The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-03-15
CHARLES r ON.

CHAR LIE S TON.
FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH Is, 1867.
UNIVERSAL sUFFRAGE-oUR DUFY'
Wa have said that our duty was neither easy nor
,,,easant but We will say now that never was duty
more clear and imperative. For more than TWO
oant,res wa the free white race, have had control
o,d ,,ossession of this beautiful Southern lana
What we have made Of it the world mas seen. Oet
bitterest enemy cannot write the history oi 'nis
republic without recording our contributor 70 .'s
fame and to it's fortunes. We have adoeo 70 tae
wealth Of .s agriculture, and to the spread OF lib
commerce-upon the sea and upon the lana our
blood has flowed in defence Of it's honor and lSs III
terests-and in every department OF, the countrys
service. Southern intellect and Southern patl1ot-
ism have yindicated their full equality. 10" oo
We believe that such combination, SO essennal
rt of the history and life Of this natlon can De
annhilated b- IN act of 11nwise legislatlons 10
we beliaye ,uat the enfranchised freedmen can
take our place? Did our boasted superiority de-
pend only on the force by which we maintalneop VI
Was it due to our intellect, our educatlon, ouu
wealth, and to the supreme instinct OF our race
!. Because we have been defeated In struggle
where we showed skill, resource, courage, endur-
ance unsurpassed, have we no future are manis
submission and despair the same virtue 80 ial
from it. it seems to US that now if ever, ls sne ees'
and strain of Southern character;-now Is the ume
TO proye that we have both the wisdom ana tne
resolution to control even such an ISSUE 1or
pood:-that we are indeed AN essential part ana
marcel of that Union from which we are forbidden
to senarate and that to US will the country be finally
indebted for the safe solution OF this dangerous
problem. Let MS recollect that the Eorio' nlos'
uniustly but almost universally, believed tnae We
were the oppreasors Of the negro, and the wnole
world was against us. Let the North make us l'oe
the oppressor, but the rival OF the negro ana tne
whole world will be with us. More. certainly Will
this be the case if We prove, as we can, we WILL
that we are bis friends, and that under this new
dispensaton he is to advance at all it VIII only De
depending on our support. Let us LOOK at our
condition dispassionately.
six Years ago we inaugurated revolution in
which We failed. We were met with strength
and a resolution we did not anticipate Ihe
Union we attempted to destroy had hold upon
the affections and interest of the whole Northern
people which VIC had not measured, and, after
fighting as long as we could, we surrendered a
more complete surrender history mas mol record
ed. Our conquerors did not appreciate either the
temper Of our resistance or the spirit OF our sur
render. They had gone through" great peril and
they resolved to prevent. if possible, such rlsk
for the future. AS the most effective means to
that end they emancipated our slaves and gave,
them the right Of suffrage. They believed the an
tagonstic in$erest Of the two races and the supe-
rior number of the blacks would secure the poht-
cal preponderance of loyal sentiment in the fu-
ture political action Of the South and, that safe
guard secured, they offer us restoration to the
Union. We waive altogether any discussion OF
the constitutional character OF this course OF poll
cy. With Nteir constitution we honestly CONFESS
We do not see just now what we have to do. Ihey
claim to treat us as conquered territories, and
against that claim we can, at this moment, make
no practical argument Restoration to the Union
ia to us matter Of vital importance. It relieves
us from military government; it secures US repre-
sentaton; it offers us capital it renews our indus
try, and promises us relief from such condl-
ton Of utter prostradon as, perhaps, no people
were ever yet reduced to and lived. LIS the condl-
ton of unit ersal suffrage, which accompanies this
restoration, worse in it's consequences than the
evils under which we now suffer Under the
present condition of things letnssee-
l. What is the interest Of the freedmen? There
is not an intelligent freedman who does not know,
| to-day, as well as the wisest Of white men, that
the government of this State cannot be put into
the hands of the enfranchised negroes. he knows
| that tho laws which protect his person and pro-
perty cotld not be administered; that the trade
and agriculture which supply the profits OF his
business could not be continued; that the teacher
who teaches his children, the physician who heals
| him in sickness, the clergyman who breaches to
him, would be forced to suspend their operations.
Ee knows, far better than his jealous Northern
friends, that, giving him everything he could ask,
he must for years be dependent upon tho white
man, or he must degenerate into barbarism. The
very field-hand comprehends that white credit and
| cash must for some time yet supply his clothes,
| his mclasses, and his bacon. The freedman then
understands this that for the present he must
depend upon the white .nan-either the South
ern man whom he knows ,-or The Northern man
| whom he ia yet to know. The freedman
possesses, also, very strong local attachment.
He doss,tnot want to go to Liberia-he wants to
live and thrive in Carolina, and he knows that the
ruin of the State is his ruin. He knows that he
cannot drive the white man away. If Southern
men fail, he has seen enough already to know that
Northern men will take his place. He knows that
| he has in these United States to live with white
men as friends or enemies, and In this city the
colored laborer, the draymen and stevedores, have
seen enough before the war to know that II they
force the immigration Of white laborers to compete
with them, they must go to the wall. They know
that antagonism with the white race is notthelr
safety 80 fur they have manifested none, and it
would be most unreasonable in lis to assume or to
compel it. Of course there will be exceptions;
there will be vain people among the freedmen as
there are vain people among the whites, who fancy
they can do a great many things until they try.
But the surest cuIe is to let them try. We cer-
tainy can afford them fair fold of competition.
2. What is cur interest If, in the place of the
freedmen now made voters, we had an equal
white population and country in which they could
live, the problem would not be so difficult. But if
these freedmen could suddenly be converted into
white immigrants, ignorant Of our language, unac-
customed to our modes Of labor, unable to live
and work in our climate, would we be much better
off? In this population we have a people singu-
lary docne and nofensive-law abiding, not given
to riot or violence thoroughly trained in the labor
we need, and warmly attached to the soil we must
cultivate The relations existing between us and
them arc old, kindly, and i'll some respects very
strong. We have gone through FIVE years of trial
with them such az no laboring population werel
ever subjected to. The influence we have with
+ho,,, l,oro, ;tb tba ora dlo and in thia oanernN