Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-06-15
south would have been banishcd forever

which have rot granted totlc Blacks their full
rights. That is diseraccfhily true. Phe great
mass Of the Republicans have always insisted
that Black acknowledgements %as necessity,
and have uniformly insisted tlat it should be
effected. We have beeh resisted, and to some
extent ovcrbofne, by d mere shred of our par.
ty combining with the Democrats to defeat
U.S. Still, public sentiment has steadily i'm.
proved, Until nearly every Republican in the
..Foretr, With many who have acted with The
bemocmta, ncw heartily favor National
guaranty Of An Rights to All rApplause. !
IT there be any who think the Republican
party ought to be dissolved If there be one
present who desires that it should get out of
the way to give room for new combinations-I
say to him, Help us to finish this controversy
by Embedding i'll every Constitution Estate or
or NatonaD a provision that every citizen
shall have all the legal rights of every other
citizen and no more. Let us be done with
tins matter, and then VIC can move Oh to what
may bc the next question in order. TAP
plausc
come now to Prescription as another OBJ
stacle, impediment, or whatever you may
choose to call it, to the reconciliation of the
Southern people to the Union 1t is asked,
and very cogcntly, " low can you expect us
to be rcconcilcd to- Government which de-
nics us the right to vote or to hold office un.
der t?' very fair question. In my iudg.
ment, there is no reason why any man who,
today, is a thoroughly loyal and faithful cit.
zen of the United States, should be restrained
from voting This, however, is matter which
rests entirely with Congress; aud what J offer
are my own private views. Fl is lust and
wise to dstranchise men who arc still disloya
and who desire that disloya men should OBJ
tain tic mastery Of this country. L deny that
those who arc implacably hostile to the Ma.
tonal authority-who are wandering off to
Brazil to Mexico, &c c.-havc any natural right
to voice in the government of the country.
And that there is class in the South who
merely submit or acquiesce- are recon
cied only SO far that they don't choose to put
themselves in the way of Observation-Disclosures
can be very little doubt hope the number
of this class is comparatively small now, and.
that it is daily diminishing. May I not'hope
Chat the doings in this city this week have
contr butcd' somewhat to diminish its nGin.
bers The eGovcrnniou t.,. .l A:4n Il +t.ssn
dissatisfied men have no control in tho couhl
try. The people should deny to any mau who
would divide the country, or refuses to be
rcconcicd to it, share in it's goScrnment.. T.
accept the prescription embodied in the Mill!
tary Reconstruction act of Congress only as
precaution against present disloyalty; and L
believe the nation will insist on such proscrlp-
tion being removed so soon as reasonable and
proper assurances are given tiat disloyalty has
ceased to be powerful and dangerous in the
Southern States
Then to the question Of CcnGscation,
what is to be said ? What is the truth about
Con6scatiop ! have been told, since came
here, that the coloted people Of this city and
the State were refusing to buy for themselves
homes, because they were imbucd with the
belief that Congress would very socr 'cohfscatc
and distribute the lands of the Rebels of this
State, and give each of them share. If
this be SO, beg you to believe that you are
more likely to earn home than get one by
any form of confscaton. 1 have no right to
speak for Congress, and cannot say what it
will do; but have right to say what Con.
grcss has done. Now we have had since the
war closed, two years of violent political con-
test. Acts have been done and feeling evinccd
in the South within those years which were
strongly calculated to irritatc the ovcrwhcl-
ming majority in Congress Then there has
been at the head perhaps shoyeld say the
head and foot-of the movement for confsca-
ton, the very ablest as well as the oldest
member of Congress. Thaddeus Stevens, of
Pennsylvania, one Of the strongest men who
has been seen in Congress at any tme and
who has aelsfcvcd great influence at the North
by forty years of uncompromising warfare
against every species Of human bondage. He
has been the recognized header Of she ttohsc
for the last six or eight years: Mfr. Stevens
las made speeches for eontiscaton, first, to
his constituents; peSt, ~ Congress; and he
has lately written a letter condcmning those
men who are "pcddling out amnesty" and
insisting upon cou6scation. Bat if any other
member of Congress has gravcly proposcdary
measure of conliscation at all, L don't rcmcm-
bcr the fact; and if any Committee Of either
House has reported any scheme Of con6sca-
tion since the close of the war, am NOT aware
of it. say no bin has been even reported
which proposed to ta1-e away the property of
persons merely because thcy have been Rcb.
els, and give it to others because they were
loyal. These are the facts in the past You
can judge of the future as veil as i uaa.
don't near 70 say that Congress could not be
provoked to decree confiscation BY ,,,"naccs Of
violence and acts OF outrage at the South.
don't pretend :o kncw what Congress may do
under some conceivable circumstances; state
what it has done and has intin,atcd it's pur-
posc to do, so far rs l can speak from knowl-
edgo and recollection
Let me speak for myself only as to the gen.
oral policy OF Coufsoation. Ii half the va
can't, waste lands Of tic South could be ~