Year: 1866

pour balm into their bleeding
hearts. God will surely bless an
undertaking which has such holy
purposes in view, and the good Of
every land will think that you are
proving yourselves worthy Of the
men who died in the effort to
make you free. I bid you God
speed in this holy work, and [ in
woke upon it the blessings Of the
Almighty. I hope that organiza-
tions Of this sort will spring up
throughout the entire South-that
they will scatter blessings broad
cast over our land, and that they
will serve TO bind our whole pc0-
pie together. I cannot conceive
how any one: even the most zeal
Gus and suspicious Of that police
who now intcst our country, can
find anything Objectionable in
them. But the Military Satrap
who now holds rule in New Or
lcaus, has already forbidden all as
sociations Of Confederate Brig
AIDES, Regiments or Companies, for
any purpose whatever, and [ sup
pose he will soon issue a general
order, declaring it treason for even
the pitying hand Of sorrowing wo-
men to drop q flower on the hum
bic grave Of any poor soldier, who
laid down his life at the call Of his
State.


Havingearncd for himselfan un-
dying evil fame by the savage
barbarity with which he executed
the atrocious order to devaState
one ofthe fairest portions Of Eir-
ginia, he seems still inclined to do
now as he did then, wage cruel
and relentless war upon unarmcd
and dcfcncclcSs citizens. | hope
that your Association will escape
the fate of those in New Orleans.
and that it will soon he sheltered
safely under the protection OF our
own State, when civil law shall
have superseded martial law, rcas-
suming its benign sway, and pro
tccting by its ample shield the
rights, the institutions and the
persons Of our people. For many
long and weary months we have
waited for the realization Of our
ardent hopes, this fultllment Of
our just expectations; but we still
wait in vain. The grasp Of mill
tary power has not yet rclaNatcd
its hold.


You may, perhaps, ftIIow-citi-
zens, think that any discussion Of
general politics is inappropriate on
an occasion Of this sort, but as |
may not again have an orportu-
nifty to place myself right upon
the record, or to correct the mis-
representations Of both my antccc-
dent anu present position, dis>cm-
mated by the Radical press, may
I claim your indulgence for a brief
discussion Of these topics. 1t is
full time that some voice from the
Sonth should be raised to declare,
that though conquered she is not
humiliatcd though she submits
she is not degraded that she has
not lost her SeIt-rcSpcct that she
laid down her arms on honorable
terms with the most perfect faith,
and that she has a right to de-
mand like observance OF them on
the part of the North. Would to
God that some voice more potent
than mine would utter these
truths! Would to God that the
tongues ofthosc great statesmen
Of Carolina, who in time past,
warned, counSclcd, directed our
people, were not hushcd in death,
or that those which more recently
stirred the Southern heart to its
profomdcst depths. were not now
as silent as death itself!


But perhaps in the midst Of this
silence 50 profound, even my voice,
feeble as it is, may be not without
that weight which always attach
cs to the Inference Of truth, and
in this hope, | venture to discuss
our condition and our policy.
What, then, is our condition ? For
four years the South was the vic
tim Of q cruel and unnecessary
war-a war marked on the part
Of her opponents by a barbarity
never surpassed, if cQuaIlcd, in the
annals of civilized warfare. The