Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-06-15
PlCKENS COURT HOUSE, S. G, SATURDAY JUNE IS 1867

| for, ~hcn you say Black is fit to give tcst
mony Ill Case between Black and White
man. you must realize that he is at least MS we'll
qualified to give testimony in II CONTROVERSY
between two Whites, where it is probable he
would have no such bias or partiality as he
might have if one of the parties were Black.
say all these laws, invidous. unnecessary,
and degrading as they were, looked to the
people of the North like revival of the Re.
bcllon i'll Il more insidous and good deal
less manly. y.aspcct than it wore on the heights
OF Er"dorlekshurg and in the valley Of the
Ch!ckamausa 1t looked to lis at the North
us II men who had been beaten in fair, stand
up l'Sht chnsc to revive the contest i'm such n
manner that they could annoy and irritatc us
without exposing themselves to the perils of
Datt'e or the penalties OF treason. say that
tins legislation, which prevailed more or less
throughout the States of the South, was ono
OF the chief obstacles, and is one of the still
remaining lmpcdlmcnts, to am early and gen
nlnc reconstruction of the Union.
need not more than alluGc to the deplor,.
bic outlngcs at Memphis and New Orleans.
which seemed to Indicate the animus 70 tb;.
course of oppressive class legislation. You
may not probably know to how great an OK.
tent the public feeling and tho elections Of thc
North i'll the year 1866 were affected bv wbat
VIC call the New Orleans Massacre don't
care to argue or assume that those who we're
the victims of these outraces were entirely
right, nor that their advcrsarics or sl,urhtcr.
crs were wholly wrong. 1t was fact that tho
coorcd people Of Louisiana were trying to ,rct
INC Rlght OF Suffrage, and by means which
their friends thought legitimate The other
purity, however, Thoughts otherwise and, in
stead OF referring tho matter to the General
III command, or to some peaceful tribunal, the
reassembllng of. the old Constitutional Con.
ventlon was made the prctcxt for an attack
which resulted in the slaugl liter of some scores
OF Amerlcan citizens, and in very stern, sad
rcvulslon OF public sentiment the prejudice
OF thnse OF ynu who had been in arms arninst
the Union These outragcs, this nnwisc and
n.ldi"us legislation, fixed in the minds I
VIII not say OF majority OF the Seople of the
North, but in the minds of a vcryNarge pro.
portion OF the wise, Intelligent, aud consccn.
tious people of tho North, conviction which
think will not casily be shaken, that there
can be no real peace in the Union, that there
can be no reconstruction, without the hearty
admission on the part of the Southern States,
and the securing on tlie part Of the nation, of
the right of all men to be governed by equal
laws. Applause Will not say that we
who so hold constitute great majority of the
Northern people; but will say that we arc
very many more than We were prior to the nn-
i-negro cnnctmcnts of Mr. Julnson's lcgis.
laturcs in the Southern States, and before the
outragcs of l86Uat Memphis and at View Or.
leans. think t',at, before Glcsc collisions
were reported to the North, thc conviction was
fixed in great many minds, us it row is in
great many more, that no reconstruction would
bc real and enduring which did not include
guarantees for the rights of thc co'ored people
OF the South; and when say rights, mean
their equal fights with any and all other per
sons. Arplausc by the negroes II is
very common remark, and a very true one,
that the North is in honor bound to guaran-
tee the liberties of the Black people of this
country, because Of their conduct during our
great war. | have no doubt that this is true
yet deem it but half the truth. hold the
South cstally bound to secure the same result
bccauscof thc' cossdact of tho Blacks toward
the Whites Of the South in thas eanse civil
war.
l fully admit the obligations of the North
Cor the Nation) to the Diacks Some may
exaggcratc their services, others unduly dc.
prcc!atc them but there was tho general fact,
that, whereas, in the beginning Of the war.
when nothing was said about Emancipation
the Blacks of tho South shouted with their
masters without knowing much about the
cause Of tho war, yet, as the struggle proceed
ed and became more deadly, aud the North
found itself obliged to proclaim Emancipation
as means of putting down the resistance at
thc' South, the sympathies of the colored pco-
pl, vf the South, how, yer silently expressed,
became from that hour more and moro deci-
ded and unanimous on the side of the Union
They did not at first comprehend tho contest !;
and yet thousands, from mere instinct, from
what they heard at Southern barbecucs and
in their masters houses, learned that the war
on the part of the South was war for Slave
ry and they naturally argued that the war
on the part Of the North either was or must
become n war for Freedom. TAr lausc. =
Now, then, l say chat, while the North is un.
der obligations to those people for thousands
Of acts of kindness toward our soldiers, who
worc sometimes scattered as fugitivcs in hos
tile territory aud for acts of positive aid on
the battlefield and in tho c.;an the South
also owes debt Of gratitude to these peope
for their general fidelity and good viii, as well
as good sense, displayed in resisting every
temptation to take advantage Of their n,nstcrs'
extremity to achieve at any cost their own
liberties. believe Southern men will do the
Blacks Of the South the justice to say that
very often whole ncighborhoods were almost
stripped Of White men of any considerable
q NJ