National Republican., 1876-10-20

own slaNes, IN PROCURE du Suuiclent-
ly atrOcious for their purpose and this army has
| been launched upon us with the declared object
| of our determination. Poisoned. weapons have
been manufactured and used; exchange of prison.
ers has been refused until the success of arms
eXtorted cartel, and the terms Of this have been
Of the field made it apparently advantageous to
do so. Our countrymen, when captured, have been
removed to rigorous climes and subjected to every
| hardship, that thus they might be destroyed.
Noncombatants have been murdered. Indiscrim-
mate onslaught has been made upon tottering age
women have been subjected to outrage worse than
death. Peaceful villages have been burned, and
| happy homes plundered and burned. Whole pop
.ulatiOns have been removed and bondaged to
| Northern masters. Desolation has marched with
| their armies. Religious services have been pro-
been incarcerated and silenced, and sacrilegious
hands have been laid upon our sacred affairs. Ly-
ing to themselves, and pretending to the rest Of
| the world that they are fighting the battles of
| freedom for four million happy and contented
| negroes, they are attempting the enslave-
mockery Of philanthropy, they have deluded and
dragged these negroes from their comfortable
in the day of battle and they have sent them by
thousands to painful deaths by neglect, exposure
| and starvation. Words cannot express the
| deeds, exceeding, as they do, all that was ever
conceived by men, from the Scythian down to
Comanche. Nor has this been the conduct of an
| unbridled soldery merely. Those officers of
| their army who have surpassed the rest of the
| infamous in infsmyt have been rewarded with
promotion by their Government. NOT mas their
Government been alone in Identifying itself with
their crimes. The people of the North have
never failed when the opportunity was presented
| among the criminals while their press has been
constant in its laudatiOn, and their orators and
| preachers have cried out, "Well DONE" Army,
| Iioyernment and people have united to make the
name of Yankee, suggestive as 1t was before OF
| fraud, now the synonym of barbarism and base
ness.
and the virtue which we claim as individuals and
as people; by the Divine command which warns
the memory of our murdered dead; by the sight
| of the bereayed mothers, widows sisters, daugh-
ters and orphans in our land; by the heart-
| brokenness OF trampled virtue, and by our desc
lated hearths, we are forbidden to admit
thought Of further association with the people Of
the martyred dead, forbid 1t, and our trust In
God forbids it.
sire peace, but we say no less distinctly that it
must be coupled with our independence. And if
| the people Of the United States be really dis
posed to terminate the war, they will best prove
| that disposition by making their propositions to
| the Government of the Confederate States,
which alone can entertain it.
Approved November L. 1854.
The latter of the foregoing resolutions is
| given in full for the reason that they contain
incontestable evidence that those Northern
| Democrats, who held that the national SOL
diers and sailors that should invade the SOW
ereign States Of the South were trespassers,
were in reasonable correspondence with the
| rebels to bring about dishonorable surrender
and peace. The resolutions contain not only
a resolve, but careful restatement of "the
time -honored principles of the Democracy"
upon the questions of State rights and seces-
sion, and the fifth resolution contains the same
arraignment of the Republican party that has
ever since been made, and is still made by the
Democracy in the present canvass. As his
torical, legislative and political statement of
the Democratic policy it is a gem of the first
water.
THE LEGISLATION SINCE THE WAR.
In presenting the evidence of the post bell,tnl
legislation of the South, it is only necessary to
quote from the laws of any one State, and the
same is true of the ante bellua and war legis-
lation of this section of the country, for they
are all of piece, and as before stated, the
laws of this State are even more humane than
those of the other "Southern States" We
use, therefore, the general laws of the elev-
enth Legislature of Texas, published by au-
thority, for the year 1866. 1t will be impossi-
BILE to give this record in full, but the titles
nd quotations we shall present will give the
spirit of the laws IN question with impartial
exactness. Chapter LXIH contains ttan act es-
tablishing general apprentice law, and de-
filming the obligations of master or mistress and
apprentice" The following is section g.:
"That, in the management and control of an
apprentice, the master or mistress shall have
power to intiict such moderate corporal chas-
tisement as may be necessary" And if the
apprentice should run away from such gentle
chastisement, by section Z, any justice of the
peace was authorized "to commit such ap-
prentice to the county JAIL" and the county
judge was authorized "to order him to receive
such punishment as may be provided by the
vagrant laws then in force"
Chapter CXI contains the "act to define the
offense of vagrancy and to provide for the
punishment of vagrants." Section six provides
that in case of conviction the vagrant shall
pay all fines and costs, which, if not done
within a reasonable time, to be judged by the
officer, the accused shall be put to such labor
and in such manner as the authorities shall
provide, and in case of contumacy the vagrant,
by section eight, was to be placed in close con-
finement on bread and water. These acts
were for the especial bepeft of negroes, as no
white man is ever considered a vagrant in this
State. If he be worthless loafer, with moth
ing to do and no income, he constitutes himself
a Cavalier and descendant of the Huguenots,
and spends time in attendance at gambling
hell or bean pole tournament, after the man.
ner of his glorious ancestors.
Chapter LXIV contains can act to give a
lien on the crop and stock for advances to as
sist in making the crop" Such advances con-
stituted lien with preference over all others
except that of the land rent, and gave the
"master or mistress" full control of the labor
of the negro. Chapter LXXX contains an
other "act regulating contracts for labor" Of
this act we quote from one section, as follows:
"Section 9. The labor of the employee shall be
governed by the terms stipulated in the con-
tract; he shall obey all proper orders of his
employer or agent, take proper care of his
work-mules, horses, oxen, stock of all charac-
or kind; also, all agricultural implements; and
employers shall have the right to make rea-
sonable deduction from the laborers' wages for
injuries done to animals or agricultural imple-
ments committed to their care, or for bad or
negligent work. Failing to obey reasonable
orders, neglect of duty, leaving home rit.out
permission, irnpadence, swearing, or indecent
language to or in presence of employer" (em-
ployers never swear, ).''his family or agent, or
quarreling with one another, shall be disobedi-
ence. For any disobedience fine of one dollar
shall be imposed on and paid by the offender.
For all lost time from work hours without
permission of the employer or his agent, unless
in case of sickness, the laborer shall be fined
twenty-five cents per hour. For all absence
from home without permission the laborer
shall be fined at the rate of two dollars per
day-fnes to be announced at the time of the
delinquency" srNo live stock shall be
allowed to laborers without the permission of
the employers. Laborers shall not receive
visitors during WORK hours" And from section
10: "Laborers, in the various duties of the
household and all domestic duties of the
family, shall, at all hours of the day or night,
and on all days of the week, promptly answer
all calls and obey and execute all lawful orders
and commands of the family in whose service
they are employed" &c. What is this but
slavery?