sol Til CAROLINA. 



All per>o!is, knowing of a threatened I, 



of the moled to make complaint 



to the proper civil ollicer ; ainl if prompt action 

 was no? taken in tin- CMM-, to ivport tin- I 



'imiiandcr of tin' pust a:i<l provost-mar- 

 shal-u'cncral of (lie military district. 



i- tlu pul.lication of the interpretation 

 of tin- U. construction Acts, given by Attorney- 

 ral Stanliery in June, the following letter 

 icral SicUI-.'s to tin- Adjutant- 

 a: Washington: 



HEADQUARTERS 2o MILITARY DISTRICT, I 

 ('II.VI-.LESTON, 8. C., June 19, 1867. ( 



To th,> A //utant- General of the Army, War Depart- 



me nt, Washington, D. C. : 

 I huvo tlio honor to request that I may he relieved 

 t'r.>m command in this military district, and I respect- 

 fully demand a court of inquiry upon my official ac- 

 tions, that I may vindicate myself from the accusa- 

 tion of the Attorney-General, published, it is pre- 

 1, with the approval of the President. Congress 

 having declared these so-called State governments il- 

 loiral, the declaration of the Attorney-General that 

 military authority has not superseded them prevents 

 tJcutinn of the Reconstruction Acts, disarms me 

 of means to protect life, property, or the rights of 

 citizens, and menaces all interests in these States wit li 

 ruin. 



D. E. SICKLES, Maior-General Commanding. 

 J. "W. CLOUS, Captain and A. A. 



This request was not complied with, and 

 General Sickles, a few days later, in a letter to 

 Senator Lyman Trumbull, says that he had 

 decided not to begin the work of registration 

 until Congress should determine what persons 

 were to lie registered. "If I proceed now," 

 he says, "and disregard the wishes of the 

 President, my action would be regarded as in- 

 subordination. If I follow his intimations, 

 those would probably be registered who were 

 not eligible according to the true interpretation 

 of the acts of Congress.'* Accordingly, the 

 regulations for registration were not. published 

 until after the passage of the Supplemental Re- 

 construction Act of July. 



A remonstrance was addressed to General 

 Sickles by the Charleston Board of Trade, 

 under date of June llth, in which that associa- 

 tion took exception to the provision of Order 

 No. 32 (given in full above), which declares 

 ' that contracts made by dealers in intoxicating 

 liquors shall bo treated as against pnKlic pol- 

 icy," and to that abolishing dU tress for rent. 

 They complained also of Order No. 10, which 

 was intended to stay the remedies for the en- 

 forcement of certain classes of debts. General 

 Sickles delayed making any reply to this com- 

 munication until after the action of Congress 

 in July relating to the authority of the com- 

 manding officers in the military districts. He 

 then made an elaborate defence of his course 

 in respect to the subjects of the complaint of 

 the Hoard of Trade, and ended by informing 

 that body that " the major-general command- 

 ing fails to discover in your suggestions any 

 suHirient ground for revoking or modifying the 

 orders in question.*' 



The Union Republican State Convention met 



at Columbia on the 24th of July, and continued 

 -i"ii three days. The delegates were 



mo-tl\ negroes, and the platform adopted 

 varied hut little from that of the Char, 

 meetintr of colon*! citixeii- already allud.-d t". 

 An ell'ort to add "Radical "to the name as- 

 sumed hy the party was unsuccessful. A reso- 

 lution was introduced declaring that the colored 

 race was entitled to one of the nominations on 

 the presidential ticket, but did not prevail. 

 The platform of the party, as adopted at this 

 convention, is set forth in the following reso- 

 lutions: 



1. That in order to make the labor of all our loyal 

 fellow-citizens more effectual for carrying out the 

 provisions of Congress, for the restoration of law and 

 order in our State, as well as for the peace and pros- 

 perity of our entire country, wo, the people of South 



n;i, do f"rm ourselves into a political organiza- 

 tion to bo known as the Union Republican party of 

 South Carolina. 



2. That as republican institutions cannot bo pre- 

 served unless intelligence be generally diffused among 

 all classes, we will favor a uniform system of free 

 schools and colleges, which shall be open to all. 



8. That we will favor a liberal system of public 

 improvements, such as railroads, canals, and other 

 works, and also such a system of awarding contracts 

 for the same as will give all our fellow-citizens an 

 equal and fair chance to share in them. 



4. Tha,t as large land monopolies tend only to make 

 the rich richer and the poor poorer, and are ruinous to 

 the agricultural, commercial, and social interests of 

 the State, the Legislature should offer every practical 

 inducement for the division and sale of unoccupied 

 lands among the poorer classes, and as an encourage- 

 ment to immigrants to settle in our State. 



5. That the interests of the State demand a revi- 

 sion of the entire code of laws and the reorganization 

 of the courts. 



6. That it is just and proper that taxes should be 

 ad valorem, and proportioned to the property of the 

 citizens. 



7. That the ballot being the surest safeguard of 

 the rights of the citizen, all executive and legislative 

 officers of the State should be elected by the people ; 

 therefore, 



Kesolved, That in our opinion a purely republican 

 government is maintained only by making our rulers 

 responsible directly to the people by frequent elec- 

 tions not by the Legislature, but by the people them- 

 selves; therefore, 



Resolved, That the delegates we shall send to the 

 Constitutional Convention about to be called by the 

 commanding general be instructed to so frame our 

 new Constitution that the Governor and Council, 

 Senators and Representatives of the State Legislature, 

 and all subordinate officers, except those of the judi- 

 ciary department, be chosen by the people, to bold 

 their respective offices, not for two years, but for one 

 year ; and that in the election of President and Vice- 

 President of the United States, chosen every four 

 vears, the electors, as they are now in every other 

 State in the Union, shall be chosen by the people di- 

 reetly, and not by the members of the Legislature. 



8. That the poor and destitute, those aged and in- 

 firm people, ho'iseless and homeless, and past labor, 

 who iiuve none to care for them, should be provided 

 for at the expense of the State ; and that in the re- 

 construction of our government we will see to it that 

 they are not neglected and forgotten. 



9". That the unhappy policy pursued by Andrew 

 Johnson is, in its effects upon the loyal people of the 

 South, unjust, oppressive, and intolerable ; and, ac- 

 cordingly, however ardently we desire to see our 

 State once more restored to its proper position in the 

 Union, we would deplore restoration on any other 



