The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1871-07-19
John Quincy Adams.

Some short time since Mr.. Ut,
Trezcvant, editor of the Augusta
(Arkansas) Bulletin, wrote letter
to Hon. John Quincy Adams, of Mas
saohusctts, upon political matters ex.
pressing, among othor things, the
apprehension that, MS ho puts it,
"with Grants vast patronage, III ost
unscrupulously used, he would not
yield tho Presidential chair, oven if
defeated before the people in
1872 and that our Republic like
its predecessors of old, Is SO
rapidly drifting into the channels of
corruption, that the people, in dcs.
pair, may look at one military leader
as tho only means of saving them
from the utter ruin thrcated by an
other" This was the geucrsl scope
Of tho letter, to which the following is
reply:
Quincy, Mass, juno 5, 1871.
Dear Sri cannot pass over, 81.
lcntly, a letter which grati6es mo
as much as yours, which l received
to-day and yet, | feel shy of speak.
ing to you or any citizen of the "sub-
jootcd States" dislike to earn the
retort, ooh, it is very easy to preach /,
but, suffer rs wo have, and then tell
us how you feel, and wc will listen"
Tdo try to take it homo to myself {;
and | do not doubt that, in similar
circumstances, should'be to-day an
"unrepcntant rebcl'-sorc, angry,
beaten and defiant. And, with me,
it would doubtless have been as it has
been with you, that "the tender mcr.
cies of reconstruction had been hard.
or to bear than all the horrors of in
vasivo war" | should have been
CALLED by misgovcrnmont, robbed by
imported knavery of tho pittance
which tho war had spared, exasper-
atod by wilful and persistent misrep-
rcsentation, and cruelty condemned
to hopeless importance for tho impu-
ted gilt of cowardly crimes 1 abhor-
rcd. should have been condemned, :,
too, to hold my personal liberty Mt
tho nod ofa mercinary carpet bagger
or the whim of a military satrap. I
say that fear should have been an
'irreconcilable." In such case
think | should be sulky, but l know
| should be silly if y:oldcd to the
feeling, for whence must relief CON-
if my last estate is not to become
worse than tho first IL thero man
outside an asJ lum who thinks by
such n course the "lost cause" can be
rogaincd BY whom, then If by
tho North, believe mo that the ex-
pertinent of secession has satisfied us
that no cause is worth civil war.
That war has confirmed, beyond q
shadow of turning, tho destiny which
decrced that there shall be pat one
confcderated people of the North
American Union. No. Rebellious !
might be ; but weak enough to await
the resurrection Of secession | do not
think could be. You and l and
your friends and noighbors and mine
are Of ono blood we we're once "fel.
low.oitlzens )" and the old-time kind
moss must linger yet in spots. Our
fathers were "brethreD," and they
must count for something. The whole
political problem of the future turus
upon tho answer to question, "shall
wo live together as friends or enc.
mics = Now tho whole internal
policy the present administration says
war. Reconstruction meano war, and
the In Klux bill declared var.
This Union is now held together by
force. Certainly, if this is to be per-
manontit would have been better to
have parted at first. If the struggle
TO cast out slavery overthrow the con.
stitut!on, what chance Is there for a
'Ireo' government, if the North Is
to rule the South South Caroliua
Is to-day the moot shameless parody
on Republican institutions since Re.
publican Rome bestrode all tho ma
tions Of ancient world pu. the sword
to their throats, stripped them bare,
and then lacked words to laud the
loveliness of liberty. You cannot
be subject, and we be long free. The
untrammelled exercise of local self
government by tho people of the
States ia the salt which preserves our
system. Take that away and our
frame of polity will rapidly rot into
despotism. Therefore it is, that,
not as q partisan, but wholly as a fel.
low citizon, trnst that ali the good
citizens Of the secedcd States will
frankly and hsnestly accept the revo.
Hutionary changes which have been
forced upon the constitution, and with
thom, cheerfully adopt tho now rela.
tions of amity aud political and civil
equality toward the emanoipated
GLASS which these changes involve.
And, therefore, am glad when I see
the noble spirit Of your letsor perva.
r.ad'nng tho Southern people as it does
despite the malignity Of a partisan
press, while the sterling sense Of Mr..
vallapding bas reformed the North.
ern Democracy. And IL matters nor.