The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-02-02
Extract from Speech Deliver
ed BY Wade Hampton, before
the Soldiers Association" at
Walhalla, South Carolina, Sep
tember %, 1868. =

tember %, 1865.
You may perhaps, fcllow-citizens, think
that any discussion Of general politics is
inappropriate on an occasion Of this sort,
but as | may not again have an opportn-
nifty to placo myself right upon the record,
or to correct the misrepresentation Of
both my antseedent and present position,
disseminated by the Radical press, may
claim your indulgence for a brief dis
cussion of these topicsY 1t is full time
thai some voice from the South SHOULD be
raised to deehre, that though conquered,
she is not umiliated-though she sub.
mits, she Is not degraded; that she has
not lost her self-respec.; that 80 laid
down her arms on honorable terms; that
she has observed these terms with the
most perfect faith and that she has a
right to demand like observance Of them
on tho part Of the North. Would to God
some voice more potent than mine would
utter these truths Would 10 God that
the tongues OF those great statesmen Of
Carolina, who in tialss past warned, eoun-
selled, directed our people, were not hush.
cd in death, or that those who more re.
Gently stirred the Southern heart to III
prcfoupdest depths, were not now as ST.
lent as death itself
But, perhaps in the midst Of IT, silence
SO profound, even my voice, feeble as il
is, may not be without the weight which
always attaches to the Gttcrancc of truth
aud in this hope | venture to discuss oui
condition and policy.
What, then, is our condition. For four
years the South was the victim Of crue
and unnecessary war-a war marked on
the part of her opponents by barbarity
never surpassed in the annals of civilized
warfare. The sword failed 10 conquer her
for on nearly every battle field she wa'
victorious, and her enemies were forced
to resort TO weapons more congeuial Il
their nature-frc and famine The torcl
was applied with an unsparing hand. Tht
Imansion of the rich, the cottage of tht
poor, peaceful villages, thriving cities
even the temples of the Most High God
i fell before the ruthless destroyer; leay
r ing, to mark the spots where once the,
stood, but ashes and blackened ruins. -
All the industrial resources Of the Soutl
were wmtonly destroyed or stolen, ant
gaunt famine followed in the footsteps o
; the invaders. The men who had born,
without murmur every privation, wis
had faced death in q thousand shape
q without finching, were not proof agains
the cries which eaHc TO them from home
less and starving wives and children
They laid down their arms, which tho,
had crourscd with eternal iastrc, and tho
accepted the terms offered to them by tn
North. What were those terms! Through
out the whole war the North declared. +
the most solemn and authoritative man
ner, that she fought solely to rc-establisl
the Union TO bring back TO one fold al
the States, and give TO all equal right
aud equal liberty. This was the conslan
declaration Of Mr.. Lincoln. Mr.. Sewar
not only announced the principle, but b
declared that whatever might be the rC
suit Of the war, not only would all th
rights Of the Southern States be prescry
ed, but all their institutions would be in
, tact The Congress Of the United State
passed resoultion-I think, unanimous
(which they never repealed, annount
ing the object, aud the sole object of tn
war to be the restoration Of the Unio
under the supremacy of the Constitution
The very powers under which VIC lai
down our arms promised the protection c
the Government, and gave the assuranc
i that we should not be interfered with S
Y long IS we obeyed the laws Of the State
! wherein we resided. These DECLARATION
were. made not only to the South, but I
5 foreign nations and the South was a
lsured that she had but to acknowledge th
supremacy Of the National Government
be received into the Union as equal men
bers of the great family of States, Wit
all her privileges unimpaired::
These were the terms upon which IL
South capitulated. On her part, she WI
to cease war, to renew her allegiance
the National Government, and TO EXPIRE
hel loyalty TO the Constitution of the I'm
tied States. On the part of the Mort
: there was to be amnesty for the past
re recognition Of the Southern States
W equal members Of the Union-and SC
y emn pledge that all their rights should
ir held gacred This was the constructic
in placed by the South upon the covena
re entered into, and it is the only fair al
r, honest construction it will admit Of Hc
IN have the parties to this covenant fulfill
IN their obligations |? have said that Il
ut South has performed hers with the me
i'd perfect faith. Let me prove the assertio
ee She was to cease war. When our col
Il manding officers signed the conventio
on which put stop to the war, every soldi
at Of the Confederacy, from the Potomac
ss the Rio Grande, laid down his arms al
OF returned to his home, or to the spot whe
I'd his home had been. ~
Id The next condition Of the terms ]
ot quired from the South renewal of b
at allegiance to the General Government.
he In every Southern State the people,
ok their conventions, their legislatures, a
tn individually, conformed promptly to Il
IS. condition. Loyalty to the Constitution
70, the United States was exacted as the or
I'M other article of the terms required of I
pa South. I assert that she has fulfilled Il
part OF the compact, as'weil as the othe
to the letter, and that in the true accep
ce tion of the word, she is loyal. What
ed "loyaltyT r It is nothing more nor i
nd than NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. to the la
Ice of that Government under which y
MS live, Have any people on earth mantle
ed higher faith, or been more 'obedit
j, to the laws Of the land than we have be
nQ1 since our allaoionoa to tho Gavarrr,.