The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-05-27
Negroe. versus = whit. nI,n.

10 tie Editor Of the Neao York World.
SIR: When wrong and injustice have
been effected, and redress been refused,
there romans that last and powerful resort,
1.-THE press, to which the sufferer can ap-
peal, and make the public at once the Jury
and the judge. It is with Just such a case
that l come, sir, before you, and ask the
use OF your columns to apprise the people
of the United States of q wanton infictiop
and ingratitude by the administration.
A negro postmaster has been appointed
for the city of Columbia, s. c., defeating
for the office an ex-captain of the United
States army. So stands the bald fact; but
with the following circumstances attached
which, me judice, warrant the branding oi
this appointment as wanton and ungrateful
The appointee, Charles NJ. Wilder, is au
e1.slave, scarcely, if at all, able to read OF
write; tolerable carpenter, who, since his
manumlsslon, has been member of the Con
ventlon, State Representative, and Deputy
United States Marshal. In these details are
condensed his record, add to it the shining
virtue of Republican sentiments, and you
have the reasons which rendered his appoint
ment imperative in Washington
ID. A. Moore, the defeated aspirant fol
the Office, is an ex-captain of the United
States army, entered the service in the
spring of 1861, raising company o
seventy-five men from his private funds
which became Company =, of the Sixty.
first New York Volunteers; commanded his
company through seven pitched battles, and
numerous skirmishes and minor affairs; was
wounded, and lost leg in the seven days
battle In front of Richmond; remained on
the field wounded for thirteen days, was
taken prisoner, and confined in the Libby
prison; afterwards exchanged, and being
unfit for field service, was assigned to the
Eataran RaSprva 1,ylo Il.
mustered out of service in November, 1866
having served his country with fidelity fol
five years, and suffering the loss of n leg in
her service. \ statement of these facts
were incorporated in the application oi
Capt. Moore for the office, an application tC
which were appended the names of nearly
all the best citizens of Columbia. Letters
In support of his military record and bear.
ing upon his personal character were for
warded, urging his appointment to this
Office, copies of which accompany this com.
munication-letters, as you will see, from
such distinguished and trustworthy sources
as j. r. Edie, Brevet Colonel Infantry and
Assistant Commissioner Freedman's Bureau
North Carolina and South Carolina Nelson
A. Miles, Brevet Major General United
States army; Robert Murray, United States
Marshal, New York, and others. These
documents Captain Moore filed in the
proper place, and supported by q specia
committee from the citizens of Columbia
proffered his application. Both he and the
committee were assured by the Private Sc
cretary of the President that they might re
turn home in security, for, to quote the
very words of the Secretary, ''the Office
should belong to the soldier, and not to the
negro" And yet, in the face of this record
OF Captain Moore, as soldier without re-
proach, as man without blemish, in Tho
face OF this solemn assurance of the Secre
tary, the negro has been appointed, and the
manned and gallant soldier ignored.
Mr. Editor, am q rebel of the eartl
earthly, and so often have we been treated
to practical illustration of re uictis, tina
the appointment of negro to this respon
slble Office seemed to me in perfect harmony
with the policy of our conquerors; but
protest, and 1 sincerely believe that I ar
| uttering the sentiment of our entire com
| munlty, that when 1 saw an ignorant, illite
rate negro preferred to gallant and meri
torious soldier, and he endorsed and recon
mended to a civic Office of trust and emolu
ment by his former foes, it seemed as if th
| nations honor were prostituted to part,
purposes, and virtue and manliness hat
| somehow grown commonplace.
England has her "Victora Cross" Franc
her "Legion of Honor" Prussia Austri
and Russia their various orders to rewar,
the brave and meritorious soldier; but t
the United States of America is reserved t.
show the world that valor and duty are bu
bye-words, and that the claim of an ex
negro slave to an Office is stronger than tina
of brave and faithful soldier.
When one compares the relative position
OF these two aspirants-Wilder but recentl
a freedman, illiterate, barely master of til
rudiments of an education, whose stronges
point is his Republican proclivities, sup
ported by the South Carolina delegation,
who find i'll the appointment of negro
this responsible position in his color, inca
pacity and Ignorance ready means to hu
initiate and degrade vanquished people;
delegation dead to every generous emotion