The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1870-06-22

was as unconstitutional as unne-
cessary. The people were willing
TO fight for liberty: but were not
willing to be compelled to do So.
If compulsion had been necessary,
the war ought to have been ab&n-
doncd for no people are worthy
of liberty, or capable Of preserving
it, who have to be driven into
battle. Even in the early part of
1865 Mr.. Stephens had hopes, in
case the policy of the administra-
ton changed. 1t did not change,
and so conscription, impressmcnt,
the suspension Of Habeas Corpus,
and prodigal waste Of lives and
property, were the causes Of South
ern despair and defeat.
Much light is thrown upon the
H hampton Roads Conference.
There seems to be little doubt that
scheme was concoctcd to termi-
nate the war by diversion Of the
question to another channel and q
Joint movement Of both armies
against the French in Mexico. 10
have been successful the prelimi-
naries to a military convention
demanded the utmost secrecy.
Mr.. Stephens proposed that Mr..
Davis should meet Mr.. Lincoln.
He refused and suggested three
commissioners. Mr.. Stephens ad-
viscd that three able men should
be appointed whose absence would
not be detected or observed. Mr..
Davis, however, insisted upon ap-
pointing just the very trio whose
absence from Richmond would
have been remarked at once. In
consequence: the matter became q
common public rumor, and the
whole business was thus defeated
from the start. Nobody was
more disappointed at this result
than Mr.. Davis, who subsequently
seemed to lose his good judgment,
but never his ardent devotion to
liberty. Mr.. Stephens descants
upon the future destiny Of the
United States. He holds that the
South is powerless at this time to
shape or control events. The ju-
dietary department, though sadly
beaten, may still be a bull
wark Of liberty. So far, however,
the cause lost at Appomattox was
not the Federal, principle, but the
maintenance Of that principle by
arms. The point reached by the
Centralists is an attempt by duress
to induce certain States, as sovc-
reign Statoe, to conform to thcir
action under the semblance OF
voluntary consent. The battle is
still to be fought, in the forum OF
reason, on the validity o. invalidi-
ty of their acts. TO the last Mr..
Stephens fingers wistfully over
his beloved South and her cause.
He declares that we are not a
conquered people; )" at all events,
that assumption has never been
formally avowed at Washington.
lie conjurcs his countrymen to
avoid accounting responsibility for
the acts Of tyrants. 1t should
never be said that the South is the
author Of her own degradation.
Some day or other the uprising
Northern masses may rally to the
cry that the "Cause Of the South
is the cause Of us all" But if
there is no reaction and no rally
ing the condition of the South will
soon be that of the North. The
loss of Southern liberty will only
antedate by a few years the de-
struction of Northern freedom.
The judgment of postcrity will
! rot in any event brand us as "rc-
bells and traitors" but rather as
selfsacrifcing patriots, and our
heroes and martyrs will take their
places in history by the side of
Washington, Hampden and sgd
ney. Centralism and empire may
come,. but the South will be &C.
quilted Of crime, for even central
ism and empire will be her justiti-
cation in the last struggle for con-
stitutional liberty.