The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-10-22
THE CONVENTION.

| The election for o Convention mas Deen or
dered, and it is by no means improbable that
the negroes, drilled as they are, will march to
the polls in full force and offer to Congress
government such as will be acceptable to the
most Radical among the Radical leaders We,
who have the brain, the wealth and the
character of the State, will be the humble
citizens of new Hayti, at least for time.
We, who are of the same color, and belong to
the same race as thirty two millions of citizens
of the United States, will probably have to
look on, while those who are not citizens,
under the Constitution, who are not citizens by
any law passed oonstitutonally, will dictate
our laws and temporarily shape the policy Of
the State.
Under these circumstances it becomes our
people to think wisely, to act prudently, and,
above all things, to exhibit manly virtue.
They should not mourn over the past, weep for
the present, and despond for the future We
should remember that no revolution in modern
times has been more violent than is the one
through which we are passing. The clash of
arms has ceased. The stream of human blood
shed in battle no longer flows. The grass
grows green over the battle fields, and the
plough now burrows the places which were but
lately the scene of civil strife. Notwithstand-
ing this, the revolution still continues. Old in
stitutions have been swept away, the old order
of things has been destroyed, and society is
striving earnestly and anIiously to reorganize
| ITSELF In that reorganization the white man
should never forget that he represents differ
ent race than does the black. God has placed
OF each distinctive mark, and they are not
4 intended to mingle That both should have
1 civil rights that both should be to-day equal
before the law, is not to be denied. Freedom
| to work or freedom to starve requires that q
man should be protected in lfe liberty and
property. No harm can come from that. On
the contrary, it is but just; and justice and in
terest are apt to be synonymous terms.
| No two races can, however, live side by side,
enjoying equal political rights. At that point
conflict necessarily begins. The one is necessari-
| ly jealous of the other. Each will struggle for
ascendancy; and if nature places barriers be-
tween them which prevents them from COM
mingling their blood and becoming united, the
one or the other must perish.
| We should remember that the United States
is to-day the common property of its citizens,
and the people of Ohio have refused to amend
their Constitution so as to make the negro a
citizen. In New York the Republicans have
themselves, in their Constitutional Convention,
\ lodged that issue, and the party leaders to-
day acknowledge that negro suffrage will not
at present be accepted by the North. Can the
North, then, consoentiously demand it at the
hands of the South? Would the people, who
refuse to allow negro to cast vote which is
comparatively insignificant at the ballot box in
Ohio, allow negro to legislate for them, through
the Southern States by casting vote in the
Senate, where his vote would be immensely
important? Will our white Northern fellow
citizens permit us 10 be ruled at home by a
small minority of the people of this country
who, apart from being of a different race, lack
to-day every qualification for either judicious
voter or a wise legislator?
We should not forget that the voice of hui
manity will cry aloud for truth and justice.
We are the inheritors of written Constitu-
| tion, and that Constitution guarantees to us
certain rights. Of those rights we are to-day
| deprived; but the day will come when the
American people will demand their restoration.
| The North is too intimately connected with the
| white men of tue South, by ties of race, of
| blood, of common tradition, and of mutual in
| terest, to allow us long to suffer. They will
recognize the fact that the present system of
things is the work of party whose real aim
is the subversion of the Government which
they have been taught to venerate as the best
in the world the Government for the preser-
vation of which they fought and, in fighting,
expended three thousand millions of dollars,
aud sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives.
If the North has slumbered on its rights, and
has allowed ours to be overthrown, the day of
awaking is at hand; and when that day does
come, the rights of the white man of the South
will be restored.
We should remember that every revolution
produces counter revolution, and the reac-
tion is almost always in favor of conservative
opinion The true party of progress is apt to
be the party which stands between two ex-
tremes. In governments, from the clash of |
opinion comes the happy mean which pro-
duces prosperity and strength. Two extremes
clashed in the late war, and one was conquer |
ed; but, if we read history Alright, the con-
queror must necessarily be conquered by his |
victory. With success, it meets no opponent |
and has no food on which TO feed consequently /
it must perish, and though it may violently Mt
tempt to retain power still, as radcalism is
only strong in pulling down, and is always i'm
potent in building up, it must give way to con-
servative opinion, which, in the end, must and
will govern
We must remember that the right will finally
prevail. If our hands are bound and our feet
shackled by others, let US submit with manly
resignation but, for the love of truth, of man
hood and of liberty, let vs not aid in shack
ling ourselves. All is not lost. We may have
to endure much; we may suffer deeply, but
let us beware that we suffer no degradation in
our own eyes, and lose no portion of our own
self-esteem. BY preserving these we may best
hope to regain our liberty. grave duty is
now upon us. 1t is that we should, in this
hour of trial, so act that our children will
have no cause to blush at the mention of the
noma of their native State