Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-03-23
p1cKENs G. H., $. G.. SATURDAY, MARCH %,


sistent with his former Course Had bo .tood
upun consistercv. and refusc,I IN .ct or ,;,,,
the purole. he and his oaIl.nt comrades m,,st
have gone to q military prison and been tried
for treason What he did was humiIutinp
to his pride But the condition of the con.
qucred is always humiliutinr. Did unv ono
say that General Lee, by acting upon tho
terms, had degraded hmself. or forfeited the
respect Of others, how much more degrading
is it for you to accent and act upon the best
terms Jou can get as conquered pcope
Suppose you refuse to ACCEPT the terms Of
this Bill, will you get anv better? When
Congress presented to us the Constitutions |
Amendment which tisf,nnchisel but small
class, aud we rejected it, did it present to us
the sa,ue iucasnrc alone "a second time; No (!
iSut they said YOU have refused This measure
aud now you shall accept IL aud universal suf
frag. ZOO
Suppnsc, pow Won ,aru,r to act u,,on th,
present offer Whist nav VIC nY,.ect Int ZEN
er.l dsfranc!,iscmcut of all VIM cnyo,..1 i,
the rebellion, and y general t,m,;s.n,i,n A.,
But it is said that the Bill .lisfr,nchs,s larue
class of our fellow citizens. True. il di,rr,n.
chiscs IA large and highly Intelligent class
Who arc they 1t DISTINGUISHES All who
were members of Congress, or officers Of the
United States who had taken an oath to sun.
port the Constitution of the United States
and afterwards engaged in the rebellion.
There were few United States officers in Geor.
gia prior TO the war, exccpt postmasters Rut.
il DISTINGUISHES c+crv officer Of tIc Ex.cn,;ve
Legislature and Judicial dcn.rtmeuts Of the
State Government who had taken the o,th to
support the Constitution Of tho United Stat,s
and engaged in the rebellion. This embraces
MI persons who have at any time been Cover
nors of States, members of the Legislature
or Judicial officers. In the latter class is EN-
braced all Judicial officers who had right to
| try causes from .Judue of the Supreme. Court
| dnwn to Justice %. tie Peace who had ia
ken said oath and afterwards engaged in the
| rnbrion. us we are now obliged 10 call it,
whatever ,.,ny have bean .ur opnlons Hut
| there is i.sgc class at cheers who u.c not
| dsironcl.isnd although .l.,.ir utGncs rcunired
them to take nn oath q support the Consti,u
iun of the United States
No mar nndcrt w..nts-scvcn ysnrs Of age is
disfianchiscd becanse man hnd 10 between.
ty-one years old to hold IN office that required
him to take the oatlr to support the Constitu
ton, and it has now been six years since the
war began. Neither militia officers, nor ooun-
| ty officers, not judicial arc disfranchiscd as
! Shcrifs, Clerks, Tax COLLECTORS and Receivers
county ireasnrcTs, COnStablcS, CurOncrS,
Road commissioners, Notarys Public, &C. Is
| 1t not better. that the classes embraced in the
disqualification submit to it than that the
whole mass Of white who aided in the re-
bcllon be added to ',c excluded class, and
| the property oi the whole peop'e contscatrd
| do not feel that it ~ degrading to submit to
the terr"s Of the corqucror. IL 80. all who
hear me are aIrsady degraded. You all took
hen N rod fo vi
your property ""'i avid punishment Why did
you not tncn discover the degradation and
"'l'p, the do-nnt!ing dignty policy, which
g.'"tlncn bow talk 80 cloqnently ;h,nt p
fi''se VIII" acted then should have little
nore charity for those who propose to act now
Why did not gentlemen put themselves upon
t!'ei, dignity aud manhood. when required t.,
abolish slavery, repudatc the war debt. and
abrogatc the ordinance of secession, which We
had passed with 80 much defiance If we
could take all that and maintain our 81 self.re