The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-11-13
COMMUNICATED.
TILE PROSPECT BEFORE US.

1t is now ascertained that General Blair will
not be abe to stir up another revolution.
Peace, vi ith all its blessings, is promised to the
people of this State for the next four years, and
for great many more, if we will work faith
fully with the materials at our command.
| There is much to be amended, Sut it is work
for ourselves to perform, and not for othere.
The state government ID perfect burlesque
upon all republics, yet the truth is that the
white man made it so when he refused to &C.
cept the Howard Constitutional Amendment
Ifhe is not satisfied with the result, the next
step is to improve that government. This can
not be done By s'force," as General Blair so in
sanely promised, but by means OF precisely OPP
positu character. The freedmen are in large
majority-that majority must be reduced-that
is, it must be furnished with reasons not to
distrust the white man. The negro deserves
we'll of us, for he has sustained his former
owner under circumstances when it could not
have been expected. Probably no other race
Of people upon the earth would have done it.
AS the two races have stood since 1865, there
was an antagonism between them. The
elevation Of the African to ,litical power in
suited the prejudices Of the white man, and ho
resisted it. The contest has been carried on
long and fierceIy, but the point is now sottled
that the freedman shall have equal political
rights with oil other citizens of the State. The
die is cast, and now what we have to do is to
recognize this fact and build up future upon
it. Can it be doue?
Social equality is not demanded, bat merely
equal political rights. Can we not consent to
this and adapt ourselves to it when VIC know
it is inevitable? We can, if We will, and that is
all We have to do in order to gain the negro's
confidence aud his support of proper men and
measures. If he has given himself up to the
carpet-bagger for tho last three years, it was
because he thought he had no other friends;
let Us convince him that there is no longer
any antagonism, and he will never look for his
friends elsewhere than among the Southern
people. In no other way can that majority be
reduced; but the gano is in our own hands,
and we can win it if we choose.
The negroes are not saints. 1t is very easy
to point out their many faults yet it will not
be denied that they furnish the cheapest and
best labor that the planters could get. The
rage has been for whito labor, on the assnmp-
ton that white people woald not cheat YOU
and would work like perpetual motion ma
chimes, whether the employer was present or
not Try it, all you Who would like to be cor
rectly informed upon this subject, AMI you
will find that the negro il worth every dollar
that you give for him. provided you are worth
anything yourself. Planting must, like all
other business we'll conducted, have your own
personal, unreEitting attention. Do this and
your results are sure. Besides this, tie negro
only asks plenty Of bread, fat bacon and
ightwooi knots, to make himself perfectly !
comfortable. Try the white laborer with thcsS
luxurles and see how long hv will stay with
yol. He the negro). is certainly the most
patient, good natured drudge that ever was
known. The lapse of three years in his new
condition of freedom has made him pro-
gressively better man, and the writer makes
this acknowledgment. though it costs him the
loss of former opinion, prophetically, to the
contrary.
Then, what are our prospects for the fu-
ture? With the negro as laborer, and
climate and soil peculiarly adapted to the pro-
duction of cotton-with determination to
treat the negro as political equal and to de-
serve his confidence, what is there to prevent
the return OF prosperity to the South 1t is
here now ! Even the negroes have rolls of
bank bills in their hands, and the stores are
crowded with the n, payiog down the cash for
everything they buy. Lands ara approaching
in value rapidly; cotton lands are sought after
with aYldltY. Pfoprietors arc no longer aux'
1ous to sen-their pockets are getting full
again, and they do not know what to invest in.
They arc beginning to talk about ''stocks"-a
new subject here. Once they could buy land
and negroes with their surplu, fuuds-now
the negro is kicking up his heels and won't be
bought, whilst good cotton lands are paying too
well for their present proprietors TO part with
them. Prosperity has come already, although,
in fact, it IS but the beginning Of what Is to be.
The popular prejudices against the North
are fast subsiding, and the day will
soon pass away when any one will bo found
unwise enough to cherish itany longer. North
err men will como South and bring with them
all the improvements in husbandry: which will
economize both time and labor. Already seven
acres Of land have produced thirteen bales cot
ton the9 present year, in the neighborhood
where the writer lives, aud this with the rough