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JOURNAL AND MESSENGER ■ JOURNAL & MESSENGER. I ’ MACON, GA., TUESDAY, OCT. 20. ■ ~~~ TsO\. JOHN QUIffCY ADAMS. H noulli Carolina’* Welcome to Massachusetts. ■ j[ Monster Mass Meeting—Mr. Adams Ad m dresses the White and Colored People— ff A Masterly Speech—Pall Particulars—A ■ Warm Reception to the Distinguished ■ Visitor. I From the Charleston Courier, 17th. I in response to anjinvitation extended him I by the Central Club of the Democratic I party of Charleston, Hon. John Quincy I Adams, of Massachusetts, arrived in the I [ city yesterday afternoon by the South Car- I olina Railroad. He was met at the depot | by Mr. James M. Eason, the acting Presi- I ! dent of the Central Committee of this city, s and by him introduced to the Committee of Reception, who were in attendance. In welcoming Mr. Adams to the city, I Hon. Henry Buist said : Mr. Adams:— On behalf of the Com [ mittee of gentlemen by whom lam sur rounded, I am deputied to tender you a wel come to our city. We were glad to learn that you had visited our State, and are | gratified that you have accepted the invi- I ration extended to you, and that we shall [ have the pleasure of presenting you to our ' fellow-citizens. They will be gratified to hear you, not only as a distinguished son of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but because in the height of a political contest, in the result of which they have such deep interest, you have consented to give them the benefit of your wise and patri ; otic counsel. And they will listen with earnestness to what you may say, for they desire above all things the restoration of peace, harmony and prosperity through out the length and breadth of our common country. After the mutual felicitations had been exchanged, the distinguished visitor was placed in an open carriage and, followed by the committee, escorted to the Charles ton Hotel, where a dinner had been pre pared, and all the necessary steps taken to provide for his comfort. In the evening one of the largest assemblages of people that had ever met in the city, gathered in front of the Charleston Hotel, where had teen erected a stand decorated in a most tasteful style, with the American colors, mid brilliantly illuminated. Immediate ly m front of the stand was erected a iet of gaslights, surmounted with globes, bearing the word “Adams,” and the en ratw?^ be B kage was such as i£ ei i CoUSl^ lerable credit on the com mittee charged with its erection. At iia.f-past seven o’clock Mr. Adams In the stand in com- the Committee of Reception, nrob nLa P i? ea ? n P e was the Bi £bal of a we notfpo ? burst °f applause. On the stage, iron tin ml un Joag others, the following season 1n 1 w H X n ’ Alfred Hu ger, Jas. M. C R Mil §* Carew , Jas. B. Campbell, ons R ‘n 9 ’ Buist > Col * T * Y Sim: munton W *T^ llklnson ’ Col ‘ C * H - Si- AWiZw’te 8 - Y - Tapper, W. and the members of thfe ?' 8 * Duryea > motion beiuo- | ueiste and to Preside, which, Campbell Tame f o?l mo ? sl y adopted. Mr.. cA:cnsofrl!l l iird and “Pou me to preside* and~J°h haVe called rendering ■th? L an V? bear my part t/ieo/d iuetr‘onn]ito^°l |sltable welcome of Jiua to a distinct? j tat . e of South Caro- CommonwSuifS M d Clt zen of tbe <>l<l • The gentleman ffMass.achusettß - has "' llom I am here to best purpose,, for no other than the of our common y ? ur welfare and that lion for the preserva- States of America 4 wh ?r , ty >!? the United together nriM enca| wblc h hia ancestors hundred years°ago established nearly one so often conferred 4 thaV Wb L ch you have fbe singular t>h viioi hat ?°i U bave B iv en me ibis time and II? 6 *? bein S Present at Angular ’n U( * u P°. n this occasion. I say I> r S and Sownf’V 8 f. are tbat the £ uity to nm .r have the opportu those who thG Hghts of hospitalUy to But it is t P ros P erous beyond measure. 1 make to not a vain appeal that Isay that 261^ 3 of Charleston when it become n betber humble or prosperous, never to fnr? e f?i? nd ancient history, And if von Sf n th ° 9e ri S hts of hospitality. Will remfnrf 1 Pu rmit me t 0 g° hack, I Q inetv-fiv 1 U nearly a century ago, gentljmon v r nce ’ a disfcin gu iß hed h °bored nam« “ Massachusetts, whose evening h ai ? e ’ 1D part > our guest of this CoQ 9ult b iinon S sh ame t 0 Bouth Carolina to Uie colorfS? lu preservation of liberty in came &i theU ,? f Great Britain. He to the wa ??* ult Wlth our best men as be broulrhf aDd , th ? m eans by which might Wash^nn 1 } t i hat great rebellion which ful und^n 11 ? d ’ and wtli °h was success- Os tl,e el l e? A a dam, lon W of el<X l UeQce with ahi Adams. He was received i° be hi at that had already began too? I B f“ m f ° r /l le P e ° l,le of « Ze Q 8 thftt tHW/ nends and fellow-citi falsifiedvLM St ? ry A BB never y et been i 1 ter people of Boston STT PPLBIMI3S3 IT T. MACON, GEORGIA. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1868. The people of South Carolina sent succor lien to the people of Massachusetts, and more especially to Boston. They kided and encouraged them in that great rebel lion of which I have just spoken, which w ft s successful in establishing constitu tional liberty for a time upon the Ameri can continent. But that my fellow-citizens, was not the last instance of the hospitality tendered by Charleston to the distinguished men of the old Commonwealth of Massachusetts, i can remember, and many who hear me recollect that twenty years ago upon that balcony now crowded with the intelli gence and beauty of Charleston, the greatest living orator of that day, who bad been continuously in rivalry and an tagonism to the sentiments of South Caro lina, was received amid the plaudits of our people. I was present and witnessed the scene. He and the distiuguished and fa vored son of South Carolina, who then re ceived him in the name of the citizens of Charleston, have gone to their account, but their memory still lives amongst us. I ask you then, after the lapse of two de cades since the reception of Daniel Web ster by Mr. Elmore upon that balcony, that you will receive with a unanimous welcome the descendant of that American patriot who aided in bringing into ex istence the American Union which has been subverted by transient dwellers under the decision of power. It is true that we are the depressed and prostrated, extending hospitality to a stranger, but it is equally true, that amidst humiliation and depression, the destruction of our liberties, the overturn ing of our constitution which we carried into the Union, under the auspices of the elder Adams, and now in the time of the fourth generation of that honored name, has been subverted. But that calamity, my fellow-citizens, cannot detract from your historic character. I am sure this gentleman comes here for.the purpose of speaking what he be lieves, and if you will allow me to say, what I believe to be true, lam here to endorse what he has already said, and in advance of what I believe he will say again. For the last three years it is known to you that I have believed the policy of <3outh Carolina, of the South, that the le>s she be heard in the politics of the country of Southern men and Southern ideas, the better it would be for us, the more certain would be the safety and deliverance of the South. I have never hesitated so to ex press myself, and I am here to repeat it to-night, and upon all suitable occasions. These opinions having been known, and perfectly well understood, the people of South Carolina, in what then appeared to be their extremity of need, saw fit to con fer uoon me the highest position known to them or which was in their power to confer. They sought my counsels, and it will never be knoWn whether it would have been better for those of couutry if the -counsels had been acted upon. This will be hidden forever from our view. But 1 have this to say for myself. Being in debted for my nativity to the ancient commonwealth qf Massachusetts, now great, prosperous and powerful, I would rather have it written upou my tomb stone, not very far distant, tbat I was the last Senator of old, free South Carolina, than to be crowned with the highest dis tinction and greatest power and wealth of Massachusetts. Having such feelings as these, inspired and stimulated by such sentiments, I tell you that though the gentlemen has been opposed to us, he is now true to that whicli is the best interests of South Carolina. If you will listen to him, and I am sure you will, for it has never been recorded in the history of this old and almost prostrated metropolis, whose powers have been trans ferred to strangers; whose venerable judici ary has been displaced and substituted by men of whom the best we can say is that they have no character, that her citizens have never refused to listen to the voice of the stranger. I am sure with all this that you will give an attentive hearing, which will prove useful to yourselves, to our country and to future generations, to this gentle man from Massachusetts who has come here to learn the truth; and more than that, for it requires more courage to speak that which he believes to be true. At the conclusion of Mr. Campbell’s re marks, Mr. Adams was led to the platform by the Hon. Alfred Huger and Mr. James M. Eason, and upon his appearance there a shout that made the welkin ring, and testified abundantly the warm wel come with which our distinguished visitor was greeted. Upon the cessation of the storm of cheers, Mr. Eason introduced the speaker, who said: Fellow-Citizens of South Carolina:—! ‘come here to-night to speak to you, some what appalled, I confess, by the mass of Jaces, the mass of Carolinians, the mass of men whom I little thought would like to come here to listen to my voice, and to hear what few words I have to say in re gard to the condition of the country at the present time. You must remember that I come here at no instigation of my own. In your days prosperity, in your days of life and vitali ty, I never came here. But the other day when I was at home in Massachusetts, very busily engaged with rather a small affair of politics there, JI received a letter you as agreeably as the remembrance of w , lndly Presence aflfects me—from Gen. VY ade Hampton— asking me tofeome down Here, to come into your State without any political purpose, to see with my own eyes, to hear with my own ears, to observe the state of public feeling, and when I went back to tell it to the people of Massachu setts. And I have come here to-night, not to tell you anything you do not know, not to tell you what the feeling is in Mas sachusetts, but my object in coming to the State of South Carolina is to find out what you want, what you need, what you wish, and how in the best way South Carolina and Massachusetts can be restored to the old fraternal relations which once united them in the old days. Now, my friends, a man invited to your place, requested to come, is not placed ex actly in the place of a man wbo comes of his own volition, especially if he offers ad viee, and especially if that advice be good advice, which we all know is sometimes the most disagreeable advice which a man can receive. [Laughter.] Therefore, in return for what I may say in reference to your views, so I wish to say to you what the feeling of the North is, what the feel ing of the country is, and as far as I know, what the feeling of the Northern part of the country is. In order that you may understand the position in which lam placed; in order that there may be no misunderstanding whatever between the audience and the speaker, I wish to tell you that in the old days antecedent to the war I was a free soiler; in the old days alter that I was a member of the Republican party ; I was a supporter of Mr. Lincoln; a supporter of the war; an advocate, from first to last, after the war began, for the destruction of slavery. I had always believed that the institution of slavery, sooner or later, would be the destruction of the Union. Therefore, I come before you frankly and fairly, with the desire that you should un derstand how I stand. Such was my po sition up to the day the war closed. Well, the day the war closed, the South said we lay down in good faith our arms, we abandon what we fought for, we insist no longer upon the right of secession, we ac knowledgeslavery is dead, weacknowledge what you fought for has been achieved, then, I said, it was time we took you at your word. You had made up the issues which had been decided against you, and you were willing to abide the result; you had played and lost, and you were willing to submit to our terms; you wished for peace, as I believed you had enough of war, and only desired to be restored to the Union under the Constitution. I said if you ask us for this, we will grant you ten times more than you ask. That position, as I understand it, was the position of Mr. Lincoln. It was the posi tion of many or most of the best men of the Republican party. That was all they desired, that was the aspiration of their hearts, a union of hearts upon that basis. You know what followed. The first ques tion that came up in the way of legislative progress was what was called the thir teenth amendment, abolishing slavery. That was submitted to all those formerly rebellious States, then in a peaceable and perfectly unrebellious position. It was submitted to each of those States, and by each of them formally ratified. If there was a necessity for it or not, I should say upon no single act since the ratification of the Constitution by the State, could I more solemnly and gladly place my hand and ask God’s blessing. I believe it was the best, most wholesome, and most thor ough medicine which this country could take. After that what followed ? Another amendment came; that which was known as the fourteenth amendment. What did that consist of? It consisted of two parts. One of which was that portion of it which said, that in so far as you debar any por tion of your people of representation, in so far should your representation in Con gress be decreased. I always thought that fair and proper. But what was the other condition upon which they insisted be fore the first could be of any avail V It was that the whole people of the South, the people who had gone through the war, who had bled in war, should disfranchise their leaders in the camp and in the Senate; their leaders in whom they trusted and believed from first to last. Possibly that may have been a wise provision. But up on my heart, as a man of Massachusetts, standing here in the face of this great crowd of men, I could not in my heart condemn one single man who would re fuse to vote for such an atrocious proposi tion as that. Why, to expect your meu, for instance, who had fought in the Army of the Potomac—or as you call it the Army of Virginia—all through the war, to expect you to disfranchise General Lee; to expect you had fought in the cavalry, to disfranchise General Wade Hampton, was a proposition of which any set of men should be ashamed. I was ashamed of my owu people at the North, to offer to a portion of the people of the United States such a dishonorable proposition. Well! you refused, and, in my judg ment my friends, you could have done no less. But what followed then ? Thus far Congress had acted on the theory that this matter could be closed by a constitutional method : that if you would not do certain constitutional things you, as States, could not be received into the Union, but your be fixed; that is, your rep resentatives admitted mto Congress. That was the theory of the North. The North a ways held that the action of the people or tue South was merely a rebellion of a p ortion of the people of the United States, and that it partook in no degree of the character of a civil war. The position of the South was that it had a right to se cede, aud not only had a right to secede, but to band themselves, after secession, into anew and independent nation, and that that new and independent nation was, in all respects, the same or equal to a nation like England or France. On the A orthern side the war was said to be mere ly one for the suppression of insurrection, and on that theory we had a right to catch you, and when we took you either keep you or hang you. The theory of the Soutli was that it was a war carried on upon the same principle as if you were waging a war with France or England. If you took a mau he was then a prisouer, and must be discharged after the war was over, because such a mau was fighting for his country. Mark how distinct was the ground up to the rejection of the fonrtceth amendment. The North had always, upon its own ground, said it was a war for the suppression of insurrection, not for the conquests of a people. But the mo ment you refused the fourteenth amend ment what was done? Then came wha was known as the Reconstruction Acts. You were going to be reconstructed. You were no longer good enough for the Union. You were out of the Union, and needed reconstruction. They swept away all your old Constitutions, all youroldlaws; swept away everything belonging to the old State, and said you were no longer States of the Union. You have become conquer ed territories; you have been conquered iu war. You are inhabitants conquered; and, as conquered territories, your inhabi tants are prisoners of war. Tbat is pre cisely the logical position in which almost the whole white people of the South stand at the present time. They stand here be fore the people of the United States as prisoners of war.s. You have no rights. What business have you to come here and talk about the Constitution ? It is not your Constitution. Y r ou rebelled against it, and not only rebelled, but fought against it;and became a separate nation. There fore, you are not only alien enemies, but prisoners of war. Tbat is the principle of the Reconstruction Acts. They reduced the States of the South in their present condition to alien territories, and the con dition of the inhabitants to that of prison ers of war. Therefore, when I came down here, or rather in my answer to General Hampton, I came not down for the pur pose of making a political speech. Now I do not think any people in yoru position, I mean people iu the position of General Hampton, people who stand in his unfor tunate position, have any sort of right to meddle in politics. Y r ou are not citizens, you are prisoners of war; you are alien enemies; just as much prisoners of war as the people of England or France would be if taken in war. How dare you then meddle with politics? That is not my theory, but I say it is the theory of Con gress exactly. A day or two ago, while I was staying with General Hampton, he told me a lit tle anecdote, which entirely covers the ground. He said he was asked to go down and speak not many miles away, anJ he answered in a letter, saying that he was coming. In reply to the answer came a letter from his little daughter, who, after speaking of the Democratic party and he being a member of it, said : “Dear Gen eral, I am very glad you are coming down to speak, as I want to see you, but I do not like at ail you saying in your letter that you are a Democrat, because I do not believe you are a Democrat. You must be, and always will be a rebel.” [Laugh ter.] Now, it is very well to laugh, but that little girl saw what the Congress of the United States does not seem to see. The whole pith of the matter lies there. If Geueral Hampton is a rebel, and I have been up with him some time, know how he feels, know his intentions and desires to the country, then I say he is just about as much a rebel as I am, and no more. My friends I came down here more par ticularly to talk to the people of this State iu regard to the practical issues of this campaign. There are two candi dates for us. There is General Grant on the one hand and Mr. Seymour on the other. Now let us look at it. As far as the South is concerned—l meau by that the unreconstructed and rebellious part of the South—how does it stand? What is their position, and what their interest? If Mr. Seymour is elected to be President of the United States, do not think all our troubles are to be over in a moment. Do not think that will settle affairs iu the South at once. lam myself a Democrat. I shall vote their ticket. I believe if you are going to be carried away with the idea that on the election of Seymour alone the future prosperity of the country is to re turn, you are very much mistaken. I tell you that iu all frankness and honesty of heart, and will tell you my reasons. Even if this election should go for Seymour, the people of the North in the Republic m party will be in such an exceedingly small minority that it will all hang upon a thread. It will hang upou the be havior of every one of us— upon the way iu which every man behaves himself. On the other hand, is elected ? I have been up in the country