjects. Shall We cry Hallelujah,
when our humble circumstances force lampnta-
tions from our lips? Give US the righ; to rejoice
in our freedom to thrill when the national airs
of oar country vibrate in souls; to feel that
we live under a government that is just to our
rights and respects our manhood, and you will
find the old time returned when the South was
always formost in the field at the country's call,
as Washington and his yirginians were on the
heights of Boston. This is the way to encourage
and to assure loyalty that is bursting for devel-
opment in the Southern heart, and is ever re-
pressed by acts that remind US of our condition
"a people without country. And now, having
triumphed over US, is it honorable in brave men,
especially of those who wear the uniform of the
profession of honor: to add to the humiliation of
people who at least are Americans Of your
blood? Is this the way to sustain the policy,
the grand policy, of restored fraternity and po-
litical reconstruction so wisely shaped by the
President of the United States and the Comman-
der-in-Chief of its armies? Of the disturbance
in the theatre there is little to say except of re-
gret that it sprang from the mistaken views we
have been considering. yankee Doodle" has
been played in the theatre q dozen times before
without note or comment. On Wednesday, as
we are advised, a little knot of tipsy boys Kissed
when it struck up. This was replied to by 9TH
ers with applause, and so the house was in an in
slant divided between those who Kissed and those
who approved. We are free to admit that it
ought not TO have been hissed; but surely it was
not polite, by playing it, to run the risk of ma
king the theatre an arena Of political emeute.
The result If this unprecedented excitement
on Wednesday night was an order to repeat
Yankee Doodle" the following night, and the
presence of strong guard and-numerous officers
with their side arms, and the moment the air be-
gan, the rising of the officers to their feet with
vociferous applause and clapplng of hands. As
might have been expected, this produced some
Kisses of diSapprobation. Then came an orQer
to extinguish the lights and clear the house. For