The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-03-24
The Right to Vote, and the Right to Hold
Office.

The right to vote carries with it necessarily
the right to hold Office The voting class form
the body polite; they are the State really and
essentially. They are the sovereigns, tor suf-
frage is the highest act OF sovereignty. Suffrage
sets the complex machinery of government in
motion, and keeps it in operation. 1t creates
the executive, the legislative and the judicial
they who make the laws and they who admins
ter them. Can anything be more absurd, then,
than to deny to the ruling class the right to
select from their own body those whom they
NAV deem worthy to hold the Offices in their
Gift? Negro suffrage is fixed fact, and it is
too late now to deny all of its legitimate conse-
quenccs. If the negro is the ruling power IN
the State, can we deny him the right to choose
his offce-bearers-to choose them especially
from those of his own class? Not only has he
the right, but we are prepared to show that
between his own race, and those who are prop
erly denominated "scalawags" and carpet
baggers, meaning by the one mere unprlncl-
pied adventures, and by the other those who
are are recreant to the instincts of race-it is
right which he should properly exercise IN ele-
waiting the best representatives OF tne Diack race
to office.
Not only is the right of the black man to
hold office q legitimate consequence of the
right to vote, but it makes less inroads upon
time-honored prejudices-:it is step less IN ad-
vance; less revolutionary in fact and In sem
blance, than was the concession OF universal
suffrage. To make the bondman the master
the newly enfranchised the sole dispensers OF
ofice-to make the ignorant rule the lntelll-
gent, and the poor control the property OF the
rich-this was so contrary to the principles OF
right reason and the first instincts OF our ma
turc, that granting this, we may well concede-
concede without a murInur- everything else
involved We conccde the principle in its
length and breadth we have no reason to
sickle at any of its legitimate consequences:
Negro suffrage has been established-we shall
not gainsay the right of the negro to hold
office. We go farther. We prefer, the negro
in office to the rule of the carpet-bagger and
scalawag, and this for two reasons--reasons
which involve the whole question of compe..
tency-that he possesses more of ability and
integrity.
lst. The black man in Office will naturally
be the best representative of his race, and sur
pass the carpet-bagger and the scalawag in
intelligence and ability. BY the carpet-bagger
we do not mean Northern men who have come
to settle with US permanently for "weal or woe"
We mean mere adventurers-the "bummers" OF
the camp They have not the stamina to COM
pete with solid men at home, but are mere
''waifs" of the storm, thrown up to the surface
by the currents Of revolution. They are lnslg-
nifcant, inert and powerless for good as the
scalawags themselves-men who turn against
their race. and sacrifice their self-respect and
the good opinion of their neighbors for the lust
of office. Do you want to verify these conclu.
sions? Turn to our late Legislature itself.
Who were its controlling spirits? Wright, De
Large, Elliott, Whipper-Northern men, some
of them, it is true, but the best representatives
of a race with whom they are identified in in
terest and blood, and to whose advancement
they are plcdging their best energies.
But I'd. Who were the most honest ana con-
seryative Republicans in that same Legislature!
We believe no one doubts the honesty. of
Wright. and we have heard no allegation against
the others. They are also the most conserva-
tive. 1t stands to reason that it should be so.
The carpet-bagger has left his home and ms
associates and allied himself with the alien
race; and all for the greed of office. The seal
awag has gone farther, and turned against
chose of his own household" They nave
both done violence to the instincts OF race, ana
sacrificed reputation and self-respect, which are
the bulwarks of character. Can we hesitate
LONG in choosing such man as Wright or De-
large or LomaX in preference? We respect
an honest conscientious black man. Not only
do we not blame the coored men 1of clecunS
such representative of race, but we endorse
his action in the premises. We would choose
such ourselves in preference to the others.
Such are our views, and such we believe are
the sentiments of the white meu of the South
those Ito the manor born" The Republican
party claims the monopoly of good will to the
black man. We dispute the claim. We ap-
peal to the past-we are willing, if need be- to
give pledges for the future. All the associa-
tions of our past, all the interests of the pres
ent, all the considerations of the future, make
us the friends of the black man. Ths could
be clearly made to appear, but we must deter
its consideration for the present.-Aooeo'lle
Press and Banner.
NICE LITTLE SroRY-The New Haven
Register gives this little romance Some fifty
wears ago male child was born to family liv-