The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-08-29
The Road to Victory

T li.a Is. The Road to Victory.
II 3isff, VIZ Z .l9p. ;---j :. oi5..'-'. 81,
| "A Democratic victory in South. Carolina
! can only be had by means Of eolored votes.
The thirty thousand majority. which the
i freedmen possess cannot be ohsrmed away
by,a, word nor, viii . sufficient number,
under any circumstances. absent themselves
from the polls upon election, days to make
! the success of the whites in the least de-
I sras, probable # may. fairly hs presumed
that at least thre s-fourths Of the colored
i people VIII yote lNsaeneyer they have. an op-
7 portunity to do so. Voting has not yet
Ewhoaiy lost its charm; aud unless the DEM
toorats inths State can secure about twenty
thDdsanid negro votes; they have no chance ,s! 9
7 Of ginning ins the contest between mature
bqivilization and incipient barbarisml: is The
+ fquestiona,1 then, before us sse--whether
Etwshty thousand coiotsd rneneican2, be in!
bduoed to vote the DemoaradoTtieket, and
what Are the, best means of forming and
confirming their Democratic opinions. .fa
The colored man already knows that he
might as well expect, u. q i.T4asl,ii a.1 L,
/ i s'Constancy in winds, corn in chaff," =
as faithfulness and honor in the heart
Of :, Radical foreigner. The. promises
made when the elections were near, have
melted away like dreams, a and where
the most was expected the least has
been received. Our colored people know.
that they have not received one soli-
,tary practical benefit from the rogues who
ahave been driving them to ruin. They
have been encouraged to be riotous and ia
subordinate, to be, idle and proaigate, to
provoke g war between the whites and the
blacks; but they have not gained single
substantial advantage from any one Of the
men whom they have raised power, and to
whom they have given untold opportunities
Of plundering snd stealing. The Freed
mems Bureau did give them corn and ba.:
con; but that is at an end, and the colored
msn must now make their choice between
the, Radical politician and the respectable
Southern white man. In other words, they
must choose between the men who have
never deceived them, aud the rascals who
have cssjoled them for more than two years
with consistency which does them honor.
IT the Democrats declared that they were
willing to support the doctrine OF universal
suffrage, 1ineteen-twentieths of the colored
votes would be cast for the Democratic can
didates. But this the Democrats do not
now and never will declare. They simply
say that they have not, the control Of the
State, and that they will not promise what
they cannot perform, or what is opposed to
the true interests of the white and colored
races They will promise, however, that
the .colored man shall be free forever. They
will promise that the colored man shall
havs every privilege that is proved to be
necessary to the protection Of his life and
property, to the encour cement of his in
dastry, and to the safety Of his family
This is all that they promise, and it is
enough; for freedom and liberty, with equal
rights under the laws, are all that the col
ored man can expect or require.
The oolored man must be talked to in q
straightforward and practical manner.
With him, the alternatives are honest labor
with plenty, and laziness with starvation.
Votes are not bread. Political meetings
will not appease the hunger Of women and
children. Union Leagues will not hoe corn
or ripea cotton. AS the colored people be-
came more engrossed in politics, so did
their squslor and misery increase; but when
they began to turn away from their idols,
they worked better and earned more, and
fifteen districts in the State gave the DEM
oorsts handsome majority. The colored
man can understand these things if they are
explained carefully and patiently. Facts aot
fanoies, must be used to influence his mind;
and when it is shown to him, as it can be
shown, that the Radicals have given him
less than nothing, and that the Democrats
guarantee to him freedom and protection,
the wages Of his labor and the security Of
his home, there should be no difficulty in OBJ
tanning the twenty thousand votes which
will enable South Carolina to give rous.
ing majority for SEYMOUR and for BLAIR.