The weekly loyal Georgian., 1867-08-10

benefits in the past, and as the fortunes
of war have been against them, they
must now stand aside for time at
least, and live as you have always lived
without office. Aud while they are
excluded, such of you as may be Sc
ktted from your own number, must
come forward and fill the positions of
honor and trust in their places.
As society would still have existed,
and prosperity and happiness might
still have been hoped for, if all OF us
who are now disfranehiscd had died
when these acts of Congress were
/ passed, we may still expect the country
to exist, and the offices to be filed
after we are disfranchiSed.
/ Judging from the past, it is natural
to conclude that if Congress had re-
quircd IL further sacrifice of the peoples
property, without interfering with the
nights Of the leaders to hold office, as
the terms of settlement, it would have
been as promptly and cheerfully"
yielded as they yielded slavery. But
when Congress required the leaders to
yield this right to settle the question,
and save to the people the balance left
them, how few have been willing to
make this sacrifice for the public good.
Those who have been accustomed to
occupy the positions of honor and profit
seem to think the country is ruined
beyond redemption, if they are dc.
prlyed of this right. Doubtless other
men will rise up in the places of many
OF them, as honest and as capable as
they were, and the country will still
prosper after they are forgotten.
1t is much to be regretted that many
of our iormer leaders seem to employ all
their powers in widening the breach,
and stirring up our prejudices against
the people of the North. When the war
ragged this was natural. But when
hostilities ceased it became unnatural.
Enemies in war should in peace be
friends, is the preeept of high authority.
Suppose the leaders Of the North had
all been as active in arousing the
bitter prejudices of the masses against
us, what would have been the result? +?
Before this time our whole property
would have been eonhscated to pay the
war debt, end all who voluntarily aided
in the rebellion would have been for
ever distranchised. If we had been
the conquerors, aud the people of
the North the conquered, do you not
believe the same Southern leaders who
now labor so faithfully to keep alive
our passions and our preiudices
against the people of the North, would
have favored the dictation of as
hard, nay, harder terms to them than
they now prescribe to us2 Mr.. Hill, il
his Savannah speech, above referred to
before the war began, laid down the
terms upon which we were to allow
them TO come into the Union or Con
federacy: after we had ''burned thei
cities and devastated their country
, If they "came humbly enough as hcw
ers of wood and drawers of water thel
might COME" These are the terms
upon which he and others, as Radica
Southern leaders, proposed to allow
them to come back into the Union aftel
we conquered them. And many of th,
same men, who then entertained thi
rcvengeful spirit, are now the men whc
denQunce tue governing men OF tht
North as pcrjured traitors for proposing
milder terms to us; and all our people
as perjured traitors who accept milde
{ terms.
Again, the masses Of the Northern
, pcODle have shown none of this re
, lrntlnse spirit toward ms since the wn,
r Our cities were burned and our cOuntr7
devastated by the war. This wa
, followed by drought and very shor
, crop. Thousands of our people wer
ON the very verge of starvation. w
: had not the means of relief anon;
ourselves. We appealed to the hu
, manity of the people of the North, ant
, they responded with noble and genel
i, Gus sympathy. Our agents who wen
) among them to represent our destitu
tion, distress and suffering, were nc
turned empty away. The people 9
, the North lent Il listening ear, and the
; opened their hearts, their houses, thei
r granarics, and their purses, and contr
, buted hundreds of thousands of dollar
t in value to the relief of our pooT>--t
. feed the hungry and clothe the naket
4 who, but u short time previous, Wer
enemies in arms against them. Eve
|. the Congress--that "lragmentary col
: claye of perjured traitors" as Mr.. Hi
p calls them, appropriated large sum
: the relief of the suffering poor of tn
:. South as well those who had bee
}. rebels as those who were Union mel
e In view Of these considerations, mo!
o respectfully submit that all these mi
Il chievous, malignant efforts of sue
leaders as Mr.. Hill, and others actu
ated by like motives, to arouse passio
and influence prejudice against til
e people who have acted in this spir
Ii toward US since the war, is i'll ba
taste, unjust, unreasonable, and III
e grateful. 1t is true the people of tn
" North claim to dictate the terms {
peace, and it is equally true that if v
G, had been the conquerors we shou
IF have maintained the same positiO
4, The question has been submitted to Il
V. arbitrament Of the sword The decisic
te is against US in this high court Of OF
1t own selection, and we are bound
lc the Judgment aud compelled to suhln
ID Then, why all this fustian, and ran
Of and nonsense, after we are whipped an
are at the feet at the conqueror, pc
IL lectly powegless Why whimper, All
yt whine, and snarl continually abou
,r what we have lost? Why not yield {
RS our fate. hard as it IS, like men, and 6
I. to work, and try to build up again
is Whv continue to irritate those who haS
&c absolute power over us, and proyok
fl. them to become more cXactlng? VIII
a should leaders 50 obstinatclY rcs's
their own disiranchiscment, when the
ia success in the defeat of the ConyeniI9
Il will not, in the end, relieve a single nl
Tr Of them, but will terminate ih tn
m general dislranchisemen, OF The peopl
40 Who arc their deladod followers?
m Leaders now say they had rath'
ID u remain under military goyernmel
: than submit to the requirements
to Coneress. This will moi be above
st st us Rely upoE ii, the fortieth Co
10 10 gress will not finally adjourn Ii
Il i fbese States are all reconstruct
aa mon some terms, and yeadmittS
~ to representation. The people Of Il
re- North demand this, and il will