The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1866-03-15
4 striking Letter from Robr. j,
Walker.

-A' 'he STahu CONSERVATIVE meeting held
in New York on the anniversary of the
birth of Washington, the following letter
was read from the Hon. II. j. Walker, ono
of the most influential Union men during
the war:
PHriADELpuIA, Feb. %, 1896.
Stmeon Draper, esq:
Detained from the great Union meeting
by circumstances beyond my control, (
must address it geographically, and not as
| did after the fall of Sumter. President
Iohnsons veto opens new campaign in
favor OF the Union. 1t arrests the over
throw OF the States and the concentration
oil all power in one consolidated military
dcspotism. 1t prevents the expulsion Of
eleven States from the Union, and the
erection of seven Irelands within its limits,
to be controlled and oppressed by military
power. 1t prevents the quartering OF
large standing army and hosts of officials in
the South, with an enormous increase Of
our debt, to be followed surely by oppress-
I'VE taxation, or dishonoring and disgrace
ful reputation. 1t prevents the defeat Of
the plans of the Secretary of the Treasury
Tor the funding and reduction Of the pub
lie debt, and n safe and gradual return to
specie payments. liquidation is disgrace
and ruin, and the probable extinction of
republican institutions throughout the
world
This result, or large standing armies and
oppressive taxation, caused by the policy
OF the Presidents opponents, would pro-
ducc an earthquake conyulsion. 1t would
quadruplc the excise and income tax
blight every field-becalm every vessel
break every bank and railroad, and ruin
every factory IN the country. 1t dissolves
the Union, destroys the Constitution, and
erects military despotism upon its ruins
1t would postpone, perhaps, indefinitely,
the transfer of the command of the com
mercc and exchanges of the world from
Europe 10 America. European despots
would exult, while the friends Of freedom
IN the old world, and especially in Ireland
and Germany, would weep tears of blood.
johnson is walking in the footsteps jackson
and Lincoln, and teaching their sentiment.
iCc tn!cs. shall bo preserved. The pro
ionged government ot eleven States as con-
quered provinces, enforcing taxation with
usrepr esentation, would permanently ALI
enate the South from the North. 1t might
drive them TO madness and despair, and
renew the civil war when our credit and
resources were exhausted We have eman.
cipatct, through great constitutional
amendment, carried only by Johnsons
policy, four millions of negroes.
Let Us not attempt to ensave eight mil
lions OF our crring white brethren of the
South. They will all welcome death be-
tore such stat. rs this | have fought
al! my Lille against secession and disunion
IN the South, and | renew the contest
a.aInst it in tie North. Congress has no
constitutional power to dissolve the Union:
and to condemn eleven States TO territorial
pupilage is dissolution Of the Union. I
cannot so with Northern or Southern dis
unionists. JOhnson's policy alone can
practically restore the Union. 1t has already
crushed the heresy of secession at the
South, and it alone has secured 4 constitu.
tlonal majority for the abolition of slavery.
Ii the hcrcsy OF secession is crushed at the
South, and emancipation secured, tie
crowning glory rests upon the hea ad of
Anlrcw johnson. Slavery and secession
our only discordant eiements-being
'hus extirpatod, the Johnsonian policy vii.
20 coi'iucF!hS ana 10 conquer, not by the
sword, but by wisdom and magnanimity.
1t will subduc at the South passions and
prcjudlces, it will touch their hearts and
conquer their affections.
We shall hear no more of exceptional
and individual acts OF characterization, for
we shall have n Union of interest and af-
tcction; Union Of States with States, and
not with conquered provinces We shall
have the Union and representation of all
the States as ordained by the Constitution.
We shall have 1 cordial, fraternal, an ever
expanding, an omnipotent, an indissoluble
and perpetual Union. Men of the South,
from Virginia to Texas, close up the ranks,
and fight harder to get in tho Union than
you ever did to get out oft. You fought
us under the secession flag with unsur-
passed courage and endurance to get out of
the Union Come now, our erring, but
still mucn loved brethren of the South, and
TO assemble with us again at the political
family altar at Washington. Come with
loyal hearts under the flag of our sires and
to the music OF the Union, and we will
give You cordial welcome Come, and
the recording angel will blot out, in recon-
Nu.N