The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-08-04

To the PRot

SO through gratitude 10 the most benignant
OF all governments. Secondly. To aid In ,
shaping the policy of the party and guiding
the destinies of the State. Every Wing (
should be prepared to give proposition af-
fecting the honor or interest Of the State a
fair and careful consideration. propose
then to examine into this claim made to the
gratitude OF the WING party, based upon
the assumed benignity of the government.
have not the Governors Inaugural be-
fore me, but If my memory does not err, Il
was partly this sense of gratitude, deeply
impressed for life preserved upon the gal
lows, that Influenced him TO east his lot with
the party Of progress. Whether he was
right i'm entertaining sense of gratitude
depends upon the question, whether or not
his neck was legally and deservedly In the /
halter. If IL was, then its release was a pure /
act of clemeney and grace for which he
should be grateful, but If 1t was an act of
tyranny, the release was right to be de- /
manded, and did not answer the full mea- /
sure of compensation for the wrong and in
Jury. This question each must determine /
for himself The Governor has determined |
II in his own case, aud while have no dis |
position to differ with him in the judgment
he has rendered, must say for the Wings
that in their own cases they have come 10 an
entirely different conclusion.
The government had no right TO halter
us. We were consistent opposers Of the act
of secession, until secession became an ac-
complished fact, and n de"factoHovernment
with ample power to coerce our obedience
fully established.
BY what law then known to nations could
| the perjured members of usurplng and
reasonable Congress assume to arraign us
for treason or rebelliong Was IL benign not
to follow up the foul and atroeious murder
of Mrs. Surratt with the judicial murder OF
all the union men throughout the Southern
States, and were they restrained by a senti-
ment Of humanity, a sense Of justice, or
regard for law, let the witnesses suborned
in that case of an innocent woman and
mother, answer. What have they not done
short OF murder to the Wings of the South
prompted by their hate? What could injus-
tIce pe-petrate, malice invent, avarice con-
ceive, or tyranny infiet, that has not been
visited upon the heads of our people, nor
relieved I'm a single Instance by an act of
justice or humanity ? The millions of prop
erty of which they robbed us mot as an In
cident Of war, but upon cool calculation
of party interest in the plan of reconstruc-
tion,) tley say was forfeited for rebellion.
For argument sake, we grant 1t as to our
selves but were the widows and orphan
children of union men, who died I'm resist
ance OF secession, and before the act also In
rebellion, and have they made to one Of
these restitution or compensation I'm DANA
ges for the robbery? That duty of protec-
ton which they owed to men whose lives
were passed in devotion to the cause OF the
union, was discharged; how, by their plum
der, degradation and acknowledgements. For
our patriotism we were stigmatized as dis
loyal. For our fidelity to the constitution
and devotion to the Union we were deprived
of the privileges of citizenship, and the
rights guaranteed to us by the constitution
which they had sworn to maintain, were
, transferred to our former slaves.
Even these rights to personal liberty Sc
cured to and enjoyed by our ancestors in
every cline for upwards of five hundred
years, were trodden under foot by n despot
so base and low that all the power of the
government that upheld him could not
shield him from the contempt OF the people.
We might speak of benignity II their hate
and avarice could be satiated by the plumber,
degradation and enslavement of ourselves
only. but they have established by force Of
arms a Constitution, cheated offices and fet-
tered freedom with subsidized and merce-
nary press in order to enslave our posterity
and perpetuate their power 70 rob and
plumber.
Their benignity has been less that Of the
highwayman than of the yindictive old ty-
rant whose breast is torn by the contending
passions OF malice and avarice in such a
conflict the baser and mere sordid passion
must prevail, and he pinions the objects Of
his hate with bayonets, works them as
} galley slaves while he fleeces them Of their
substance to fill his Golfers or enrich his
minions.
Such benignity would be a disg grace to the
civilization of Dahomy and savors Of the
t spirit OF the Spanish Inquisition, OF the Sioux
; in the torture Of his captive. His is the
nobler, for nc is prompted by revenge and
is gratifed. They by avarice, a cormorant
never to be satiated, and hate which the
, more implacable it becomes, the more II
consumes, the more impotent the more
odious it renders its l,ossessor.
! We should feel grateful for life preserved
|. yes, so we should, had we escaped naked
f from the clutches of Italian Brigands OF
: Turkish Corsairs. A disgusting rudeness
shocking to civilized men, may be deemed
politeness in a savage. The robbers of tho
widows and orphans Of thirteen States ant
the murderers of Mrs. Suratt, must have
: been in their most benevolent mood wher
they refrained from butchering in colo
blood the Union men Of the South. Had
! there been speck of gold dust equal TO
mustard seed within our veins, blood would
have flowed in torrent like the Amazon
OLD LINE VINO.