The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-03-31
TIRE CRISIS TT STATE 1EEAIns.
Another Letter from g CITIZEN"
10 THE EDITOR OF TIE NEWS.

have endeaV0red TO present tnat, practlcaIIy,
1--WE are under negro government; that the
evils are iusuferabie; that, resulting from the
negro franchise and their majority Of thirty
thousand votes, under natural causes 1t must
continue; that the majority will not diminish;
that it viii not be reduced by act Of Congress;
that it wiz not be endured; that it can be ar
rested; that We can stop this isgoyerlmentv
dependent on supplies, landowners OF property
can ssipulste the terms upon whichit shallbe
taken; that so stopping it we can stipalate the
terms upon which it osn move again; oEWe
can throw the State under military govern
ment by admitting no other to beposEble; that
this. If the necessary, will be the welcome re-
fuge:; that the measure tothese ends Is the re-
fusal to pay taxes; that this can be matae eff
cient. that. 1t will be relief and In that relief
win be the omnipotenss agent TO that union
and concert among white, people, and in fact
among property-holders, white and black, nee
essary to its success. -.
And since writing these articles the, letter OF
Mr.. Memminger, to. the Governor, has appear
ed, and am sure I but concur in the general
satisfaction its appearance has occasloned: He
locates the evil exactly where it is-in the nec-
essary sepugnanoe of one people to be govern
ed by another; and the remedy, where it must
be, In some constitutional restriction on the
elective franchise. The government must
represent its constituency. A Legislature Of
the purest men in the State, elected byn
groes, would be negro Legislature; elected By
class without. property, would be an instru-
ment ofplunder. The change, therefore, must
apply to the constituency; and to be efficient
and 6rmSit must be constitutional.
To the relief contemplated, however,
measure still is necessary, and that suggested Ia
the letter is not sufieient.:' IF the evil be in
the disturbed condition of the country, 1t will
not meet that 1fmen be goaded by present
suaaringsto violence, they cannot await the
action Of O. convention two years hence, which
may not be called. The Legislature must call
it,-when called, it may not act at all,
or, acting, can hardly, in the nature of things,
act to the end. or permanently limiting their
own power Or If the evil be in the present
Constitution OF the State, twill not meet that.
Still It will be. dependent on the negro party
whether the action be taken-still dependent
onftswhether any relief be given, and the eE-
tent of it, and it Is inconceivable that, posses
sing power, it will voluntary abandon it. That
self-sacrifce is not to be expected ofthe most
elevated people. History furnishes no exam
pie OF 1t; reason, from any sense of the mo-
tives to human action, furnishes no ground Of
hope fer it. And the Republican, the aekRow-
ledget. organ Of that party, unquestionably
instructed In its tendencies, while evidently
inclining to the manifest right of some adj
iustment, in comment on the letter is without
Ethe hope or apprehension Of results. -
rYeu, yourselves, suggest, as ground ofe0-
pectation, at least, that the negro party may
be sufficiently under, the manipulation of its
leaders. But In that your inclination is apt to
have misled you. Leaders are never more than
drift wood upon the surface of a current-re-
sistless withit, and p6werless, utterly. without.
They make party do what they please By al
ways being pleasedto counsel what the party
wants to do. Nor are the leaders of that party
exceptions. From the Governor down they
are Within an inch OF their political lives. They
are watcled yigilantly. They act not under
direction Of the interests, but the brute In
stincts of the most ignorant constituency,
9me. virtue would be necessary to the ad-
yspcemept Of this measure; and If there were
one of them suspected. OF one single virtue,
believed for one instant not to be the ready
and plant instrument Of the party, the next
instant he would walk the plank!
I cannot believe, therefore, that the party
will of their own Valitlon, take the curb, OF
that the leaders will venture even the attempt
to put it on them. The want, then, is off meas
ure Of our own; something we can start on
whether they will OF not, and that is the more
particularly necessary in this, that the end-ts
po,oer-,oe strike at, to be efficient, mas! be tri
bunlcian, and ean6ody the ueto. j.
We act upon o complex political problem.
There are here two distinct races There are
also two classes, distinct, in the fact that one
has property and the other not. The tworaces
are to be combined in one society. The classes
must be so combined as that the weaker be
protected, and in this combination 1t is neces-
sary to take such measures that Its civilization
shall not be the civilization OF the lower
rade.s That must be the result if it
continually govern. 1t can express in pohtl-
tsar action no civilization butt its own-of which
fact It we're only necessary to look for confr.
matton to'Domingo. The civilization of that
fho otp Of