Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1867-01-08
TUESDAY MORNING. JANUARY s, 1867.


OTIS Of my country but have never thought Q
attributing aught Of blame censure TO those tru
men who, after having aobly done their duty in tn
dreadful struggle through which we passed, nov
that il has gone agai,,st us, remain tU share tn
insfortunes Of their people and to aid and coutOr
them in their trials on the contrary appreciate ant
honor their motives have not sought refuge in an
other land from insensibity to the wrongs and sui
ferings Of my own country; but I feel deeply Rnf
continually for them, and could my life secure th'
redemption of that country, az it has been Otter
risked, So now it would be- as freely given for tha
object.
There were MEN born and nurtured in the South
ern States, and some Of them in my own Statc who
took sides with our enemies, and aided in desull.
ting and humiliating the land of their own birth,
uf the graves OF their ancestors. Some Of then
rose 10 high ppsitions in the United States army,
and others to high civil positions. ] envy them
not their dearly bought prosperity. | had rather
bu the humbIest private soldier who fought in tie
ranks Of the Confederate army and low, manned
and disabled hobbies on bis crutches from house
houeo, to receive his daily bread from the hands OF
the grateful women for whose homes he fought,
than the highest Of those renagades and traitors.
Lot them enjoy the advantages Of their present
positions az best they may for the deep and bitter
exccrntlons OF an entire people now attend them,
and an Immortality Of infaniy awaits them.
AS for all the enemies who have overrun or aided
In orerrunnng my country, there is wide and i'm
pasSablo gulf between u, in which see the blood
of slaughtered fiicI.;. roragadcs and country1nen
which all the waters%> sas -T .;a:acnt above and
the ieas beneath caIsh6' wash atyay. Those enc
mics haru undertaken " render our cause Odious
and infamous; aud among other atrocities commit
ted by them in the effort to de- so, an humble sub
ordinate, poor Wirz, has been selected rs O victim
to fendsh spirit, and basely murdered under an
executive edict, founded on tho sentence uf vim
dictive and illegal tribunal. Let them continue
this system. they are but erecting monuments to
their own eternal dishonor, and furnishing finger
posts to guido the historian in his researches. They
may employ tho infamous Holt, with his "Burcuu
Of Military Justice" TO sacrifice other victims on
tho altars 0f their hatred, and provost Marshas,
and agents of the "Frocdmons Bureau" may riot
in all tho license Of petty tyranny, bu: enemies
can more control the verdict Of impartial histo
ry, than they can escape that doom which awaits
them at the final judgment.
During the war, slavery was used as CATCH word
to arouse the passions of fanatical nab, and to
somc extent tho preJudiccs Of the civilized world
were excited against US but tho war was not made
on our part for slavery. High dignitaries in both
church and state in Old England, and puri;ans in
New England, had participated in tho profits Of II
trade by which the ignorant and barbarous natives Of
Africa were brought from that country and sold into
slavery in the American Colonies. The generation
in tho Southern States Which detnnded their coun-
Ty III lIle lute "hf, iouHh amongst them, N CIV
iiZcd and christianZcd condition, 1000 U0U Of the
descendants of thosu degraded Africans. The Al
mighty Creator Of the Universe had stamped them,
indelibiy, with different color and un inferior
physical and mental organization. lie had not
done this from nero cGprco or vhim, but for wise
purposes. An anal ganation Of Tho races was in
cOntrsventiUn OF His designs, or He would not have
made them 30 different. This immense number of
people could not havO been transported back 10 the
lna frNr1 hair Ep,,
they could have been, it would have resulted in
their relapse into bartarisIn. Reason, common
sense, true humanity 10 the black. well rs the
safety Of the white race, required rhnt the inferior
race should be kept in state Of subortination.-
The condition OF domestic slavery. ~ it existed in
the South, had not only resulted in great improve
ment in tho moral and physical condition Of the
negro race, but had furnished class az lnLorcrs as
happy and contented any in the world, if not more
SO. Their labor Ind not only developed the i'm
mensu resources OF the immediate country in which
they were located, but WITS the main source Uf The
great prosperity Of the Cai:cd States and furnished
tho means for the employment Of millions Of the
working classes in other countries. Nevertheless,
the struggle made by tha people oi the South was
not for the institution OF slavery, but for ,he ines
.iInaLe right Of self-government against the dom
ination of fanatical faction at the North and
slavery was the nero OCCASION Of the development
Of the SntaSonism between the two sections. That
right of selfgovGrnment has been lost, and slavery
violently abolished. Four millions Of blacks have
thus been thrown >hcir RESOURCES, to starve,
10 die, and to relSpse in;i Esrbarism; and i:lcor
;eivable nsorieo have boei eliaiied on tho whitc
race.
The civilized world will find, too late, that it,
has been ali false, and its religion nl
wrong on this subject and the people of the Uni
ed States will find that, under tho pretuuce of
Saving tho life Of the nation, and upholding TIE
I'D flag" they hayo surrendered their own liberties
nto tho hands of that worst Of all tyrants, body
II sensoless fanatics
Whom tho passions and infatuations Of the day
shall have been dissipatcd by time, md all the
,ts OF tho late war shall hnvo passed into irrevo-
,uble history tho future chronicor Of that history
will have most important duty 10 perform, and
,osterty, while pornS over its pages, will be lost
n wonder at the follies snd crimes committed in
his generation.
Ny narrative is now given to the public, anil the
,oo morit claim for it is that Of truthfulness. In
writing it have received material aid from an ac-
,urate diary kept by Lieut.. William W. Old, aide
% Major Guncral Edward johnson, who was with
nc during tho campaign in Maryland and the She
landoah Valley, until the 18th Of August 1864, crd
no copious notes Of Captain J. Hotchkiss, who
.cted as Typographical Engineer for the Second
Corps and the army Of the Valley District, and
,ecorded tho events Of each day, from tho opening
II the campaign on the Rapidan in May, 1864, un-
ii the affair at Waynesboro, in March, 1863.
November, 1866. ia. Early.