The news and herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1876-1881, 1876-11-02
AN mI,,hatio Letter From the Next
y p President.

Nfw Y,,K, Oc..nbcr 25.--Gove1
} nor ."ylden has addressed 10 th
{, Hon Abrant s, Hewitt alcHter oa'c :
l to-day, declaring llis nosiI4"h r,
regard to Southern c1ain,s. =
! Ftauotcs t,ie fourteenth amena4> >'eil
or .sie cotlstitutinn, and points T.
'ae faSt that ii !tas been repeated,
S> y. ,veTby tha Democratic Stat
SPpls Go;. 'ocs Of the South, and WA
wnrIn,i'c adopted os t'es platform %.oe Q
tho Democratic Nstio.- ~ f,s nm
ton, which declarco 1T to It'll. M
vcrsally respected rs ''l'l s. ~
ment. Governor Iilde,., atte-
citing his own public declara.. 'ons
on tho subject previously mad.,'
says:
Should I be elected President, tho
provisions of the fourteenth amend
ment will, SO far rs depends on me,
be maintained, executed and en-
forced in perfect and absolute good
faith. No rebel debt will be as.
sumed or paid, no claim for loss or
emancipation of any slave will be
allowed; no claim for loss or dam
age incurred by disloyal persons,
arising from tho late war, whether
covered by the fourteenth amend
ment or not, will be recognized or
paid. The cotton tax will not be
refunded. I shall deem it my duty
to veto every bill providing for tho
assumption or payment of any such
debts, losses, damages, claims, or
for refunding any such tax. Tho
danger to the national treasury is
not from claimants who aided tho
rebellion, but from claims of persons
residing in tho Southern States, or
having property in those States,
who were or pretended to be, or
who, for tho sake of aiding their
claims, now pretend to have boen,
loyal to the government of tho
Union. Such claims, even of loyal
persons. when they arise from acts
caused by tho operations of war,
have been disallowed by the public
law of civilized nations, condemned
by the adjudications of the Supreme
Court of the United States, and only
find any status by force of specific
legislation of Congress. These
claims have become stale, and often
tainted with fraud; they are nearly
always owned in whole or in part by
claim agents, by spectators or
lobbyists, who have no equity
0roiOst toy ,,ovo,o ~, A., ...IG
They should in all cases be scru-
tinized with Jealous care. The ca.
lamities to individuals which were
inflicted by the late war ore, for tho
most part, irreparable. The gov
eminent cannot recall to life tho
millions of our youth who went to
an untimely grave, nor compensate
the suffering and sorrow of their
relatives and friends. It cannot read
just between individuals the bur-
dens of taxation hitherto borne or
of debts incurred by sustaining tho
government, which are yet to be
paid. It cannot apportion anew
among our citizens the changes or
losses incident to military OPERA
tons, or resulting in every variety of
form from it's measures for main.
tanning it's own existence. It has no
safe general rule but to let bygones
be bygones, to turn from the dead
past to new and II better future,
and, on that basis, to assure peace,
reconciliation and fraternity be-
tween all sections, classos and races
of our people, to the end TINT all tho
springs of our productive industries
may be quickened and II now pros
perity created, in which the evils of
the past shall be forgotten.
SAMUEL j. TILDEN.