Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1868-08-21
WALnALLA, s c, FRIDA9, AUGUST 81, 1868,

verge fron what understand to be the senti.
S,gent Of those States which I have named up.
!. the subject of suffrage or tho political dis.
,saltiea aor rights Of stllo colored man. Ny
Judgment Is that, as question Of policy,
st mere campaign strategy, it is unwisc to
ssaako At this time, any offers or promises on
|Ithe subject. It belongs to the futuro--not
Tsho present. When, immediately after the
war, President johnson, in 1865, suggested
70 Governor Orr, to myself, and to others that
II might be we'll for the State, in advance of
|sany attempt to interfere with this question, to
|step forward and give a qualified suffrage to
Che colorcd man, acoeded to it as a measure
|Ssf discreet policy at that time l would not,
et this time, mako that or any other offer or
promise upon tho subject 1t was not then
approved or seconded by others.
|t3 But instead the basis Of representation was
itself narrowed, so that the colored man. un.
der the constitution of 1865, was no longer
what he had always been before a part of the
basis of representation. This was achieved
~ the votes and influence of Governor Orr
and Judge Moses over the opposition of Chef
Justice Drnkin, Judge Inglis, Judge Ward
law and the late Judge Frost, and other dis
tinguishod and influential mon. Without
them, or either ono of them, it could not have
been dono.
The present happy relations between tho
colorcd politicians and Messrs. Orr and Moses
may be taken as evidence that the former arc
by no means unforgiving to those who would
exclude thom from all representation, thus
plaoing them below tho grade of property.
But there is another consideration of this
subject, of great and turning weight, if wo
arc free to deal with it at this time The
ttrttA is, the colorod politicians hayo not by
lthsir public conduct, since they have held
fp9Yer, recommended themselves to the favor
able estimate OF their DesI nlenu, VI uf ,,a.o
ting mon generally. They Mother assume
tho administration of powor themselves, nor
confer it upon such mon as they know to be
fit and proper. They have done exactly the
contrary; they have plaood in power men
whom they would not themselves trust for
days wages. If by suoh courses they expect
to gain the confidence or good will of tax pay
crs, holders of land, of capital, and of substan-
tial people gencrally-in fact, of whatever
constitutes Statc-they greatly deceive
themselves. If we think such conduct offers
q proper opportunity to approach the coorcd
man with concessions, we are, I think, woful.
ly mistaken. Of those who at this time form
the dc facto government Of South Carolina
there is not one who might not find his pcor
and superior among the colored people. WHO
would not say that DoLargc, Cardoza, Whip
per, Wright and Cain arc better mon than
any one Of the four mombers of Congress by
them end by their isAuenco inflicted upon
the people of this stsse1 Less cannot be said
Of the oolored politicians than that they havo
failed in fidelity to themselves and TO the great
body Of the people and the property Of tho
State In their late Convention, in their
present Legislature, the oolored element was
and is vastly superior to the white, not only,
in numbers, but also in character, in dcport-
ment, in education, and in all the clements
which make substantial responsibility. They,
too, were really representatives of something
and of somebody. Thoy represent labor and
a largo population Of their own race, and they
could, had they been wiso, have made them
selves the representatives also Of capital and
the white raco. But, rs have said, they
failed in fidelity to themselves to the white
population, and to the property of tho State
The white elemont of those two bodies repre-.
sented nothing and nobody but themselves
Neither labor, nor property, nor population,
nor learning, nor civilization, can claim them
as representatives, and if they had or have
constituents, they are far away among tho
enemies of our own people aud Of their pros
perity. And yet it cannot be donied tho COL
ored politicians knowingly and willingly sur
render themselves and tho power entrusted to
them to such keeping. Shall We, then, at a
time like the present, and undor the oircum-
stances we are iny seek suoh an alliance?
hopo not.
In conclusion, have few plain words for
the oolored people directly to them--.truth-
fully, if not agroeably, have a right to ad-
wise them, because am their friend. They
know am I say to them, then, "You can
not and will not be permitted to participate
permanently and substantially ip the political
power Of this county, or any part Of it,