The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-10-19


April last, to give the negroes qualified sur
frage, and said that they were drugooned ou
Of it in six weeks by Mr.. Campbell and Mr.
Rhett, and turned round and said that they
wouldn't give them anything ut all; and he ask
ed the colored people how they could trust
mon who kept faith so badly. Turning again
to national politics, he spoke of General Hamp-
toms plank in the Democratic platform, and
warned the negroes that the Reconstruction
acts which the Democrats wanted to overthrow
we're the only guarantee they had OF the right
of suffrage, their cole protection against tyran-
ny and oppression. Lastly, he made an appeal
to the men to vote for Grant and Colfax and
to tho women to use their influence with their
husbands, and not allow them to come home
after the elections unless they had cast their
ballots for tho Republican nominees. Bowen
thanked the audience for their attention, and
hoped that they would listen patiently and
quietly to tho gentlemen who were to follow
him on the other side. The negroes repeated
Iy applaudcd Bowen during his speech, and at
the conclusion, eavo three wild cheers. AS
soon rs quiet was restored, Henry S. Tew Esq,
introduced Hon. f. D. Richardson as one OF
the Democratic orators who had been invited
to address them.
Judge Richardson said that he was glad OF
the present opportunity to address the colored
people. It was an opportunity he had long
sought, but which had been porsistently de-
MED him. He wanted to sec how they had
been made to believe that their interests werc
]iffsrent from the interests Of the whitepeople.
| He wished to find out the point at which they
thought the interests OF the Two races began to
diyerge, aud he waited Il possible, after dis
covering what tho difforonces were, to remove
them or bridge them over by mutual efforts
made in mutual spirit of kindness andrecon-
cil:ation. He said if he had been casually pass
ing along the rold and como unawarcs upon
this gathering, he would have been surprised
bv the sccuo before him. The spirit eyinced
by the first speaker surprised him. He had
supposed that free discussion was for tho pur-
pose OF finding out differences and reconclling
them; but the speaker who had just preceded
him seemed to seek out points OF difference be-
tweer tho races for The purpose Of making the
difference greater tan over, and had endea-
vored, by appeals to the passions ofthe colorcd
men, TO drive them as far as possible IRON the
whites. But this country was tho homo of the
black man as we'll as Of the white man, and it
was natural that their interests should
be Identical. and he had como there to
speak to them the truth in all frankness,
and find out why they believed that their
interests werc not identical. For his part
he would tell them the reasons why ho
was Democrat, and why he was not Repub-
lican. The first speaker had said that the Re-
publican party had always been party OF uni
versal liberty. If that were true it might be
some cause for the freedmen to support tho
Republican party. But it was not true; not
even Lincoln himself claimed any such thing.
In Lncoln's message to Congress, just after
his inauguration, he had said distinctly that it
was not tine purpose of his administration to
interfere with slavery in any Of the States ID
which it then existed; and Congress itself, by
Joint res Jlution, declared without dissent
Jog voice, that the war was not waged for the
abolition of slavery, but for tho preservation
of the Union. 1t was mere imposition to at
tempt to dolude the negroes with the idea that
the North had undertaken the war for tho pur-
pose OF freeing them. # that were he case,
why did they not froe them in 1851, or 1862;
why wait until 1858? Tho truth was, they
we're whipped nigh unto death, and they eman-
cipated the negroes that they might recruit
their armies with them and savo the lives oftheir
own soldiers, which they had not hcsitatod to
do on many occasions, and thousands of the ne
groes were sacrificed for that purpose. AS for the
question of sleveryin the territories, that was
question Of constitutional government. we
wanted to carry our slaves into tho territories,
but the Republicans did not want us to do it
because it interfered with their own labor. The
territories were as much ours as theils, but they
wanted US to be shut up in our States until
population multiplied to such an extent that
We would be starved out, while they had the
benefit to the common property to expand their
own institutions and build up mora free States.
But we said we would not submit to that. We
came into the Union as equals and if We cannot
remain equals we will leave. The first speaker
had defed any man 10 put his finger on the
place where the Republican party had violated
the constitution. Why, their greatest leader,
Thad. Stevens, had said that thore wcro only
tSo damned fools in the Republican party who
supposed that any of their acts were constitu-
tional. McArdle had violated the Reconstruc-
ton acts for the purpose of testing their valid-
ty. The case came up before tie Supreme
Court, and that august tribunal had decided
that they were unconstitutional, and were
about to pronounce their decision when Con-
gress, fearful of the result, passed 4 law taking
away their jurisdiction in the matter. Judge
Richardson went on to say that he was
surprised to hear them addressed if their
freedom was etill doubtful. He had regarded
it as fixed fact, and he was sure that there
wa not white man in the South outside OF
lunatic asylum who did not agree with him.
He said that the speaker who had preceded
him had abused President johnson, whereas
johnson only did what he was obliged to do to
preserve a constitutional form of government.
There were only two forms of government that
could stand-a constitutional republic and
monarchy. lie (Judgc R.) wanted liberty, AMI
he knew Of no better way Of securing it than
by constitutional republic. Tho Republican
party refused to be bound BY the constitution,
and must drift into the one-man power. II his
hearers wanted monarchy, they could vote