Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-10-29


fed, hasmere tadO with your soug plight than
anger or malice Ihave always thought 20; d shat t
have thought Of late there was certainly feeling
of soreness, rising Of Che gorge, at the thought
of the ra9pTpeahiahce Of yodr" "dld Asaders IN con-
Espichous places. But thesttoagest cards '~hach
the Raaicallssaers had wers aisbelef in YOUR VOWS
of aIlee eiasce} wantof 'eoafaenee in your profes.
sians respecting slavery fear for the future she
freedmen, and deep distrust of your patierice and
good conduct I'M such matters free discussieH,
Efofbearanee with difference Of opinion, ard sthe
fright Of ianaolestedc travel OF settlement AMONG
Fyeu. Perhaps ?soat are aware how igravelv such
dsdbtsland fears hare comprised your care. but II
may be wholesome, IL 6istasaefal o!sevie'vthese
widespsesdsnspia6hs and options little in detai
Of course nothing oonla lead; >im6rs strohgB'to
Justify the severe measures OF the Republican par
tty towards you, or secpse,tq them more surely an
|inde6nite extension Of political powell than to be
ale to persuade The which, in the early
dsysof peace was inclined To place generous con:
6dence, in your professions Of sincere and abso
lutte acGniesceee d i In he events Of tie war, and
your purpose to abide X rood faith By the decision
that you were dissemblsrs and dshonorabe PERU
rers Your purpose was, redeem By lard
swearing ii What you ost BY hard lighting, and YOU
yourselves, in, many cages, furnished tie h1aterim
for making e7jdence against yourselves Part of
it was legitimate and part vas very unfair but it
all was eagerly caught up and unsparingly used.
If ypl bad bsepa dangerous fsreHp foa Ehse}sss
utter destruction was necessary for safety grester
pains could hardly have Been taken to inHame .the
people against you, and close, their hearts 70 your
appeals. = doubt If Cato took more trouble to
show tie Roman people that Carthage must be
destroyed and Punic faith must have been very
bad, indeed fit was represented to be worse than
your own Every hasty word, every natural re:
gret, every expression of pride in the memories of
the old campaigning days, every ebullition Of heat
was carefully remembered and spread before the
North. If an irresponsible newspaper editor or
reporter published a foolish and infammatory ar.
ticle, it was instantly pounced upon and scattered
alt over the North TO show that the mass Of South;
ern feeling was as rebelious as ever. If You made
any attempt to take part IN politics you were bent
on revolution; if you, refraiped you we're sulenly
plotting new insurrection. The peaceful presence
Of, delegates at the Convention in New York was
a plot, and the resolutions were dictated by you,
and your only object was TO seduee fhe Democrat
ics party into new war. These devices and q
thousand more have been used 50 long and 50; well
that it is no wonder they have produced very
great effect. The person OF the paper cited against
YOU may have been 50 obscure as MOTTO have reach
ed your notice here, or so low as to preclude Sc.
rious attention on your part or the writer or the
speaker may have bean garbled or fasifed;s but i
made no difference. The contradiction or tlisproof
came after the damage was done, and was not pub
Gshed to the same audience, which had seen or
heard the charge made The antidote was power
less to reach the poison. Norwere your intentions
respecting slavery satisfactory. It was urged that
lit had become so ingrained that you could not of
yourselves refrain from lingering for it, and the
wish would ripen deeds if the chance was offered.
It was useless to urge your consentto the thirteenth
amendment, for if you ever had the power you
would surely denoupce your action therein as done
under duress and void: IF one asked to be shown
SOME conceivable method by which, under the CIR
c,uinrsstances, such .consummaton could be prac-
tica1ly arrived at, the only answer vas, where there
Is will there is q way. 1t was useless to, urge
that slavery was ut bestan expensive estab bishment
lit would now be worse than valueless. Nor could
the very men who had always proved this very
fact and declared further that you were sitting on
powder magazine even when your slaves were
most isolated, most ignorant, most guarded, and
absolutely unarmed, so that now when they had
tasted freedom been stuffed with new ideas of their
rights, unmatched and bristling with weapons, any
attempt to re-ensaYe them would be the act Of a
mailman who plunges flaming. torch into the
black grains of powder beneath him. The distrust
upon this head was mostly fostered by intrepid
statement, and supported by vague but passionate
defamation. But on another cognate subject, your
own people furnished weapons which were used
with disastrous effect against you. SID. - ~,
think that universal suffrage was probably
forced ON you when it was, and as it was, by the
yagrapt laws which several Of your Southern leg
islatures passed soon after the war closed. These
were instantly caught up at the North and con-
stantly paraded to prove that youwere determined
to restore slavery in the person Of her sister, en-
forced servitude for poverty or if not, yet it was
shown that you were unfit to be left in charge OF
the freedmen. Now there are doubtless grave diff
fculties in the problem which this vast ignorant,
and from want of education and training, frequent
ly thriftess and vagrant population, presented to
you for solution. The embarrassments are also
more apparent to you on the spot than to those
unfamiliar with the surrounding and preceding cir
cumstances. But admitting, for the sake of argu-
ment, that the laws were needful, humane, and
wise, they were exceedingly inopportune and un-
. fortunate for you The North was naturally ex-
ceedingly sensitive on this point. The slaves had
been recommitted by US for our own ends, and if
we had left them exposed to your anger, or cap
rice, or vengeance, it would indeed be an ndelibe
stain upon our shield. We had become guardians
1of the freedmen, and we must be faithful to our
trust. The most calm and moderate men we're as
clear as the loudest and most noisy, that it Was an
undoubted obligation on our part to secure by all
means in our power their security and happiness.
1t had long been urged that it was impossible to
Insure safety for the black among you, except BY
larming them With the Franchise, and your yasrant