The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-29
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1867.
Wade HamptOn's Great Speech TO the
COlOred Citizens of Columbia.


the colored citizens of Columbia, South Caro-
lima. contains many interesting points, as
illustrating the changed tone of the late
Southern leaders towards the blacks, and the
STYLE of argument and appeal which
will be brought to bear upon them for the
future.
Hampton begins his Grafton by profuse ex-
pressions of friendship and goodwill for the
blacks. He calls their attention to the fact
that he was the first Southern man, after the
close of the war, to address a colored audience;
and he quotes from his speech delivered on
that occasion to show that he then accepted
the abolition of slavery as fnality. These
are still his opinions, and he then exolaims-
"Why should we not be friends? Are you
not southern men, as we are? Does not tnaC
glorious Southern sun above us shine alike for
both ofus? Did not this soil give birth TO all
ofus9 And will we not all alike, when our
troubles and trials are over, sleep in that same
soil in which we first drew breath? | see
before me San1e[ Tn wsGh Is 5e nsIrTgd o6
is tull OF significance and truth, for your well
fare is inseparably linked with that of the
whites of the South If are uniustly taxed,
YOU will suffer; if we are ruined, you will be
destroyed. Your prosperity depends entirely
on that of your country, and whatever tate
dWdlIs buO WHASS PSSP'S Va NA> OSNN@ "@N@ ~
yours"
He then illustrates to his dusky fellow
Southerners how this matter of taxation
reaches them. He says:-
"Many OF you are lab0rers on plantations,
working for a portion of the crop, Well, sup
pose you get one, two, or three bales OF cotton
as your years wages. Now, before you can sell
this cotton, for which you have worked hard "A
whole year, you have TO pay tax nt Sl2 bale
for every bale you have made, There Is a case
in which unjust taxation falls AS hard, or
harder, on you than IL does on US, suppose
Congress was to tax the wheat OF OHIO, the
lumber of Maine, the iron of Pennsylvania, or
the factories of Massachusetts in the same way,
would not the people OF those states complain
bitterly? Would they not send men To Con-
gress VINO would use every effort To have this
unjust tax removed. SO you must do; for every
blow that is struck at the South fails on you AS
well as on us. ,Odnt TO make youJeeI dtdtyou
are Southern men, 1OiN all yOHr hopes, yOur feet
inOS and your interests identified lUih the South
for that is the true position ior you TO occupy"
He next discusses the Reconstruction act,
and tells them that great many persons,
among whom are the President of the United
States, think that the bill is unconstitutional,
and that Congress had no right to pass it.
He does not express an opinion as to the cor
rectness of that view, but says it is a matter
for the Supreme Court to decide; and if that
body decides it to be constitutional, then, he
says, "you will be allowed to vote" A more
correct exposition of the case would have in-
formed his hearers that they were entitled to
vote until the act was declared unconstitu-
tional. However, assuming that they will
have the right to vote, he next eXpatiates upon
how they will exercise that right. Who will
they vote for? Will they intrust the making
of their new laws to men who are ignorant of
all law and of the science of government
Still more, will they place in Office ''these
strangers who have tiocKed here to plumber
what little there is left to usY" Or will they
trust the men among whom they have lived
heretofore, and with whom they must always
live?
These questions are very significant, in view
of the fact that the blacks outnumber the
whites in South Carolina nearly two to one.
Hampton then tells them
81 do not tell you to trust to professions of
friendship alone, whether they come from the
Southern man or the Northern. But what ash
you to do, what have the right to ask of Won
is, that as we profess to be your friends YOU will
give us the opportunity of showing nv onr
actions whether we are sincere or not If we
deceive you. then turn to the North, and see ii
you can find better friends there"
AS still further inducement to his hearers
to distrust Northern men, Hampton proceeds
to inform them that the prejudice against the
black man is far greater at the North than II
is at the South; and he illustrates this asser-
tion by little anecdote in regard to our own
city, which reads as follows
"a curious instance Of this prejudice came
under my own observation some wears aSo in
puyhf "a. A
with me two servants for whom fnII 70 re- tyaS 'as
charged on the railroad; but the tclyat o,,an3
Ioiu ine LnaI Ihey would not be allowed to ride
IA Ihe same car with myself, as the people there
did not like to ride with negroes, SBnt said
l, you make me pay full price for them, and
one OF them is the nurse of NV chIidren ,That
makes no difference he replied. won can't
take them into the car | told him that had
PAID tnelr t iiare; that thought them good
good enough to ride with his felIow.cItizeps:
and that they should get into my car So I
Drought them In and kept them there"
Strict candOr was perhaps hardly to have
been expected from the speaker under all the
circumstances, else he would have explained
to his hearers that this Northern prejudice
against the negro is thing purely of pro
slavery origin, and fostered and sustained by
the very class OF politicians with whom Mr.
Hampton and his friends have always acted
We may be thankful that, at last, Philadel
phia can no longer be held up as an exampl
of this wicked and senseless prejudice.
From all these considerations, Hampton
urges that the framing of the new Constitu
tion be left to those who are familiar with tn
cause, the people, and the interests of Sout
Carolina, and then he says :-"If you find tina
nj oh n