The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-06-03
The Intelligencer JOB Office.
JOB WORK OF ALL KINDS.

with the cash, Will receive prompt attention.
to sleep in the samo bed with hin-any:
thing may be made the preteXt for arbi--
trary fine and Imprisonment. A moro
convenient mode Of depopulating the State,
of South Carolina Of her white race, could
not we'll be devised.
The Legislature has power to maintain
a standing army in time of peace. THE.
aud the militia provision will enable a
sufficient number of profigate negroes to-
be maintained as soldiers at the expense
of the white Taxpayers, to keep the white
race in perfect subsection, and to eat out
their substance.
The whole spirit of the proposed Con-
stitution is shown in section eighth Of ar
ticle eight, which reads thus:
"SEc. 8. The General Assembly shall
never pass any law that will deprive any
of the citizens of this State of the right
of suffrage, except for treason, MURDER
robbery, or duelling, whereof the person
shall have been duly tried and convicted"
These are crimes of which white men
may be guilty, hence disfranchisement
may be part Of the penalty. Perjury,
burglary, clandestine theft, arson, rape,
the specialities Of the negro race, shall
never deprive the perpetrator of the right
of suffrage, no matter how fiagrant or oft
repeated. The gentleman who prefers to
settle his difficulties in private single COM
bat. rather than bring them in noisy brawf
before crowd, is forever DISTINGUISHED,
while the convicted perjurer, the thief;
and the negro, who destroys the home OF
the child of the white man, may, and per-
haps would, in honor Of the crime, bo
elected Governor of the State, or sent to
these halls, as soon as he leaves the peni-
tentiary.
On behalf of the Democratic State Gen.
trail Committee of South Carolina, laid
before this House remenstrance against
this Constitution, which was referred to
the Reconstruction Committee, and by
permission Of our Chairman, (Mr. Ste
veus,) COL Thomas, of South Carolina,
advocated the views and principles there
in set forth, with q modesty and ability
that seemed to impress even our distin-
guishcd Chairman. / have that paper
here. / wish [ had time to read it to the
House. l have not. I" l can only make
few extracts from it, and urge the mem
bers on both sides, if they want to under
stand the true state of feeling in South
Carolina, and the evils this Constitution
would bring upon that people, to read and
ponder we'll on the facts therein contained.
After stating many other grave questions,
tho Committee add:
eve have thus suggested to your hon.
orabe body some of the prominent objec-
tions to your adoption Of this Constitu-
tion We waive all argument upon the
subject of it's validity. 1t is q Constitu-
ton de facto, and that is the ground upon
which we approach your honorable bodyiu
the spirit of earnest remonstrance. That
Constitution was tho work of Northern
advcnturers, Southern renegades, and ig
norant negroes. Not one per cent. of the
white population Of the State approves it,
and not two per cent. of the negroes who
voted for it's adoption understand what
his act of voting implied. That Constitu-
tion cntranchises every male negro over
the age of twenty-one and disfranchises
many of the purest and best white men of
the State. The negro being in large
numerical majority as compared with the
whites. the effect is that the new Consti-
tuition establishes in this State negro SUI
premacy, with all it's train of countless
evils. a superior race-a portion, Sena-
tors and Representatives, of the same
proud race to which it is your pride to be-
long-is put under the rule of an inferior
aco; the abiect slaves of yesterday, the
flushed freedmen of to-day. And think
You that thero can be any just, lasting
reconstruction on this basis? The COM
mittce respectfully reply, in behalf of
their white fellow-citizons, that this can
not be- We do not mean to threaten re-
sistauce by arms. But the white people
of our State will never quietly submit to
negro rule. We have to pass under the
yoke you have authorized, but by moral
agencies, by political organization, by ev
cry peaceful means left as We will keep
up this contest until we have regained the
heritage OF political control handed down
to us by an honored ancestry This is a
duty we owe to the land that is ours, to
the graves that it contains, and to the
race of which you and we are alike men,
bers-the proud Caucasian race, whose
sovereignty on earth God has ordained,
and they themselves have illustrated on
tho most brilliant pages of the worlds
history
Mr.. Speaker, no mar can read the re-
monstranco from which these extracts are
taken, and lay his hand on his hoart and
say that ho honestly believes he is doing
Justice to his country and his race. by Fore
ing such Constitution on that people
= Old Ben. Wade voted for President
.Jolnsons conviction. That is, he voted
for himself for Presidency. Most of his
f,on1c bo1 nrofnccod +o bo1;oyn him inno