The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-06-29

When thN s3aysss became free BY sths
t6ss6nes OF th6saMar, there WAS very
little regret fol-, a. tho South except 90
TO tha:loss ef property inyolved--baeapss
|ths xhites ksd lonk been aceustohl;
cd to look upon tbs 'i6stitation, as Of
doubtful advantage 10 an economic
point Of view aud bad also begun. to
qqestion Ia their own minds, the moral
right Of perpetual slavery.
Besides the war had gone against us,
aud We were not iu q condition to waste
vain regrets over that which We GOULD
not avoid.
Had the emsncipated slaves been con.
tent to remain in the condition Of freed
men, there would have been no trouble
between the races. But unfortunately,
aswarm of adventurers soon settled down
over the whole South, who inculcated
into the minds of the negroes, those
doctrines Of equality, whose Legitimate
sequence was universal suffrage
1%e Southern whites conscious Of the 10.
feriority of the negro race, denied to all
without exception, those rights which
they ought to have granted to very
limited number upon the basis Of educa-
tion and property. This was on error, aud
dearly have we paid for it, five had kept
the negroes in tho position of freedmen,
aud opened to them the distant but certain
goal Of qualified suffrage, they would in
all probability have remained oontented
in their situations. But the opportunity
was lost, and the sharp and unsorupu-
ious adventurous who came iu. the train
ofa conquering army quickly seized upon
the golden moment, and aided by the
fanatical Legislation Of Congress, con-
verted the freedmen into fieemen. From
that moment the destinies of the two
races seemed fixed in divergent direc-:
tions. The. superior race could not
willingly accept unqualified negro suf-
frage, because to do SO was to admit
the equality of the negro race and in
its train social equality and miscegcna.
tion.
AT once the entire white population
of the South, with but few and generally
worthless exceptions, withdrew from
politics, and devoted themselves to the
restoration of their broken fortunes.
They bore with patience the misrule
of dishonesty and ignorance, trusting
to the sure, though slow. triumph Of
race, of mind of intellect and of wealth.
But now, some Of US have become
wearied with waiting, and instead Of
leaving the corrupt body politio to kill
itself by its own excesses, we have deter
mined to try remedy. That nostrum
is nothing less than negro equality It
must inevitably fail, because we cannot
cure serious malody with quack medi.
cincs.
Whatever we offer the negro, he
knows is wrung from us, by the circum-
stances of the times, and our enemies
can and will outbid US in the game.
The negro is not, and as race cannot
ever be the equal of the white. And
when We, who. have lived with him as his
superior for ten generations tel; him
that he is our brother, our equal, he
will not, and ought not to believe US.
Thus wc will have bartcred away our
principles, without even tho poor reward
of success. The effort will fail, as fail,
it must, because it rests upon falsity
and not verify; and we will be left
not only defeated but what is infinitely
worse degraded and dishop.:ed.
SUMTER.