Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-04-13

cl over til" State you will find that The crop
to be gathered in the State in the next fall will
be materially reduced Why 7 Because YOU as,
merchants, and factors, and agents, have not
been able to extend the usual facilities for cul-
tivatng the broad acres which nre now lying
idle and waste but would have been cultiva-
ted it you could have commanded capital
How then arc these difficulties to be cured
as an individual | have tried the past year
to cure them in the way indicated by the Ex-
ccutive of the United States, but that cure
has proved unavailing. Within the last
thirty days after having done all that was re.
Nuircd on the part of the Federal Executive,
Congress comes forward snd says-Congrcss
and not the President has the right to declare
and dictate the terms upon which the recon
stluetion Of the Government is tn b" effected
They have pissed the Bill r,ll,L 81: Shrr-
man Bill" and other know. ''r''.
mental Bill" The next nur.;...
to the people Of South Turl;... m% wa., t.
all the people Of the Southern States is Shall
we come forward and accept IL" term, u t,c
Bill and go TO worl; honestly and earnestly 20
cnrry them out, or fold our arms in "paty2
That is the question.
propose to vindicatc to yon my opinions
as to the course to be pursued by South Car.
ions upon tho unwilling. If my counscls are
all your material interests will remain paral.
yzed until you secure representation at Wash
ington. When the constitutional amendment
was proposed to us ms States by Congress, and
we were left to our own voition, ! counscllcd
its rejection. That is passed now Congress
has assumed that this country and that they
hoy ,f,),t Il
III the Congress to dictate those terms, and
that power is at least secured to them for the
next two years. When the party in power
has fairly and sqnarcly put itself on this plat
form l. for one, do not propose to 20 t. the
Supreme Court, or oranywhcre else, for tho pur
pose Of disputing this / propose, humilia-
ting as the terms may be, to act upon them
fairly and aquarciy. Those terms are, in
many respects, think, ungcncrous and un.
Just. think it is our interest to submit to
their power | happen to be OF that class q:
persons disfranchiscl now, hcucctorward ana
and forcvcrmorc | have not the privilege
OF enrolling myself as a voter, or OF going to
the ballot box. | have not tho privilege OF
becoming candidate for the humblcst Office.
My counsel ought, therefore to be- regarded,
by even those who have heretofore been in
the habit of disir,Sting me, rs unscliish.-
The DISTINGUISHING clause was, | think, an
unfortunate one.
According to an analysis by myself in the
limits of the District Of Anderson, about one
eighteenth Of the population will be excluded
from voting | presume this will be fair
average of tho whole State. Many of these
excluded persons enjoy the unboundcd conf
drncc Of their fellow citizens There are
nseny of them needed to carry on the opera
tions of the Government Many Of them will,
be nee led in your Convention. Their absence
will b a misfortunc; their wisdom would en-
able them to give such a formation to the new
Constitution as to make it more acceptable
than it is likely to be l?nt it is better that
they should be excluded shan that they should
refuse to accept the terms proposed, when
there is a reasonable certainty that il you do
not accept them, more extreme measures will
be imposed. Therefore, looking to the inter
csts of tho great masses of the people of South
Carelina. believing that the threats of con1is-
cation WIFI not be carried out, if the people
execute in good faith the provisions Of the
Bill, j think it is the highest dictate of wis
don! to accept the terms of tho "Sherman y
and Supplemental Bills" would there
fore say to every man in South Carolina who
is not DISTINGUISHED, when the erder s issncd
by the proper military authority for rcgistra-
tion, Srt every voter, white and oolorcd, 90
and register and when the day Of election
comes vote for the best men that can De Sc
lectcd to form q Constitution nd Government
under which shcy and thci, rnstnri'v may
live. think Congress ,,,L et' ;stakr
when they extended the r., in'' ri"i.
nately to the colnrcd populate, tlr.&
Congress will realize the mistake ir!orc
that lsw passed was in favor OF eiyinG 10
such OF the colorcd race ~ could rc"d aud
write, or owned two hundred and fifty dollars
in property the elective franchise. This, for
two reasons, First. Universal suffrage opens
the door for dcmagogucs--to operate upon the
ignorant and those who may he misled. re
strictcd to those who could read and write, you
would have a guarantee that when fallacous
arguments were presented to them, they would
have the capacity to reject them Serondlg.
| AS in reference to the colorcd man hmsclf--if
Congress had extended the franchise to those
alone who could read and write, or owned
property, every coorcd man, who has the ca.
pacity to learn, would in five years have so
learned. Now that universal suffrage has been