The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-11-04
John Quincy Adams at Home.
WHAT HE SAID TO MS NErGHnoRs AND
FRIENDS ABOUT THE SOUTH.

WHAT lie SAID TO HIS NE1GHDORs AND
FRIENDS ABOUT THE SOUTH.
The Hon. John Quincy Adams made
an address to his friends and neighbors at
I Weymouth, Mass, in the course of which
ho said:
AS you all know l have made little
trip to the South wished to see what
reconstructed State was, and went to
South Carolina for that purpose. have
come back with this conviction, though /
do not know how the ether Conservative
citizens of the Union may feel about it.
never intend to stop, to relax for one
moment IN the heartiest, most earnest and
most honest efforts can make to remove
all such blessings as reconstruction from
the .necks of every one of my fellow-citi-
zens. Loud applause. The issue in this
campaign to, ME is simply this, aud moth
F ing more. Reconstruction, as you know,
is the Radical constitution. 1t is the only
constitution now in ten States OF the
Union, and what is it ? 1t is simply this,
the rule of the military and nothing else.
.In order that it;may not jar too much
upon the nerves of q republicanpeople to
see eight millions of their fellow citizens
held down by the bayonet, they have
brought in great mass of three or four
millions of poor, Ignorant, degraded black
men, and set them up in q row, as.it were.
across the Southern States, and because
they think you cannot see the bayonet
behind them, they say, "That is arepub-
7 (. y h
livan? What is this republican form of
government? Why look at the condition
of those States. Suppose that almost all
The voters in this Commonwealth should
suddenly be deprived of the franchise,
and in their, place it was bestowed upon
set OF men who were entirely ignorant Of
the value and responsibility of the voting
power-who knew nothing about any Of
the principles in regard to which they
weresvoting. Suppose such q. class Of
men wcreat0 be- put over you, of course
you would not like it-you " you'd feel un-
comfortable and Disagree, and you would
not suffer. their. rule if YOU could help it.
Yet this is precisely the condition in1which
South Carolina is to-day. Sheis govern
ed by ect Of nen who, if the people
were left to themselves, would have no
more. chance. Of holding the oiiocs Of our.
government they now hold, than should
OF being clectedsking OF Great Britain in
,lacc Of Queen ictoiiS, fl were 10 sc
10 i3;lrland to MORON. Laughter. And
these officials having 10 hold upon The
esteem of the people, MS they call tLcm
down there in tlieir expressive, though
slightly incIegaiit language, "sc.ilawagso
and. ssscarpct- -baggers." " cannot conunand
any of their respect and conidence. The
consequence ofetl.is IS, tl,at they lavo to
he supported in their rspiaccs by the bay %
nets of the United States soldiers. And.
as ;Lcrc are rot Uiii:cd States solGii,is.
enpllall.sat Tie South 10 lvrp-iho. people
e,Si,rly : ssScontcnted5o nor enough to make:
,hc.sov ovcnament thoroughly Democratic"
so every day or two. they are calling for
more soldiers in order TO support these
thoroughly ".Dcniocratc' and 'RepubIi
can, governments anu tLat isreeoustrue-
toni Ny Southern Democratic friends
dosn tlicre greeted Inc ina way Which I
shall never forget to my dying day. The
kindness, the warmth, the considerations
the order which they showcdin wslcom
ing any Northerner, especially from
Massachusetts, who would go down there
and say to them a kind word, who would
not treat them like boys, and call them
rebels, traitors, miserable rascals, orvil-
lains, went deep to my heart. They asked
me to say to my .fellow-citizens at the
North that they fought you in the war;
they bclieved4tliat they were right; that
they fought you as hard as they could,
and when the war was done they frankly
abandoned what they had fought for.
They said we had whipped them; wehad
conquered what we demanded during the
war, and they were ready to give it up.
They would fight. no longer, and all they
asked was friendship and Kindness. What
they deserved from us at the North was
mercy, the hand of kindness, good follow
ship and brotherly love. Loud applause
They want no more contest, no more i'll
blood; they want merely to shake hands,
saying, we fought, and now the fight is
done, let MS be friends. That is the feel
ing of the mass of the whole people lmet
at the South. saw no unkindness, no
sort of feeling indicating unkindness to-
wards any Of the people at the North.
That they may be treated i'll decency and
kindness, they do ask, and that is what |
pray of every one of you to labor tor.
| [Applause.l 1t is the thing, it seems to
me, that we need here at tile North as
much as they need it at the South. All
that they ask, and all that the,Democratc
party ut the North seek to accomplish, is
that we may be allowed to come together
once more in peace and amity,; that this
incubus Of reconstruction may be taken
off the people; that these soldiers may be
taken away from between us, and that
we-all of us-once may feel, North as
we'll as South, white man rs well as black
mantle benefits of Union under the
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