The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-07-31
OUR DUTY.
friends.


us it appears passing strangc-after all That
has been said and done, there arc many
men in the South. and, we regret to say, many
men in South Carolina, who still insist upon
regarding the several Reconstruction ACTS Oh
Congress, rs well as the several other legisla-
tive enactments, arising out OF our changed
relation, and passed since the close OF the war;
as mere temporary party measures These
they think or pretend to believe, concern the
Radicals at the North, and, perhaps, the color
ed people of the South; but can in no sense DC
considered to have any essential bearing upon
their own case. They labor under the hallucina-
tion that, as far rs they are concerned they
can either accept or reject the terms onerea.
This in measure, is true. We have a choice.
But can we afford to reject the only terms that
have ever been authoritatively offered us? Are
we prepared to take the consequences OF such
an alternative?
Our people cannot pretend to ignorance; for
there has been sufficient agitation and elucida-
tion to bring the lesson home to even the dull
est comprehension. The Acts of Congress IN
themselves are sufficiently explicit; and so
much has been said on the subject in our news
papers and by our public speakers, that 1t Is
safe to assume that every one has ere this had
an opportunity to inform himself fully in rela
tion to its requirements.
We know some of our people have been mis-
led-in part owing TO the blind guides whom
they follow but more because they choose to
pursue the devious paths of opposition. Their
leaders are not, on this account, less blame
worthy for teaching sullen opposition to the
laws of the country; nor, on the other hand,
are they guillcss who will not register, or II
they do register, will vote for "No Conven-
ton This course seems the more surprising
when we reflect that, do what we will, the Con-
ventions will be held and the State govern
ments will be organized. If all the white peo-
ple in the South entitled to vote will register,
and vote for Conventions, they may accomplish
very much in influencing and shaping the fu-
ture desinies of these States. If they hold
Of, however, and do not register, or vote against
holding Convention, they tie their own hands;
for by the provisions of the Reconstruction
Acts-with the execution of which Congress
charged the Commanding Generals OF the FIVE
Military Districts-every negro, twenty-one
years of age, has the privilege of voting; and
ihia nrivilnqn- we NAV feel sure. he will exer-
else; so that, if not single ex-Contederatc IN
the ten Southern States should register, or if
they should all vote against Conventions, these
Conventions would, nevertheless, be held.
But, say some, all that il done under these
Acts is necessarily provisional, and for the
same reason that Congress is anxious to gain
our consent to these measures, though it be a
mere semblance only of assent, it should be our
aim to avoid giving such concurrence; for once
these provisions are engrafted upon our State
Constitutions land they can only be engrafted
legally by the voluntary act of n considerable
number of bona yfde white voters), we can
never dcbarrass ourselves of them. Now, sup
pose even this were so-and we by no means
concede the strength of such posiion-is it
not matter of absolute certainty-we judge
by what we see and hcar-that very consid-
cradle number Of whites, Southern whites,
will vote in favor of Convention? And this
they will do from o conviction of duty, as we
have indicated above. Then oil that the pas
sivists will accomplish by their course, is to
give overwhelming majorities to the colored
vote all over the South. Now, however harm
less this element Of our population may be,
if in full accord with us and we with it,
it is otherwise when we declare ourselves in
the opposition, and throw our colored friends,
by our own acts, into the arms of the ex-
tremiss of the North, already too much preju-
diced against us. How long can the peace of
the country be preserved with such counsel
lors? The negroes are not hostile now, not
even rivals but if the people of these States
should adopt the course advised by PERRY,
HILL, etc., would they not speedily and inevi-
tably become both rivals and enemies?
The Richmond Wig, in a recent article
on 'The Impolicy of Opposition says:
To show the futilty and impolicy of South
ern opposition to the Republican programme
in regard to reconstruction, it is only necessa-
ry to pursue the following train of thought:
That opposition should combine all Of the
Southern whites, save those who adhered TO
the Union during the war. 1t should be an or
ganized opposition. and act by means Of party
All ex-Confcderates should belong
to it. Its aim should be to prevent the Repub-
licans from carrying out their programme. 1t
should rest its claims to the support of the
Southern people upon the assumption that
Southern sentiment, or rather the sentiment Of
the ex-Confedcrate whites, should prevail, and
that the ideas and views of the conquering
section should not be permitted to be intro
duced! Another assumption would be that
none but ex-Confedcrate whites should be
elected to office. Would not this be q Confed-
crate theory, and if such party prevailed
would it not in effect revive and set in opera
ton Confederate principles
This proposition will scarcely be denied.
Does not the North know this as well rs we dO,
and can we be so blind as to suppose that after
fighting for four years, at n sacrifice of nearly
Il half million lives, and loss of three thou
sand million of dollars, there is any, the most
remote, possibility that the North WILL under
any circumstances, allow us to resume and
carry out any programme of our own-any
Southern programmc-lcast of all one squint-
ing, however family and furtively, at the Con-
Tolerate system! If we suppose such thing
possible we deceive ourselves most grossly,
and act under dclusion destined to work an
amount of mischief to the for
tunes of those most dear to us. We are not
speaking of things as we could wish them to
be, but as they really are. The policy we
should like to see would be one of such mag