Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-04-20

Lrhvcrc0 at Pctcr$bnrg, Tiy'nin. on he an
""y Of april, 1867, hy 1nv,tuiipn ,J some
"Me reYlc Of thot city.
thank you for the kind manner in which
w"s received by portion Of my frllow-cii-
xcns today, aud now by you. About year
ago ! promised General Brown to nal a visit
to Richmond, and have just redeemed my
pronlise' One of your fellow. citizens gave me
an invitation to visit your city. ! had tf en-
seen your steeples ut distance and desired to
come here but there was an obstacle in my
way, and now thought | would pay YOU Il
visit. and see you from the inside, but | had
no idea should meet with such kind leccp-
tion. was asked to make speech and am
horc in response to that invitation do not
wish to obtrude upon you. You ask me to
give you my opinious, and intend to do 81,
and will speak them as freely as if were in
Massachusetts. want you to understand that
l am Radical Republican, and have been
committed fully to the same doctrines in the
Senate ns shall advance here to-day.
Now wish to shy to you that we have just
passed through bloody contest, which in the
course of events was incvitable contest of
ideas which shook the continent for thirty
years. 1T had to come; it was nnavnidahle
1T came and VIC fought it out, and now let me
say to you that when the last GUN was Fred
was IN favor Of forgetting all the hit .rness en-
pcndcrcd fy the contest, and of marching with
you, shoulder to shoulder in supror, Of uni
ted country.
What were the causes Of the war? In my
opinion there VS. only onr. nn,! Of that. hoiiI
we OF tho North as well ~ you of the South,
were guilty-humon 1nrc,y in im"ritn
learned my lesson in regard to this institution
from the tenchings OF your own men-'rom
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and
Henry, all of whom in their day declared
against slavery.
On the one land was system of slavery.
and on the other of freedom. This caused
conflict which was w.gcd for thirty years he
tore the war broke out. OF the origin nf this.
VIC, Of the Mrth, were not ruilllrss. We had
hn'nl" lis n class of meu who. furgctlul of the
teachings OF their youth, uttered false rrunil
srs, which the men ot the South believed, and
when we reached the eliminating point in
1860, there were many of the West and Of
the North who said it this difference came to
blows the battles would be fought in the
Norsh and that soldiers from the North could
not 20 South without marching over ll,ir dead
hodica. You believed them anl were dc.
ceivcd. AS fair illustration of the manner
in which the promises were kept, let me tell
you TINT these men were carried into the con-
test and you met them on manya bloody field.
The contest closed, | pray forev +, il or sue.
cess, after a loss of three hundred aud twenty
five thousand lives of those who fought for the
old flag. just here, let me say that do not
wish to rcproach the men of the South for the
manner in which they fought. We met on
six hundred and twenty-five battle fields. and
n, IL
willing to conccde this proudly everywhere,
hut the cause for which they struggled was
lost, and with it the system OF human slavery.
forever.
We have been accustomed to look upon the
battle of Bull Run MS great defcnt. but it
was a glorious victory. We arc reminded fire.
rnently that Congress passed resolution that
the war WAS to be fought for the restoration of
tho Union, and when peace should conc, the
South would be invited to come back into the
Union, and that it was not to be wagcd in the
interest of emancipation. At the time this
resolution was passed, we believed it, and the
war went on. We who were in Congress did
not do our duty. We hcstated in 1862, and
waited until June, 1868, and thus prolonged
the war at least 4 year. Led to proper course
by the disasters which overlook us, VIC saw the
HAND Of God in it, and that there was only one
thing for us to do if VIC would not be defent-
ed, and that was that slavery must 60 down SO
deep that there should be no resurrection, for
ever First, it was abolished in the District
Of Columbia, then in the Territories, and,
finally. Abraham Lincoln issued his Emanc-
patton Proclamation, declaring freedom to the
slaves all over the country. When the work
was over, tho war ceased thank God for it.
Consider the condition of the country at the
close of the war--Lincoln had been killed
the hearts of the people were sud and sore
they had buried 325. 900 Of their children
vacant chairs were to be found in every house,
md lcw|y, mounds, under which thousands