Year: 1867

|


Mr.. EDITOR will you have the kindnes


to allow me, through the columns of the Demo
crat, to present to the public few Thoughts


relative to the past and the present in regard t.


the loyal citizens of Mecklenburg county. This


| desire to do, not as an exhibition of egotsm


iut with an earnest desire to secure the interests


and advance the prosperity of the country, and
as tribute et respect due to those who, during
the Confederate reign, were denounced as traitors
! for their adherence to the government founded
| by their grand!athers.


| In regard to the past: .s..
| l. We regard ourselves as having been very
unchartabiy misrepresentod in reference to the
! motives by which we were actuated 10 our ad.
heson to the Federal Government. That the
secession policy was illegal and reasonable We
firmly believed. We regarded the passing of
the secession ordinance without the ratification
of the people, after the legal voters Of North
Carolina had declared by decided majority, Cd
the 2Sth of February, 1861, that it should not
be done, as an assumption of a power by the
Legislature aud the Convention never delegated
to them by the Constitution or the people, and
indignity offered to the citizens OF North Caro-
lima to which they never should have submitted.
We also believed that secession would inevitably
end in abolition and ruin If any one should
now doubt the correctness of this statement we
can refer them to numbers of persons to whom
the writer of this article expressed this senti-
ment in the beginning of the Confederate strug-
gle. That we should be denounced as abo-
tionists when we were opposing the policy which
we firmly believed would accomplish that end
without the possibility Of evasion, we regarded
as decidedly uncharitable.


The difference between our Confederate
friends and ourselves we think may lie embraced


in the following statement: They believed that
secession would secure the interests of the
country and perpetuate the Institution of slavery
We believed that secession would accomplish the
ruin Of the country and abolish slavery. We are
not disposed to doubt the sincerity of our Con-
fcderate friends in their Confederate faith and
we hope they will have the kindness to award
to US that charity which should arise from con-
sciousness of our sincerity in our belief


The Union men of Mecklenburg were as
ardent in their desires to promote the interests
of our common country were those who made
the most infamatory speeches to secure the dis
rupton of the government.


2. When the Confederate struggle was past
and had failed we believed that the interests
of the country inperatively demanded that all
those who had partci pated in the rebellion
however great their talents or prominent their





and give their aid and influence to the most
prominent and patriotic loyalists to enable them
to accomplish the reconstruction Of the govern
ment ON terms equitable and honorable to all
as could be obtained. But we regret that at
this time there was as great contrariety in our
sentiments as was during the Confederate strug
gle The Union men were regarded with distrust
and scorn, while the ori gnal secessonists and
half loyalists we're fawnng upon the military
authorities for favor and position


In the elections which were held under the
reconstruction policy of President johnson, can
didates were selected who had actively partci-
pated in the rebellion and sustained because of
their military services, to the exclusion of those
who were known to have been firm in their ad-
hesion to the Federal Government. According
to the best information which we can obtain
from the speeches made by prominent members
of Congress, if loyal citizens had been elected to
fill the offices 10 the State government and as
members Of Congress that organization would
have been sustained by Congress and our diff
culties relative to that subject would have been
at an end But We regret that these things were
not So That some of the loyal citizens of the
country may have spoken injudciously in those
times which tried Confederate souls, we will not
controvert. But 10 consideration Of the treat





lederate reign they may not have been entitled
to so much censure, as the recollection of the
want of Confederate charity may have goaded
them to ppertinent independence when the
Confeds we're laid low.


But We come to the present:


l. We regret exceedingly that to consider
able extent the same estrangement OF thoughts
aud words exist between the loyal and the rebs
which existed during and Immediately after the
Confederate day; and while some few of the
loyasts may favor extreme measures the rebs
would rather vote for darkey than Union
man Brethren of both parties, will you permit
me to address you kindly, respectfully, attec
tionately. What benefit can arise to ourselves
or our common country from those extreme
sentiments and unkind words? Will it not be
bitterness in the end Is not this our govern
ment ard country, the inheritance which our
| fathers have transmitted to our care Shall We
prove truant to our trust? Can we not cast the
vail of charity over all the errors of the past and
unite to elevate this our own. our native land
to her pristine glory? The interest of all per-
sons and parties are inseparably connected, ex-
cept it may be few designing political dena-
goeues who may desire to luxurate upon the
oppression and miseries of others. The con-
sderation which should engage the mind OF
every patriot is, who Will be best qualified, under
our present circumstances, to secure to every
citizen his rights and to restore our State to her
former position in the Union


9. The present position of the loyalsts of the
South is particularly anomalous The law of the
land req uire that they shall be elected to fill the
official positions of the government, while Gen.
D. T. Sckles informs the chairman Of the judi
ciary Commit in Congress that but very few
- m hole Ne