The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-08-14
: g0llitieal.
Another Letter from Hon. B. F.
!stSsss = s1sesss7 Perry.

Perry.
sz7oatAe Editor of.the Columbia Phenir:
The action Of the rump Congress, the
other day, in extra session, ought to con-
vince every one that the Radical party
have no intention of restoring the Union
until the Southern States are thoroughly
Radicalized, and will elect Senators and
members. of the House of that party. The
Kentucky representatives-nine IN num-
Der, and all IDemocrats-have been denied
their seats in Congress, simply because
they werenot. Black Republicans. If the
Southern States, under the reconstruction
,,oiicy.of President johnson, had elected
Radicals, and given any assurance OF their
adhesion to that party, no one can sup,
pose that their representatives would
have been excluded from Congress. In
the fall of 1864, one of the first things
done by Congress was to purge the Sen
ate. and exclude Democrats enough from
tiiat4bedy to give them two-thirds ma
,jority.
The question will be for the people of
the Southern States to decide, in the
coming elections, whether they prefer to-
remain as they are, or by calling conven-
tions, adopting negro suffrage and elect
inc Radicals, go back into the Union.
What advantage to the South will it be
to Increase the Black Republican majority
an Congress? How can we. be benefited
by streng gthening the hands of our op-
,pressors? What interest can we possibly
have in being represented in Congress by
traitors to the South-men whom we
must scorn and despise as Judas lscariots
in npolitics !? 1t is sad and melancholy
reflection on human nature, to see men
whosinaugurated the war, and were going
/. TO die in the last ditch, now seeking to go
back into the Union, stripped OF every
o,incipIe and right which they vowed to
defend, with Black Republican collars
around their necks. Hev disgusting to
see base, nnprincipled White men seeking
office and position by hypocritically pan
dering to the ignorant, criminal and ru-
inous preiudices and aspirations OF the
negro Il would greatly prefer seeing
every Office In the State filled by the
stintelligent negroes, than by such
unprincipled and shameless men.
/ once said to President johnson, in
zreply. TO dispatch sent me, about Union
men being excluded from Office under the
Provisional Government, that | had made
it a rule through life to confde in the
politics Of no one who was not morally
honest and trustworthy in private life.
andsthat nay experience had taught me
the fact that q man who had no moral
principle could have nopolitical principle.
Henresiiti is that we see those who were
foremost in secession, while secession was
in the ascendant and the road to honor
and distinction. power and position, now
fawning at the feet of the oppressor, while
tyranny and oppression are all powerful.
They. care not whom they serve, or what
principles they advocate. provided they
can promote their own selfish views. But
.they would even have us.beieve that the
great interests of the country were fore
mostin their thoughts.
Immediately after it was known that
slavery .popfd have to be:abolished, ex-
pressed the opinion that it would be wise
and prudent to permit negroes, who had
: acquired property and educational quail
fication, to vofe in all the Southern States.
Thought this would be a-ssfcty valve for
political society 1t would crafty and
1;lppease the intelligent and most infuen-
titt of. tlsat class, and make them good
citizens sfhstead of being disturbers OF the
peace Fit. would hold out an inducennent
to all@h6. had any disposition or wish TO
fise above the common hord! And no
evilscouId result frosa it, as supposed
!: very few, comparatively, would ever be
able to attain the privilege, and when
they did, they would always vote with
the higher and better educated class OF
Whites 1 expressed similar opinion
! many years ago, in regard to rccapturing
fugitive slaves. thought it well for So
.c;ety that wbcn-a slave had acquired such
q love for freedom as to prompt him to
fee to the Northern States, and possessed
8 intelligence Sufficient to make his escape,
he ought not to be brought back. In
this way the bold, daring and reckless
they who were most likely TO disturb the
public peace-would be out of the coun-
try, and there would be greater safety
from those left behind.
But my opinion thus expressed was de-
nouuced by those who are now urging
universas suffrage for the negro, or at
advocating the call of q convention, by
which universal suffrage is to be estab-
lished likewise advocated, at the same
time, the, propriety Of permitting negroes
to give testimony in all cases in our courts
of Justice. This, too, was sternly resisted
by those who are now willing to confer
on the negro the right OF holding Office,
to get back into the GLORIOUS Union,"
which they once hated and despised SO
cordially.
In one of my previous communications,
I stated that Professor Agassiz had proved
conclusivelv that the negro was OF an in
.ferior race to that of the white man, and
had a different origin. In saying this, |