Des Arc weekly citizen., 1867-08-10

except as that will was declared before the surrender, and, therefore, agreed to by the surrender. l have shown that any terms prescribed after the war is over, and after surrender is ac- cepted, are not only not binding on the conquered but are infamous in the conqueror, and amount to new dec laration of war against those who were entrapped into laying down their arms, and who are, therefore, for the time being, helpless. And whether the Congress or the Executive, or both, the President and the Senate Gas is the truth, be the peace-making power of the United States, have shown from the official records of each and all, that the only conditions demanded of the Southern people, in laying down their arms, were the preservation of the Union under the Constitution, with the single change of the abolition of slavery, which single change was very doubttully and imperfectly demanded, but was very promptly and cheerfully yielded.
 No principles, than those l have an- nounced, are better settled, or more in consonance with natural reason and public justice; no terms were ever more distinctly declared as the purpose of waging the war, or more sacredly promised as the conditions of the peace and no surrendering people ever did more promptly, more absolutely, more submissively, or with one-tenth the sacrifice ofproperty and hope and pride and feeling, comply with all the terms demanded on their part, than did the Southern States and people. They laid down their arms; they gave up the great principle of government which their fathers taught them never to yield, and to maintain which they fought so long and endured so much :; though already impoverished they gave up four billions more of property
 -the descended patrimony of centu- ries; they struck the letters from their slaves by their own consent, and, with words of encouragement and hope, gave the freed slaves, by their own laws, absolute civil equality with their former owners; they abided, without complaint or claim for damages, the burning of their cities the devastation of their homes the destruction of the lOoO lOi ttiCii " OiA4Sil anu and thousand otheracts of war which no civilized code will justify, and no civilized precedent will mitigate they changed their organic laws, and re-di- gested their municipal codes to con form them to the new order of things. They repudiated the obligations and contracts they had assumed to their own people and to mankind to secure
 help in what they had deemed a strug-
 gle for liberty and life. They hazarded social revelation and a paralysis of
 every form of labor, which might we'll have awed the most thrifty people, and
 the most firmly established society. All these things they aid and suffered to show good faith in fulfilling the ob- legations of their surrender, 10 main-
 tain the Constitution and preserve the Union!
 Yet two long years have elapsed, and they have not been permitted to enjoy single privilege, nor suffered to escape a single burden of that Un- ionl Nay, while waiting to receive what was so earnestly, so sacredly promised-their recognition as contin-
 uing equals in the Union--they have seen swarms Of agents of the United
 States permeatinS every neighborhood or their land, and stealing, ill the name and by the permits of the Government, aad carrying away their cotton and
 other remaining means with which they had hoped to begin the rccupuis,- 1 ton of their condition; and they see lcoRtinued among them hybrid insti-
 tuition, born in war and unknown to Ilthe Constitution, with crowd of off, cers to execute it's functions, many of whom make companions of ther for mer slaves to foment hatred to the Southern whites, and some of whom ltind mistresses among their former slaves and use their offices to levy blackmail on all classes for their sup port. And all these things, and more,
 our peop;e bear, and speak about only .M whispers, lest by resisting and re- senting the oGtrages of even robbers
 and 'vagabonds, they furnish to those robbers and vagabonds the pretense
 for the charge of q lingering spirit of rebellion against the Government
 And now we arc told'by these mili-
 tary bills, that the very constitutions and governments we so promptly and so submissivcly framed and organized in order to fulfill all the possible obli- gations of our surrender, must be ab- rogated and annulled that new con- stitutions must be framed and new governments must be organized, in which our former slaves are all to par ticipate. and from which every intelli- gent and yirtuous man whom our peo- ple have deemed worthy of trust and confidence at any time during his whole life shall be forever excluded. To this new govefnmentthe negro race is to consent for the white race, and by it the emigrant- -robber and vagabond, with tlloir bribed Southern coadjutor, are torHle both races. And, until this oppression shall be fixed upon us, and made part of the irremedial law of the land, and shall receive the approval of the authors of these bills, who are never to be subject to the government they thus dictate, our people areto live under military surveillance, subject to charge without crime, to arrest with out warrant, to warrant without oath, to trial without jury, to imprisonment without appeal for redress, andto death without any process of law
 Even this bitter cup of hellish ingre- dients might be drank, but for the nau- sea which makes us vomit when we sec it commended to us--urged upon us by some who were born among us who have been often trusted and hon. ored by us nay, by those who hurried ns inte secession to get our rights. to