Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-12-26
SrANGH AND TRUE.
A SOUTHERN MAN WHO SUFFERED
FOR HIS COUNTRY'S SAKE.


FOR HIS COUNTRY'S SAKE.
"Reminiscences OF the War-How a
Loyal Louisianan Opposed Seces-
sion, and What 1t Cost Him.
Although twenty-five years have elapsed
since civil war was inaugurated IN the
Southern States of the Union, there were
many stirring events of those days that are
indelibly stamped upon the hearts and
memories of persons yet living. That there
were those in the South who-through all
the vicissitudes of that terrible struggle
remained steadfast loyalists, the country
has had abundant proof. Individual cases
of suffering and persecution at the hands of
that misguided people who sought to dis
rRpt the Union in the hope of perpetuating
slavery, were frequently recited during the
war, but the avenues of communication
were then SO few and uncertain that
the real inside history of the re-
preciated by, the people of the North.
The latter were, moreover, so absorbed
in their own anxiety for the safety of the
| Union, and their hearts and minds SO full
of the stirring events Of the times, that
they had little opportunity to think of
their equally loyal brethren of the South
| who were-like the Christians of old
undergoing persecution at the hands of
| their neighbors because of the faith that
was In them. And, wilhelm common
with the great mass of offensive
view with repugnance any and all ill-timed
| efforts to reopen the wounds OF the war,
or to faunt the bloody shirt" (Which
should long ago have been cleansed OF its
CORY stainsl we do not deem it out of
| place to refer to the sufferings and persecu-
tons which were visited upon one of the
| leading Unionists in the South. These per-
| solutions were inaugurated because he re-
| fused to barter his loyalty and love of
country for the sake of citizenship under a
| government whose foundation was to be
the institution of human slavery. The
| facts are related-not for the purpose of re-
| fleeing upon the people of the South who
| followed the fortunes of % the lost cause"
but TO do justice TO the memory of man
whose loyalty remained Steadfast through
all manner of wrong and persecution.
| FAITHFUL AMONG The FAITHIESS.
In 1861, when the Southern States were
| holding conventions and considering ordi-
nances of secession, the adoption of which
the people supposed was all that was re-
quired to lift State, as it were, bodily out
Of the Union, one of these gatherings was
held at the Capital of Louisiana, in the
month of January. While an ordinance
declaring the State to have severed its con-
nection with the Union was under consid-
alton, Hon. James G.. Taliaferro, Delegate
| from the Parish of Catahoula, arose and
made a strong speech against secession.
Although he stood almost alone in that
| body as the defender of the Union, he COM
manded the attention of the ire-eating
| members of the Convention. Judge Talia-
| ferro was at that time one of the wealthiest
and most prominent planters in the State.
His possessions along the Mississippi were
| considered the finest in the parish; and,
| although the owner of several hundred
slaves, he was known to be one of the few
progressive and far-seeing men in the South
| who believed that the country would be
better off if slavery were abolished.
| DEFENDING THE UNION.
This gentleman, who had the courage
thus to stand up in opposition to his neigh
| bors and defend the Union, was an uncle of
| a well-known citizen of Sacramento-Rob-
| ert Williamson. From papers and letters
| in possession of the latter we are enabled
to gather some interesting facts concerning
| the action Of that Convention, and also of
the prosecutions which were visited upon
Judge Taliaferro because of his steadfast
| adherence to the Union. During his re-
marks in the Convention he said
Several of the gentlemen who have
preceded me took occasion to express their
strong attachment for Louisiana, and the
deep interest they feel in her prosperity
and welfare, and offered these as the leading
reasons which induce them to support this
monsrous measure Sir, | have lived in
| Louisiana more than fifty years, and from
early childhood. All my interests, asso-
Citations and feelings are closely con-
nected with her wellbeing. All that
l have of worldly goods, and of worldly
| hopes and aspirations are centered in Lou
isiana. The soil of Louisiana covers the
bones of very many of those who were
near and dear to me; and that soil at
| day not far distant, will envelop my own.
| Sir | am behind no man in attachment to
| Louisiana. | am unable to see that higher
and grander position which gentlemen say
| Louisiana is to assume by the act of seces-
| sion. Clouds and darkness. rather are be-
| fore me. The dimness of age, perhaps,
prevents me from penetrating the gloom
and seeing the bright skies and green fields
| beyond In the exercise of my best iudg-
ment, and under my honest convictions of
the ruinous tendency of this measure,
must pronounce it an act of madness and
Of folly. Sir, vote nay"
| At the conclusion of his remarks he
| offered the following, and asked that it be
spread upon the journal of the Convention
| which request was refused:
oppose the act of secession because
in my deliberate Judgment, the wrongs
alleged as the cause of the movement
might be redressed under the Constitution
| by an energetic execution of the laws of
the United States. and that, standing on
the guarantees of the Constitution, in the
Union, Southern rights might be trium-
| phanuy maintained under the protection
and safeguards which the Constitution
| affords.
Because, in secession, l see no remedy
| for the actual and present evils complained
of, and because the prospective evils de-
picted so gloomily may never come and
| if they should, the inalienable right to re-
sist tyranny and oppression might then be
exercised as well and successfully as now
Because | see no certainty that the
seeding States will ever be confederated
again; none that the border States will
secede at all; and if they should, | see no
reliable ground for believing that they
would incorporate themselves with the
! Gulf or cotton States in new government
| | see no surety, either, that Texas will
unite with them.
Because the Gulf or cotton States alone
were they to unite in separate confeder-
acy, would be without the elements of
power, Indispensable in the formation of
government to take a respectable rank
among the nations of the earth
| Because l believe that peaceable seces-
sion is right unknown to the Constitution
of the United States; that it is a most
dangerous and mischieyous principle in the
structure of any government; and when
carried into the formation of the contem-
| plated Confederacy of the Gulf States Will
render it powerless for good, and complete
| its incapacity to afford the people perman-
ent security for their lives, liberty and
| property.
Because it is my solemn and deliberate
| conviction that the distraction of the South
ern States by separate secession will defeat
| the purpose it is intended TO accomplish,
and that its certain results will be to i'm
I j l Il