The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-05-04
Interview with Governor Scott and Mr..
Chamberlain.

The correspondent of the New York Times,
who has recently visited Columbia, reports an
interview with Governor Scott, from which the
following is extracted. The correspondent
says that the chief object of his visit to the
capital of this rebcllious State was to interview
the Governor, whom he regards as "tte best
abused man in the State" He thus reports
the conversation on the Ku Klux measure just
passed by Congress: fa@ 5
"Do you expect that the Ku Klux Bill will
help you any,"
Yes, if properly carried out and not merely
used as threat The difficulty with the ku
Klux band is, that if arrested after an outrage,
it is impossible to CONVICT them. in the State
Courts. No jury would dare to convict them,
and their friends are always ready to prove an
aH6i in their favor. What we need is to get
them tried in the United States Courts"
'This so-caled Ku Klu1 difficulty has as
sumed a new phase, has it not?"
persecution of the blacks, they are now deter
known. to be Republicans What they mean
to do is to control the next election, and they
will do it,.too, unless checked now. = You see
daily notices of men who renounce Republi-
canisin forever It is done at the command of
tie Ku Klux Klan in order to save their lives,
As said before, it is impossible to, get any one
to testify against these men. ! receive letters
constantly from men on the other side, politi-
cally, stating that they do not dare to testify
against the perpetrators Of these outrages"
zone more question I should like to ask, sir.
Why does it happen that almost invariably the
negroes, in electing one Of their own race to
office, select the least intelligent to represent
them"
..sI do not think they do, as general rule.
But the negro is bound to have office. When
they smell blood they are in for it, The most
intelligent of the colored race to-day are those
who were formerly free negroes They are
conservative in their politics, from a variety of
causes, and they formerly owned slaves them
selves; at least many of them did. Now, the
other negroes, the masses of them, hate these
free negroes, and they worship republicanism,
as being indebted to it for freedom and the
ballot. So strong is this antipathy on their
part that they would sooner vote for Con,
servative' white man than for q Conservative
negro. So they select those whom they con-
slider as the most intelligent among them-'but
the best are pretty poor
THE ATTORNEY GENERALS VIEWS
Having gone through the Governor, the cor
respondent of the Times next turned his atten-
ton to the Hon. D. b. Chamberlain, Attorney
General of the State whose views are given as
follows:
Mr.. Chamberlain thought. it still an unan-
swered question whether Republicanism in
South Carolina must not be considered as q
failure so far. The situation was grave, and
the only salvation of the State lay with the men
of intelligence and education in the State
itself. Could they be brought to try and rem
edy the evils, to appreciate fully the condition
of the negro and accept his suffrage, their in
fluence over the black race was certainly suffi-
cient to bring them into the Legislative coun-
ellis with the remedies which they could best
administer and suggest Brains and the conf
dence of the intelligent portion of the citizens
was what the State most needed. The last
Legislature was ignorant and openly corrupt to
degree that was disgraceful. Adventures in
search of Office, unprincipled men left behind
by the dissolution of the Freedman's Bureau,
and who there acquired an influence among the
negroes, plundered the State Treasury for their
own benefit, and cared little or nothing for the
veal of the commonwealth. Honesty Of
purpose unless combined with the ability to
carry it out did not amount to much. 1t was
time, he thought, that the condition of the
State as it was, uncovered by any partisan veil,
should be understood at the North, and with
the undercurrent of discomfort and disaffection
which rendered everything uneasy, disquiet and
unpleasant, it might be well to consider wheth-
er tho temporary success of party should not
yield to the actual needs of the State. AS to
the General Amnesty Bill, it would have a
good effect, since there would not then be over
fifty men in the State disqualified from holding
office. There was no disfranchiscment in the