Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-09-14
LOYALTY!
ADDRESS OF THE SOUTHERN DELE.
GATES TO THE PEOPLE OF THE
UNITED STATES.
The Appeal OF the Loyal men of the
South 90 their Fellow Citizens of
the United States.


The representatives of eight millions Of
American citizens appeal for protection and
justice to their friends and brothers in the
States that have been spared the cruelties
of rebellion, and the direct horrors Of civil
war.
{ Here on the spot where freedom vas
proiered and pledged by the fathers of the
Republic, we implore your help against a
reorgauized oppression, whose sole object is
to remit the control Of our destinies to the
contrivers OF the rebellion after they have
been vanquished in honorable battle--thus
at once to punish us for our devotion to our
country, and TO entrench themselves in the
official Notifications of the Government
Others have related the thrilling story of
our wrongs from reading and observation
We come before you as unchallenged wit
nesses, and speak from personal knowledge
our said experience. If you fail US we are
more utterly deserted and betrayed than if
the contest ofarms had been decided against
us for IN that case even victorious slavery
would have found profit in the speedy par
don of those who had been among its bra
vest foes.
Unexpected perfdy in the highest place Of
the Government, aecidently filled by one
who adds cruelty to ingratitude, and forgives
the guilty as he proscribes the innocent, has
stimulated the almost extinguished revenge
OF the beaten conspirators and now the
rebels, who offered to yield everything to
save their own lives, are seeking to consign
us to bloody graves.
Where We. expected benefaetor we find
prosecutor Having lost our champion,
We return to you, who can make Presidents
and punish traitors.
Our last hope under God, is the unity
and frmness of the States that elected
Abraham Lincoln and defeated Jefferson
Davis.
The best statement of our case is the
appalling, yet unconscious confession Of
Andrew johnson, who, in savage hatred of
his own record, procaims his purpose to
clOthe four millions Of traitors with the pow.
er to impoVerish and degrade eight millions
of loyal men.
Our wrongs bear alike upon all races, and
our tyrants unchecked by you, viii award
the same fate to white and black.
We can remain as we are only as interiors
and victims.
We may fly from our homes but we
should fear to trust our fate TO those who,
after denouncing and defeating treason,
refused to right those who had bravely
assisted them IN the good work.
Till we are wholly rescued there is neither
peace for you nor prosperity for US.
We cannot better define at once our
wrongs and our wants than by declaring
that since Andrew johnson affiliated with
his early slanderers and our constant enc
mics, his hand has been laid heavily upon
every earnest loyalist in the South. Histo-
~ the just judgment of the Present and
the certain confirmation of the Future,
invite and command US to declare
That after rejecting his own remedies for
restoring the Union, he has resorted to the
weapons of traitors to bruise and beat down
patriots.
That, after declaring that none but loyal
should govern the reconstructed South, he
has pTacticed upon the maxim that none but
traitors shall rule.
That, while in the North he has removed
conscientious men from Office and filed ma
ny of the vacancies with the sympathizers
of treason, in the South he has removed
the proved and trusted patriot and selected
the equally proved and convicted traitor.
That, after brave men who had fought for
the old flag have been nominated for posi-
tionS, their names have been recalled and
ayowed rebels substituted
That every oTigional Unionist in the South
who stands fast to Andrew Johnson's cove
nants from 1861 to 1865 has been ostracised.
That he has corrupted the local courts by
offering premiums for defiance Of the laws
Of Congress and by openly discouraging the
observance of the oath against treason.
That, while refusing to punish one single
traitor, though thousands had
earned the penalty of death, more than
thousand of devoted Union citizens have
been murdered in cold blood since the sur
render of Lee, and in no case have their
assassins been brought to judgement
That, he has pardoned some of the worst
of the rebel criminals, North aud South
some who have taken human life
under circumstances of unparalleled atroc
ity.
That, while denouncing and lettering the
operations of the Freedmen's Bureau, he
with fall knowledge Of the falsehood, has !
charged that the black men are lazy and
and has concealed the fact that
more whites than blacks have been protected
and fed by that noble organization; and
that while declaring that it was corruply
and expensive to the Government,
he has connived system of pTotiigacy in
the use Of the public patronage and public !
money wholly without parallel, save when |
the traitors bankrupted the Treasury, and |
sought to disorganize and scatter the army
and the navy, only to make it more easy to |
capture and destroy the Government
That, while declaring against the injus- |
tice of leaving eleven States unrepresented, |
he has refused to authorize the liberal plan |
Of Congress, simply because it recognizes
the loyal majority, and refuses to perpetuate |
the traitor minority.
That in every State south of the Mason
and Dixon's line his policy has wrought |
the most deplorable consequences, social, |
moral and political 1t has emboIdened |
returned rebels to threaten civil war in Ma |
ryland, Missouri, West Virginia and Ten |
nessee, unless the patriots who saved and |
sealed these States to the old flag surrender |
before their arrogant demands
1t has corrupted high State officials, |
elected by Union men, and sworn to enforce
the laws against returned rebels, and made |
them the mere instruments of the authors |
Of the rebellion.
1t has encouraged n new alienation |
between the sections, and by impeding emil
grafton to the South, has erected formidable |
barriers against free and friendly intercourse |
with our couutrymen in the North and the |
West
1t has allowed therebel soldiery to perse-
to burn the churches in which the freedmen |
have worshipped the living God.
That system so barbarous should have |
IN the frightful riot at Memphis |
and the still more appalling massacre at
New Orleans, was as natural as that |
bloody war should flow from the teachings