The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1885-01-29

common Government OF Ia frerooa,s
tive, and if the State jid manifest n
purpose 10 assert itssdignity and ifs
rights, the cry that tho arm of the
common Government would be there
by paralyzed forced it to abandon its
purpose and trust to tho hope that q
speedy termination of the war would
terminate the forced and unnatural,
will not say undignified, condition in
which it had been placed. AS might
have been expected, the exercise of
powers which were never intended
to be conferred upon the common Gov
ernment has necessarily called forth an
| equally unauthorized administration of
them. Imprcssment, for the sake of
illustration, has supplied the place of
contract. The order of bureau ac-
complishes what Congress itself WoulI
not venture to do. The functions of a
judge are transferred to some military
officer, and tho course of Justice is
closed by the denial to magistrate of
the power to inquire into the cause of
n commitment. Arrests are made by
order, detention is secured by com
mand, and power more gigantic than
any crowned head in Europe would
exercise is presented to us as the
means by which we are to ensure sue
cess in struggle to establish q free
II is thus that we have dried up the
openings from which new courage and
fresh impulse could have been given
TO, our people in this protracted contest
IN winch they have been engaged. We
taught them to know their States as
tneirs country, and in the defense of
tnat country we have blottcd ont and
hldacn from their view those States
which arc that country. Unhappily
for us, the lapse of time, which has
but. served to multiply the cases i'm
which the State Governments have
acq6iesced in this wide departure from
the standards of right and Justice, have
also SO much increased the dangers of
defeat and 80 much intensified the
desire for rcposc that it will require
something of firmneSs to sustain the
state Government in its proper posi-
tlon. But if there is difficulty, and
however great that difficulty, it is to
be more than counterbalanccd bv the
plain truth that it is only by restoring
the state Governments to their proper
| conoltlon that our success in this war
can be secured. Unless military suc-
ccsses shall give to it new life the
credit of the Confederate Government
| is gone; with the loss of its credit. its
resources of course are also gone.
fortunately, the credit of the State is
maintained. The question is, there
fore, looming up directly before us.
Shall the Confederate Government ad-
minister our credit as it has our sup
plies and warlike appliances which we
have given to it? | may we'll suppose
that to this proposition there will be
but one answer: if SO, it will furnish
the occasion, and that, according to all
probability, not far distant, when we
must understand better than we have
done the relations of the State to the
| common Government at Richmond. If
look forward to this or auy other
circumstance which is likely to bring
us back to our true position, it is be-
cause in that position alone can find
assurance of our certain success. We
Will shave men enough to make an
army able to win our deliverance; VIC
still have resources sufficient to carry
us safely through all our difficulties.
But we have no more men to lose; we
nave now no resources to waste; the
States, as States, are to fight out this
hIC lCitllGlCS Vi
this grand drama; all else is but the
appendagc.
1t is the political condition Of each
State which is to be won or lost. Itis
/ the life, liberty and property of the
citizens of each of those States which
are staked upon the issue of the con-
test. If we save these we have the
common Government those States have
framed. And those States are held
together, not because they have so
written and signed, but because they
| recognize in all of their relations the
evidence of a common destiny. Let us
not forget in dealing with this great
war that we find our strength i'm the
comprehension of the fireat principles
of human conduct and action. | have
been led away by the considerations
which press upon ne further, | fear,
than your patience will allow, and will
only delay you until l assure YOU of
the respect Of your obcdicnt servant,
A. G.. MAGRATH.
Gov. L. B. VANCE, Raleigh, N. c..