Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1868-01-25
Patriotic Letter from Ex-Governor Perry.

held in Washington to celebrate the 9Th of
January
GREENvILLE, S. c., Jan. 8, 1868.
d. d. Ii3oOcr, Esq, Chairman, &C., DC. !:
Your kind invitation to banquet given at
the Metropolitan Hotel, celebrating tho fifty
third anniversary Of the battle of New Orleans,
was received yesterday morning.
Would to God it were in my power to be
with you and the generous patriots who will
assemble on that occasion to do honor to a
Southern horo and Southern soldcry," and
" "rc-arousc noble sympathy for the descend
ants Of those who SO nobly illustrated the pa
triotlsm and prowcss Of the American citi.
zen'
The Southern heart, crushed and broken
by terrific calamities, social and political, an.
peaIs at this time to every generous and man
ly feeling \ J the North. Never before in the
history of Christian and civilized people
have such nfamy and ruin, wide spread and
universal, been inflicted on whole section of
the country, without distinction between the
guilty and the innocent. 1t is we'll known
that large portion Of the Southern people
were opposed to the secession of the States
from the Federal Union, and did all they could
90 Tor years to prevent tho happening Of SO
dire a calamity to the republic. They have
suffered the destruction of their propertv the
loss of their homes, a:rl the death of their
husbands; and now, as a reward for their
lifes devotion to the Union, they arc doomed
to negro supremacy and the barbaric rule of
their former slaves, stepped in ignorance and
vice. Virtue and innocence, Refinement.
wealth and intelligence are disfranchiscd and
subjected to the government Of ignorance,
paupcrism and selfish cruelty.
The future of the Southern States is fright
fully appalling Experience, for the past two
years, has proved that the freedmen will not
work, and that they expect to live by the
bounty of the Government, or by depreciation
on the industry of others All over the coun-
try starvation threatens them, and they are
stealing, robbing and numbering. The pris-
ons and pcnitentiarics are filed with them, till
it has become impossible to provide for their
support in prison. Soon they will have the
government of the States in their hands -
Sclfdcfence and self-prcscrvation will force
war of raccs-the most cruel, unnatural.
and horrible war that ever dcsolated the face
of the earth
You have well said, in your letter of invi-
tatlon, that VIC arc Z" bono of your bone and
flesh of your flcsh," and entitled to nations
sympathy in our distress We are all, North
and South, the descendants of common an.
ccstry, the sons and grandsons of Revolution
airy sircs, who achieved As.lcrican indepcn
dencc, and established tho Union and the
Constitution ito ensure domestic tranquility
and secure tho blessings of liberty to them
selves and their posterity. How little did
those heroic, noble patriots suppose that they
wore securing domestic tranquility and the
bios 'ngs of liberty to their descendants by
providing tho means, within less than cen
tury, of their descendants being disfranohised
and placed under government of negroes
If there is sense Of justice or manly senti-
ment of honor left in the Northern heart, it
must revolt at this horrible iniquity.
A Southern man led our armies to victory
and independence in the Revolutionary war;
a Southern man drew tho Declaration of In.
dependence; a Southern man has tho reputa-
tion of being the father Of our National Con.
stitution. He was Southern man who gained
tho glorious victory, whose anniversary you
are to celebrate on the 9Th of January, which
you say "confrmcd our national independence
and free Republican institutions in Union
of law and liberty" The Chief Justice of
the United States who interpreted and cstab
lished tho principles of the Federal Constitu
ton was Southern man. For more than
a half century the administration of our ma
,ional affairs was controlled by Southern men,
under whose wise craftsmanship the Amcri-
can Republic has spread over whole CONT
ncnt, and become. ono of the greatest powers
of tho world. During tho war of 1912 the
Southern people worc not surpassed by any
section in patriotism and gallantry; and in
tho warwith Mexico their sons rushed, as
volunteers, to the dofepco Of their country,
honor and glory. IIavo they not a claim,
then, to their country's sympathy in their dis
trcss and desolation Shall it be recorded in;
history that such people were, by their own
brethren and blood, disfranchised and placed
.undor tho cruel and Infamous despot;sm o.
their former slayns an in fhr;nr and barbnrans