The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1867-05-23
From the Charleston Daily News.
An Old Southern Planter to Senator W IL

Senator Wilson while he Was in our
city. 1t was written by ore OF our
old time gentlemen, and we have no
doubt will be read with much interest;
CHARLESTON, May 4tl, 1861:
TO the Hon. Henry ITilson, t Mas-
snehusetts
Sir: The accident Which occa-
stoned your detention i'll this city to-
day, enables nc to address you ii &c"
words, in relation to your EaranSue
delivered yesterday. lbeg to observe
that you did rot deal 50 fairly with
the people of South Carolina IS ynn
arc reported to have done with the
people of Virgili; and North Care
lima. In those States, on several oc-
casions whcn you addressed the
gatherings, . citizen was permitted
to reply to YOU, and the poison was
thus ncutralizcd. Here you have
devised the plan Of being announced
through the public prints, and through
the p:csi,lirg officer Of the meeting
as an i;,.yitcd cjatcr; and il your III
PRODUCTION you claim to be here and
to speak ".:a compliance rsth 'nrlta-
t1o,,s. In this way aud by these
1rcams, YOU secured yourself from an
answer which would have exposed
You as an cmissary Of tic New Eng 6
land Anti-Frcc. Trade, Protective
Tariff, Consolidation Interest, whose
leading objects can only be subscryed
by dividing the votes Of the soutil'
In other words, by arraiHgnlns the
negro against the Southern whites,
and on the side Of New, England
manufacturers as their special friends.
You would have done 10 moro than
sheer justice to Us # YOU had offered
to let as te Acrrd; and you would
have contributed to the enlightenment
of your colcrcd audience, il you had
suffered us to show them how directly
antagonistic the interests Of Hcw Eng
land arc to their and our agricultural
pursuits; ard how imperative it is upon
lis, both blacks ard whites i'll the
South, to get rid of tic ''friendly
hag'' of New England high taxation
on u.s. for thcU benefit, and to be unit
ed and stand firmly together in de-
iaantling that the fruit OF our !a5ors
shall net he pockctcd By Lowell,
I.vr:l and Bostor.
In the pleritule, too, of Your con-
sciousEcss ard caEdor, I pray you,
in your next address, enter l. little
more into tic history Of the slave
trade, and tell ycHr auditors the trIttA
that your ancestors OF A-asSachu-
gctts, Rhct!c Island, Col:nccticGt New
York ard Pennsylvania, hrou sht to
this country all tie Africans who
ever came here, Gnd they scM item
tothc people Of ,9outh. FLAT they
had al the shipa and sailed @agsd firc
South lad none. That thc,,twMe vas
profitable to Ncw England and the
North, and that the raoncy derived
from it has enabled them to outstrip
the South in wcaltl. ard prosperity.
ard then turn to tic Descendants of
thasc Africans and say to thGn-
"IAc South Is tmnoccntsGf the crime
/ Of cns1eriRg yoH. Inekce cupiaity
concerted, planned and c1ecutedthc
diobolieGl mork."
A truth like this will be more USE
fulin reconciling these Freedmen 70
their "formcr masters" if that vcrc
Your purpose, than all your aivicc.to
them to 60 to work and raise cotton,
for the benefit Of New England, to
vote on the side Of justice and right,
which you interpret to be the Yam
kcc side of every question. And then
again, sir, be just to yourself and
your past record, and say out boldly
to these cople-that they would
have been liberated by the North, il
the South could have been yanquish-
cd without it. 1t was to overcome
the South, by the use Of couple OF
hundred thousand of their bodies as
brcastworks, (whcn the South had
not that number all in ALL that they
were promised liberty, and have now
received it. This too, will help them
! to understand the kind of Friendship
your people have for them.
I will ask you III conclusion, to in
vite discussion before the Freedmen,
and in your presence, that they may
have full opportunity oreply to any
one who may sec fit to answer you. |
have the honor to be yours,
W. II.
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