Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-05-15
Ex-Governor Perry on South Car
Olina-Protest Against Recon
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8aEACNAOMo
TO the Editors of The Columbia Phenix:-
The people of South Carolina were per-
suaded, Six or seven years ago, that their
7 only hope in maintaining African slavery
was in the destruction OF the American
Union and the formation of a Southern
Confederacy. i did not think So aud raised
my warming voice against this fatal delu-
sion. said to them that slavery was safer
, in the Union than it could be in q separate
Confederacy. told Them that the ex-
tinction OF the Union would be the death
kheu OF slavery. They spurned my
counsel, aud imadly rushed into q bloody
war, which ended in the abolition of
slavery. Now they are being persuaded,
again, that the only way to save
their land from the eonfiscation of Com
gress, is In adopting the provisions
OF the Military Bill, giving uni-
yersal suffrage 70 the negro, and disffal-
q chising their leading public men. It Is with
: q sad heart that see indications all over
che State Of preparation TO adopt this
second delusion, which will prove more
fatal to the State Than the first has been.
It is true, tiiat they lost by the first their
= property in slaves, and involved theirc0un-
try in a long and bloody war, which desc
lated the State and sacrificed thousands of
their most gallant sons. It Is true, also,
/, that they were conquered, and have been
placed under q Military Government. But
now they are going TO sacrifice their honor
as people, and lose their land into the bar
gaing They are going to enfranchise 60, 600
black votes, and surrender the political
power of the State into the hands of the
negroes? The inevitable result of this de-
+ lusi0n and criminal folly will be the estab-
lishment of the most atrocious government
and horrible state of society that civil
5 lied people were ever subjected 20.
Already the negro watcn CRY in Virginia
and elsewhere Is, Il ands for the landless ~
Homes for the h0Hselessn Political
-.
xcOIor." What avail will 40, 600 white votes
have in South Carolina. with this watch
cry ringing at the polls? It is against
nature and reason to supposethat an ignor
ant and debased majority will nos pursue
their own interest, regardless Of right, and
they may be. lt is possible TO restrain
them at first, before they acquire concert.
-4of action. Hence the Importance of de-
. feating the call of 1 convention at the first
/. election, before this majoriGy is organized
and mboidened by agitation and evil coan-
sells. 1t cannot be controlled atterward,
twill make South Carolina a political
and social pandemoniums is there an in
stance in the worlds history of q class OF
men, invested with political power, who
did not unite TO promote their own inter-
ests sf & ,a ia %
to the negroin SUnrh Carolina, he will feel
his numerical str ng b, and sooneror later,
under toe vile lead o Black Republican en-
iissaries,seize the pOlIEical power of the State
and exercise it to oppress and piunder the
4 white race. There ere thousands OF unprin-i
cfpled white men among Us, who will unite
their destiny with the negro for the sake
OF spoils and plunder. Tney will easily be
persuaded, and persuade themselves, that it
is right and proper that the lands OF the
State should be divided out equally among
all of her citizens. Every one should have
Il fla<tr oo al
former rich master. Having the power in
their hands; with this belief, it's folly and
stupidity to suppose they'wifl not execute
il. They must serve on juries and hold Of
flee, ride with you and your daughters in
the cars, and eat with you at the hotel and
sit with You in the church. All this, and
about ten times more, you must endure for
your black political masters. Aud can itbe
that the pride OF Carolina has sunk so low,
and been SO degraded as TO vote tor all this
voluntarily, for the purpose OF getting back
into that Union which her hefcitizenspfofesse
to hate and despise so cordially few years
since? Are they willing TO 60 to the polls
and cast their vote tor a Convention with
their destiny staring them in the face, IN
order to save their lands from cOnfiscation?
No. They will be voting the Ultimate con-
'fiscation of their lands and their political
rights as surely as they are voting away
their honor as men ard Carvlinians. -
There are in the State only ten districts
out of the thirty in which the white voters
are in the majority, and these districts are
the smallest; e0nseq aently two-Ehirds and
more of the Convention may be negroes or.
Black Republicans. The Legislature will
be similarly composed. Do che people of
South Carolina really think of these conse-
yquences, or, are they prepared 70 accept
them? Better thousand times let Con-
gress contiscate your lands than entail such
Il Government aud such degradation and
misery on yourselves and posterity. Do
your duty and leave the consequences to
God. Act like men and Caroiinians. De-
clare, by voting against a Convention, that
you wiz never voluntarily yield the right
of sell. government, or place yourselves
under the control of your former slaves.
Better-far better-t0 remain as you are,
under the military rule of your conquerors,
and await their returning sense of Justice,
I feel assured that nothing but a mistaken
appeal to base fear, and that dastardly vir-
tue, called prudence, could have wrought
so wolderful change in the public senti-
ment of South Carolina. And it is melan
choly to see the people, proud, gallant
pe0ple-sca into their own ruin and
degradation blythe false cry of eonfiscation,
like the censuinptive lunatlc, who had such
terror of death that he butted out his
brains against the walls of the cell to avoid
it. In order to save our lands from Con,
gressional cOnfiscatiOn, we are persuaded
themselves.
Let no one charge me with disloyalty to
the American Union, or infer from what ]
have said, that / am not in favor of recon-
structing the union of the States. My
whole political life has been spent in fight
ing tor the Union, and trying tc ward of
that tell spirit of disunion which has
brought all these unnumbered woes upon
South Carolina. InWish to see the Union
restored under the Constitution. know
the American people never can be free and
happy, great and prosperous, without the
Federal Union; but will never degrade
myself or my State, or surrender my con-
to, get back into the Union. LwiA live
under a Military Government. ne matter
how absolute and despotic it may be, and
bequeath it to my children, sooner than
vote negro Government for South Caro-
lima, which every man will do who votes
It is source Of proud satisfaction to me
to see such Union men as Gov. Sharkey, OF
Mississippi; Gov. jenkins, of Georgia
Gov. WOrths OF North Carolina, and Gov
Marvin, of Florida, who never ceased theil
oppOsition co the spirit of disunlon till the
Union ceased to exist, standing firmly anC
breasting the storm of tyranny, oppression
and degradation which has been hurled a.
them. while leading secessionists and dis.
ufiionists are cOunselling the people TO theii
own degradation and destruction, for tht
purpose of getting back into the Union
and. in order to accomplish their purposes
holding up to their view the "raw head anC
bloody bones of confiscation. Such coun
sci comes with bad grace from those wht
boasted, at the beginning of our civil o.
sectional war, that they had drawn thei
swords and thrown away the scabbards
determined to die or live separate from th'
vile and accursed Yankee nation.
OF No ma m CHARGE 0ith0r with nm.