The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-07-07
Supplement to Anderson Intelligencer

Mr.. E. s. Keitt, of Newberry. moved that the
report of the Committee on Platform be taken
| from the table, which was carried.
The president announced as the pending
question before the Convention, the report oi
the Committee on Platform.
REMARKS BY MR. KE1TT.
Mr.. Keitt referred to the solemnity of the oc-
| casion on which they mad convened, and Whlcn
alone had impelled him to speak. He did not
| like the platform which had been reported. 1t
contained within itself only o RECOGNITION OF
| the past, and was confined to the limits OF TINS
State. He referred to the history OF the past,
and drew an analogy between the position OF
our forefathers hundred years since and the
colored people prior to the war. BY the revo-
luton our torefathers secured freedom, which
they did not eoncede to their slave3. Though
they had eyes and ears, they neither saw nor
heard that which was demanded in justice 70
an oppressed race. And as the Almighty he'd
heard their prayers, so, nearly hundred years
later, He heard the prayers OF the enslaVed
black people, and they were given freedom
which had been vouchsafed 10 the white race
throughout the war OF the Revolution. The
speaker compared the slavery OF ths colored
race to the bondage Of the Isreelites in Egypt,
and President Lincoln to Moses, both OF whom,
when they had led the enslayed people out of
bondage, had been gathered to the homes OF
their fathers before the fruition of their hopes
was realized.
at the request of Mr. Y. J. Pope, Of New
berry, the report of the Committee on Plat
forth was again read.
In SUSTAINING the report, General J. B. Ker-
shaw said:
REMARKS OF GENERAL KERsHAw.
Alr. President-I desire, and think it pro-
per, to say something explanatory OF the view
and purpose entertained by the movers in the
matter OF the platform. and the precise idea
which they endeavored to express, and to DEM
onstrate, If can, that they have, IN the result
of their labors, embodied that idea. You, MIR.
President, and all the gentlemen of this Con-
vention. ore we'll aware that it is a peculiar
and difficult thing which We propose to ac-
complish in this platform. Up to this time,
there have been two peoples In South Carolina
whose interests are identical, whose feelings
and sympathies upon almost all subjects are
Identical, but who have been brought into
direct and even angry antagonism upon pollti-
cal subjects. And that antagonism has been
wrought, not upon any sound or truthful basis,
but by the artful interposition OF different
people between those two fraternal races OF
Inhabitants OF South Carolina. That different
people have artfully seized upon and lnterpos-
ed certain pre-existing facts to lay the foqnda-
tion OF perpetual discord between this jacob
and this Esau, in order that they may iniquit-
ously profit thereby. [Applause and laughter
am sorry to say, for my race, that tn artlni
iutrigues Of these artful men bave, to a certain
extent, engendered antagonisms in the hearts
of the whites toward the colored races, an
antagonism that did not exist tefore they IN
tervened. On the other hand, we know that
our colored friends have acquired false ideas
In Dnrn0909
feelings OF their white brethren from the same
source, and that when we approach them IN
the words of copciliatIon and kindness, they
are assidiously taught to regard us as SER
pents in disguise, who seek to enter into and
disturb that political paradise which these
parties have constructed for their own beueht.
lApplause.1 Therefore, when we approach
them to offer tho hand Of Cancellation to our
friends on the other side, we have 10 Suaru
against double misconstruction. We have
to guard against our extreme but honorable
and ever.to-be courteously and kindly re-
ferred to old State Rights Secessionlsts OF
South Carolina. We have, on the one handr
to convince and demonstrate to them that
when we do approach our brethren Oh the
other side it is not with the view to ehtrap
them into position oil dishonor and d'srepute.
On the other hand, We have to convince our
colored friends that We approach them III all
sincerity, Kindness and fidelity, 10 STAND Dy
ask them to unite with ns in an honest IRA
lei nal effort 10 upheave the old State OF South
Carolina and place her upon greater eini-
uence than she ever attained before. lap
plause.l
We'll, sir, what have we to do the first thing Z
We have first to demonstrate to the white peo
pie OF South Carolina that there Is no trap IN
this thing for them and their ideas, that their
dignity snd their honor, and even their sentl :
menis because sentiments are sometimes sa-
cred things,) are not compromised in tnese
movements. How do we do that2 We do 1t
By meeting this objection. That class OF men
say, I'VE regard this Fifteenth amendment as
law as much as you do. We know that IL is
fixed fact. We know it because, in our every
davis experience, We go to the polls and ask
these people to vote for our candidates, and
To know that they exercise the fnnctions OF
Office, and that they are fixed upon us as law
Bnt we cannot say IN our conscience thae We
approve OF the process by which lhls thing mas
been brought about Now, Mr.. President,
when ~e construct platform; we must Iay its
foundations broad and deep. We must respect
the acquisitions OF the most extreme and the
most conscientious scrupies OF both parties.
With that view, the language Of these resoiu-
tions has been framed. They deal with these
things as facts, having the sanctltv OF law, ae-
qulred by that vast change in our system,
brought by the war and the circumstances
which ensneQ. we ulu not 30 DSch duu say
that we can trace we do not require these par
ties to subscribe TO form that they can trace
constitutional arguments in favor OF every
proposition contained in these measures. We
bring them to the point that they commit them
selves to the sanctty acquired by force OF cir
cumstances; and think any man who regards
them as facts accomplished, mnst regard them
as having acquired the sanctity and the oblisa-
ton and force OF law. If they come up and
take their standpoint there, they have right
to claim the cooperation OF every honest col
ored man in the State OF South Carolina in this
movement Because it says although some OF
us may not agree with these things as right,
fully done, We regard them as having acquired
that sanctity which belongs to acknowledged
law, and we are going to deal with them as
law, and we mean to carry them out practical
ly in all the relations OF political lite. lap
pause.l
Mr.. President. I am not going to intiict
speech upon this Convention but felt it
duty to explain the idea upon which this plat
form was prepared. The language was care
fully weighed and considered before the paper
wus brought to this city. They were twice
written ani rewritten. and amended and cor
rected. I hey were lead and weighed word by
word by your committee to late hour last
night. There is but one verbal criticism
which has been made upon these resolutions.
The committee, in order to meet the most eS-
trema senaitiye views which could be enter