The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-06-14
THE LIBERTY FOR WHICH THE SOUTH CON-
TENDED


triumph of the North Both parties contended
that they were respectively the custodians of po-
litical liberty on this continent. The statesmen
and journals of both sides were all along singing
peans of praise to the Goddess of Liberty. The
people of each section were indoctrinated into The
belief that they sustained vast armies and prose-
cutcd q mighty war that something bearing the
name of liberty might be pcrpetuated. 1t may not
be amiss to examine, in succinct manner, the re-
lative doctrines for which so much precious and
invaluable blood was shed, alas in vain, for
neither the one nor the other was established by
the results of conflict where overpowering num-
bers forced the weaker side to yield in passive
obedience to their pronunciamentos and proclama-
tions The opinions of the South ore no more
dominated now than they we're when its armies
were reoding the soil of Pennsylvania, nor is this
declaration at all inconsistent with the pledged
faith and allegiance of the conquered masses They
have sworn to protect and defend the Constitution
and the Union, and not the dogmas and fallacies
of any man or set of men. Their duty is plain and
straightforward, and there is neither turning to
the right or left in pursuance of this obligation.
The principles enunciated by the leaders of The
Republican party anterior to the great struggle
looked to the ultimate emancipation and conse-
quent liberty Of en- unenlghtened race then in
bondage However much the North may decry
against this as the prime motive for waging war,
and however great may have been their demonstra-
tions to prove that the Union was the paramount
object had in view, the indelble stamp of history
itself will forever ax the asty of this argument,
as we shall undoubtedly prove by the facts. The
very first objection to the stipulations agreed upon
at the surrender in North Carolina was that the
status of slavery remained unchanged The howl
against the SHERMAN-J oHNsToN treaty. proceeded
upon the assumption that the peculiar institution"
of the South was not interfered with, and if the
articles of that convention were ratified, then
might the property of shareholders be preserved
intact Further, the proclamation of the President
Enthusiastically pointed to those of his predecessor
wherein slavery was declared at an end in certain
insurrectonary States. And the first and main
condition upon which we were told that the States
would be received back into the Union consisted in
the abolition and total prohibition of slavery or in
voluntary servitude, and this condition was COM
piled with to the letter. This array of facts in
contestby prove that the vaunted lovers of liberty
on the other side of the Potomac meant nothing
more nor less than the freedom of the black popu-
lation of the South. If aught else were needed to
sustain the assertion, we might point to the forci-
BILE and striking action of Congress upon the ad-
mission of the lately insurgent States and then to
the powerful efforts which have been made to fasen
negro equality upon the Southern people But
this is sufficient we presume, to establish the truth
of the premises already set forth, and we will
hasten to view, in striking contrast, the principles
of liberty for which the stalwart sons of the South
buckled on their armor and went forth to battle.
For long years of political agitation and turmoil,
the people in this section of the Union were con-
vinccd that there was a powerful party in the
North gathering strength to pervert the plainest
principles of the Constitution and overthrow the
Government from the pinnacle of political liberty
upon which its trainers had erected the proud
fabric The attachment of our people for the
Union, under the Constitution, induced them to
forbear with the encroachments of radicalism SO
long rs possible, and it was not until the growth
of that dangerous element had waxed strong enough
TO place in the Executive chair man who ndvo-
Gated an ..irrepressble conflict" betwixt slavery
and the Constitution, that the great heart of the
people was fully permeated with consciousness
of wrongs and oppression, and determined upon
IN effort to remedy the throes and conyulsions into
which the country was about to be plunged. The
masses were devoted to the Union erected by their
fathers, and doubly welded to the principles in
culoated by the trainers of the Constitution The
doctrine that each State had right to govern her
domestic affairs in her own way found lodgment
in the breast of all, and when it declared that
there was conflict which could not be repressed,
between those States recognizing slavery and the
Constitution as interpreted by the then newly
elected President the South with unparalleled
unanimity at once proceeded to execute the law OF
sef-preservation. 1t was not that the institution
of slavery was endangered, for not one man IN ten
was directly interested in its perpetuity, and
hardly O corporal's guard could have been mus
tered had the leaders of secession gone before their
people upon the abstract question of slavery. But
the statesmen of the South predicted the tyranny
of the present day, and the masses honestly be-
ieyed the result would be to fasten the iron heel
of despotic majority upon their necks forever.
Rather than tamely submit to the encroachments Of
this mighty usurper Radicalism, the mode and
manner of their action was determined upon, and
the issue of secession was fairly presented. We
will not pause to demonstrate that many dissented
from this mode We were not of that number, but
on the contrary sincerely believed that it was the
only alternative. War ensued, and the South was
defeated in that arena. But to declare that her
people do not at this time more firmly believe in
the principles Of Constitutional liberty is to belle
her position, and debase her fair name for conss-
tency. The sword against the Union is forever
laid aside. The measure of secession is finally
abandoned, and in honest faith the States would