Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-07-25
THE FOURTH AT THE SOUTH.
The La Cross Democrat says:-In seve

raj of our Southern exchanges we read
that the Fourth of July is to be celebrated
in different parts Of Mississippi by whites
and nggers, for the purpose of giving
mutual assurance of cordial good under
standing between the races" Such Gel
ebration may be in character with the
changed condition Of affairs in the repub-
lie of the United States, but it is not an
observance Of that day, when by an act of
rebellion according to Radical interpre-
tation) the white representatives Of thir-
teen colonies of whites men, pledged their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred hon
ors to the maintenance of their declara-
ton of independence from arbitrary rule of
the British King
The celebration of that anniversary by
the people of the South in 1867 is hollow
mockery of their own subjugated and en-
shaved condition-an insult to brave but
conquered people; for no citizen Of Virgil
MIA, North Carolina, South Carolina, Geor-
gia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louis
lana, Arkansas, OF Texas, possessed of
particle of self-respect, could read
the declaratory sentences of the act of
American independence without feeling
rebellion stirring within his heart and mo-
wing upon his lips,
Ninety-one years ago, in small room
in Philadelphia, that little band Of rebels
met to consummate an act which should
make them immortal, worthy of the re-
membranes Of their countrymen, or send
them, covered with ignomy and disgrace,
to tho scafold, convicted traitors against
their anointed king and mother country
DESTROYS ofsetting forth their CLAIMS clear
ly, plainly, fully-of proving to the civil
lied world the purity Of their motives, and
the nature and the extent of their grievan-
ces, the Declaration was drafted by Vir-
ginian's hand, signed by every delegate
assembled.
Thinking of q Southern white man rea-
ding the glowing, indignant and eloquent
sentences Of that defence of the action of
white Americans think Of men existing
(not living under the shadow Of such ty-
ranny as is to-day exercised by the five
Rump Kings, reading with calmness and
impassiveness these words:
but when a long train of abuses and usur-
pations, pursuing invariably the same object,
evince design to reduce them under absolute
despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to
throw off such government and to pi Divide new
guards for their future security Such has
been the patient sutferance of the colonies, Ten
States and such is row the necessity which
constrains them to alter their former systems
of government. The history Of the present
king Of Great Britain the Rump] is history
of repeated injuries and usurpatons, all hay
ing, in direct object, the establishment of an
absolute tyranny over these States"
Or reading unmoved the causes their
fathers had for taking up arms, so appli-
cable to the condition Of their down -trod-
den sons, changing only "the King of
Great Britain" to the Republican Rump
Congress. The men who signed the De-
claration of Independence complained that
their oppressor had done just what the Ra-
dical tyrants Of to-day ase doing. For ex-
ample, say the rebels of 70
'He has erected multitude of new Offices,
and sent hitherto swarms of officers to harass
our people, and eat out their substance
He has kept among u.s. in time of peace,
standing armies, without the consent of our
legislatures
He has effected to render the military in
dependent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined, with Others to subject us
to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution
and unacknowedg dyed by our laws giving his
assent to their acts of pretended legislation
For quarteriug large bodies of armed troops
among US
For protecting them, by mock trial, from
punishment for any murders which they should
commit on the inhabitants of these States
For cutting off our trade with all parts of
the world
For imposing taxes on US without our con-
sent
For depriving US, in many cases, ofthe bene
fit of trial by jury
or taking away our charters, abolishing
our most valuable laws, and altering, funda-
mentally, the forms Of our governments
For suspending our own Legislatures, and
declaring themselves invested with power to
legislate for us 10 all cases whatsoever
He has abdicated government here by de-
claring us out Of his protection, and waging
war against US.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our
coasts. burnt our towns, and destroyed the
lives of our people.
The grave and serious offenses charged
against the brutal George of England APP
ply with equal force to the brutal Rump
of our miscalled Union, which has usurped
the legislative power Of the country. and
transform ed ten Free, Sovereign and In
dependent States into five military Despo-
tisms dominated over by creatures and
agents of its will.
Modern Republicans have made the De-
claration of l776, and the Constitution of
a few years later, obsolete documents, use
less bits of parchment If on this Fourth
Of July Americans would meet together
and with solemnity befitting the occa-
sion, animated by resolutions to which
they would steadfastly adhere and unfinch-
ingly stand for the re-establishment of the
Government of the United States upon the
broad, sacred and eternal principles of JUS
tice laid down in the Declaration and Con-
stitution, then, indeed, might the ninety
first anniversary of American Independ-
cnce be as memorable in our history as
the glorious natal day Of American free
DOM Under the present administration