Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-29

was an original secesSionist. I was born in
South Carolina. Growing up under the
influence and teachings of that master in
tellect, Calhoun-then in the full glow of
his meridian--I eagerly imbibed his States
rights doctrines, and I suppose that I sim
cerely and relgiously believed that they
were correct, as you believed that your OPP
posite views were sound for years before
the unfortunate struggle We have passed
through. I foresaw that the issue which
divided North and South must ultimately
be settled By the sword.
I went into secession cordially. AS q
States rights man I stood by it cheers =
as long as there was any chance to sustain
it. When the President of the Confeder-
ate States abandoned the great States
rights doctrine that We commenced and
were agreed upon, differed from him.
When be adopted his conscript measures,
which gave him the entire control of the
whole army of the Confederate States, and
of every officer in the army-an error, sir,
you did not commit took issue with
him. But we went through the struggle,
and l will not attempt now to renew its his
tory. But we of the South fell you of the
North were the conquerors, and think
had sense enough at the end of the struggle
to know when y | was whipped Cheers
think my course more honorable than
that of the man who was a rebel and sought
the same amnesty l receive and the same
protection from the government receive.
and then stays in its bosom prepared to
sting when opportunity offers. Cries of
GOOD good !" and applause. When 1
fought you, 1 fought you boldly and
openly. When [ surrendered, I sur
rendered in good faith, and when L
took the oath, [ took it with purpose
religiously to serve it. By my theory
true one-my primary allegiance was to the
State. When [ had formerly taken an
oath to support the constitution of the
United States I understood it to bind me
only when my State remained in the Uni
on, but if she withdrew-which believed
she had right to do for just cause, accor-
ding to the necessity of the case, of which
she must be the judge-I did not feel that
had violated that oath when went with
my State; but the oath with which the
President of the United States bound me
was very different. I was sworn now to
support not only the constitution, but the
union of the States.
AS I understood the doctrines of democ-
racy-they were State sovereignty and the
right of secession. The sword has estab-
A1oACo a. O11AC4CAO uOSU1AAS, 1Au ASuC0 III 10
that am no longer bound by allegiance
! to the democratic party. The Hamilton
ian and Websterian construction has been
established by the sword, and I have ac-
guessed in that, and find the republican
/ party standing on the platform to-day that
has been abandoned by the democratic
party. That naturally leads me into the
republican party. Cheers. know that
it is a very unpopular doctrine in the
South, but believe it is true. But tell
you, Mr.. President and gentlemen, that
there are many white men in the South,
there are large numbers OF original demo-
Gratis thtre, large numbers of original Sc
! cessionists in the South, who to-day stand
as firmly by the republican party and will
support the great captain of the age, Gen.
Grant. LGreat applause. Our democrat
ic friends there have opposed negro suf
frage and denounced it as an outrage up
on manhood, and yet in the late elections
the negro who voted the democratic ticket
was really a very respectable fellow
Laughter and white men who voted the
republican ticket were scalawags and trail
tors. Cheers and laughter. They tell
US there you establish negro supremacy in
the South. Not so; not so, While we
grant to the colored people all their rights,
civil and political, we do not expect them
to be our masters. AS much as you have
seen in the papers on the subject, it is not
SO in the State of Georgia.