The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-07-06
Another Letter from John Quincy Adams y
National Issues and the Condition Of the
South.

Another Letter from John Quincy Adams . {.
National Issues and the Condition Of the
South.
From the -iugusta (Ark.) Bulletin.
Some short time since we wrote a letter to-
this gentleman upon political matters, express.
ing, among other things, apprehension that,
with Giants vast patronage, most unscrupu-
lousy used, he would not yield the Presidential
chair, even if defeated before the people in
1872; and that our Republic, like its predeces-
sora of old, is so rapidly drifting into the chan.
nels of corruption that the people, in despair,
may look to one military leader as the only
means Of saving them from the utter ruin
threatened by another. This was the general
scope of our letter, to which the following is a
reply. 1t will be seen that Mr.. kdams, who
represents the anti-Radical party of New Eng
land, endorses the Vallandingham policy; and
herself if she throws off her friends in New.
England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the other.
States? They "accept the situation" not be-
cause it is right and just but because it is i'm.
posed upon them bya force they cannot resist.
Read MI. Adams letter.
QUINCY, Mass, June 5, 1871.
DEAR SIR: l cannot pass over silently let.
ter which gratifcs me as much as yours, which
I received to-day; and yet feel shy of speak
ing to you or any citizen of the Subject States"
I dislike to earn the retort, "Oh it is very easy
to preach; but suffer as we have and then. tell
us how you feel, and we will listen" / do try,
to take it home to myself, and do not doubt
that in similar circumstances should be today
defiant. And with me 1t would doubtless have.
been as it has been with you, that "the tender,
mercics of reconstruction had been harder to,
to bear than all the horrors of invasive war;"
I should have been CALLED by misgovernment,
robbed by imported knayery of the pittance
which the war had spared; e1asperated by will
full and persistent Misrepresentation; and cruel
ly condemned to hopeless impotence for the
imputed guilt of cowardly crimes I abhorred.
T should have been condemned, too, to hold my
personal liberty at the nod of mercenary car
petbagger or the whim of a military satrap.
say that / fear l should have been an "ir-,
reconcilable" In such case think | should
be sulky; but 1 know.I should be silly if I
yielded to the feeling For, whence must my
relief come if my last estate is not to become
worse than the first? Is there man outside
an asylum who thinks that by such course the,
If by the North, believe me that the expert.
ment of secession has satisfied us that no cause
is worth a civil war. That war has confirmed
beyond the shadow of turning, the destiny !,
which decreed that there shall be but one con-
federate people of the North American Union.
No. Rebellious 1 might be but we9S enough
to await the resurrection of secession do not
think I could be. You AND -Fand your friends,
and neighbors and mine are of one blood; we.
were once "(ellowcitizens," and the .old-time
kindness must linger yet, in spots. Our fathers
were "brethren, ,. and that must count for some
thing. The whole political problem of the fu..
ture turns upon the answer to the question:
"Shall we live together as friends, or enemies ."
Now, the whole internal policy of the present
administration says war. Reconstruction meant,
war; and the Ku-Klux bill declared war; This
Union is now held together by force. Certain
ly, if this is to be permanent, it would have
been better to have parted at once. If the
stitution. what chance is there for "free" gov
crnment, if the North is to rule the South7
South Carolina is to-day the most shameless
parody on republican institutions since repub-
iican Rome Lestrode all the nations of the an
cient world, nit thessTord to their throats, :
stripped them bare, and thon lacked words to
laud the lovelncSs of liberty. You cannot be
subject and We be long free. The untrammelled
exercise OF local self-government by the. people
of the States IS the salt which preserves our
whole system. Take that away and our frame
fp0llty VIII rapldly ToGlnto ueSpoViSni. inefe-
fore it is that, not as a partisan, but wholly as
fellow-citizcn trust that all the good citi-
zcns of the seeded States will frankly and hon-
estly accept the revolutionary changes which
have been forced upon the Constitution, and
with them cheerfully adopt the new relations
of amity and political and civil equality to-
wards the emancipated class WHICH these
changes involve. And therefore / am glad
when I see the noblc.spirit of your letter per-
vading the Southern people as it does, despite
the malignity of 3 partisan press, while the
sterling sense of Mr.. Vallandingham has re-
formed the Northern Democracy. And it mat
ters not what man may he. chosen to. lead us SO
long as his heart is large enough to hold his
whole country, his soul brave enough to em-
brace Confederate as brother, and his. plat
form wide enough for every American citizen
to stand upon. To compass this end something
of sacrifice is required of us all: much of self
control is demanded of the South. You and
all hear assure me that the attempt will be
made: and if made honestly and in earnest, it
cannot fail. Again thanking you for your let.
ter, l am, very respectfully, your obedient SER
want, j. z. ADAMS.
To T. Trezevant, Esq, Augusta, Ark.
MODERN DOMESTIC CooKERy.-We copy
the annexed paragraph from the Greenville