The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-06-12
CH LES TON
FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 12, 1858.
The Resai.s of Organized Effort.

FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE l2, 1868.
The Resai.s Of Organized Effort.
81. ags ;4',-gt,-na t---.5 :,-.H i3gFf7'ir - }l'
The large Conservative gains in the
State at the recent County elections have
caused some natural surprise, the vote upon
the call for a conventions and upon the rat
,ifcasion OF. The new constitution, having
failed to prepare the public mind for any
important change in the strength Of oppos-
ing parties. At the elections for calling q
convention only seventy-one thousand votes
were cast out Of total registration Of one
hundred and twenty-six thousand eight hun
dred and fofty-four; but at the elections for
fstifcation,of the constitution- ninety-eight
Thousand and forty-six=-otas wero Polied, =
so that it was expected that the Radicals
would, at the County elections, carry by
increased majorities, every district but
those in which the,whites had q large excess
of the registered votes.
When the convention elections were held
the blacks were unaccustomed to the e1er-
jcise Of their new privilege. and did not vote
nearly their full strength, while the whites,
with but few exceptions, kept away from
the polls. This awakened the Radical
leaders to the necessity of a more thorough
canvass, and they SO arranged their plans
as to make more certain in future elections
!a full negro vote. Nor did they neglect to
make an attempt to conciliate the white
race. Their ordinance annulling negro
bonds, and their homestead exemption law,
were intended to win white as well as col-
iored votes, and they so far aucceeded that
they were able to ratify their new constitu-
itioni by . majority Of over forty thousand,
which included perhaps the ballots Of few
hundred white men.
4 The constitutional elections being ended,
the Conservatives increased their efforts
and resolved to place themselves in posi-
ton to make the best fight possible when
next should come the tug Of war. They
formed Democratic or Conservative associ-
ations in every district, and took pains to
convince tha colored people that the whites
were their truest friends. The negroes
now began to realize thattheir freedom was
assured; but experience taught them that
they could mot livsby freedom alone. They
saw that mules and acres of land were not
carried in oarpet-bags for gratuitous dis
,tribution. They knew that their old mas
ters were temperate in language and mode
rate in act They felt that political meet
iings did not clothe bare backs or fill empty
stomachs. Then, as the day for the County
elections drew nigh, they saw that the Con-
servative nominees were respectable and
responsible men, and thousands of ne
groes, when the decisive moment came,
yielded to the influences of custom and
self-interest, and either voted the Conserva-
tive ticket or did not vote at all. Thus,
it was the rational and sensible conduct of
the up-country people,--their sobriety in
counsel, their patience in argument,
their wisdom in Offering proper guarantees
to the colored men, and in showing them
that without the white race they could not
even live,-which has enabled the Conser-
vatiyes to win the day in many districts,
and to show in every other district in the
State from which we have seen returns a
reduced Radical majority.
In the up-couatry ii has been easier to
influence the colored men than it will be
found to be on the sea-coast. The farmer
of the northern and western districts work.
ed smaller number of hands than were
worked by the planter in the low-country.
With his every slave he was familiar, and
when it was necessary to speak to the freed
man he could do it with more effect than
could sea island planter, who scarcely
knew the faces of his slaves. The colored
man saw more white men in the up-country
than in the low-country; he became better
acquainted with the manners and habits of
his masters; ne was removed partially from
the debasing effects of a life passed in sight
of none but people of color, and with no
mentor but an occasional overseer. These
circumstances made the work Of the upper
districts lighter than the work Of the lower
districts can be hoped to be. Every advan-