The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-06-03

throughout this State cannot be said to be en-.
couraging. The great difficulty IN the way OF
their prosperity is the distrust ana anlmoslty
existing between them and the Wnlte men,
occasioaed by political hostl,iss' an aa,a .nse,rl,
argued this to me. a few days ago, with marx.
ed rood sense t"Seither race can do Wsh,"
| he SAID, V.untll harmony and confidence pre-
vail between them. Each is dependent upon
the other; but, as the white men have the land
and the capital, while We are poor and nave
| nothing but our labor, We suffer the most IN
| consequence of the. existing enmity. You
must not take my opinions as representing
those OF many Of my race. On the contrary,
If they were known / should be unpopular.
| But ! am convinced there must be a caanSSe;
the colored people cannot rule the "nlte
men and exclude them from taklng a
In trying to do so there viii be great
troubles, and the poor negroes W,ll
| be The sufferers. We must yield something
| for the sake Of peace. Many Of my friends m
sist that we must have a race party and make
no compromise. They are crazy Tor once,
and, as the negfoes nave 3O,oOV ms]orlsy N
| the State, they Insist that they should control
the government and keep the white men out
| of office altogether. Lam satisfied that this
ought not to be DONE: IL the colored people
| were intelligent and had property, this plan
! might succeed, but if it should be attempted
| now there would be. anarchy and bsoodsned.
| What our people.need is to have friendly re-
lations with the white men, in order to get
| good wages aud steady work. They shonld
| not, instead OF all, hope to become pohtlclans
| and try to get office. We can never prosper
| without o cordial cooperation Win the Wnlte
| people, who lave the capital with which 10
employ our labor"
counties. OF South Carolina, there Is a WIDE
| spread apprehension Of some concerted nos
| tile movement against them on the part OF Lhe
/! white men, which may begin at any day. me
more Intelligent have a definite theory OF Inc
character OF this supposed plot, ana oel!eve
that the purpose is to obtain political control
| of the Slate by means of a general massacre
q sort OF st. Bartholomew affair-to be under
taken by the Ku-Klux and executed IN a slf-
ole night. All colored men who have become
| Influential in politics they believe would De the
| first victims, and they think that the numoer
| killed would be so great as to completely ter
rorize the survivors, 80 that they Woula never
again dare to vote against the interests Of the
| white lien. This desperate expedient they
belive will oe the. last resort OF the white men
| to free themselves from negro rule. Before the
recent convention was held, the negroes iear-
ed that the 'murderous crusade was Imminent,
but nopr 1t is believed that the danger Is over
| for the present, and that the movement is
postpored until after the next election, when
q last effort will be made by the white men 70
accomplish their purpose by more peaceaole
means. If they fail, 1t Is thought that the reign
OF terror will at once begin.
The idea that a system Of wholesale MURDER
is to be deliberately organized and put IN
practice throughout a large part OF a State
must seem absurd to people who live IN peace
| able and tolerably well.governed
| ties, and the fact that the fear Of such a thing
Is entertained by large numbers OF people
| shows now d~isorganized Is the condition OF
society here In South Carolina. And not only
| do the negroes fear.that they may be the VIC
| tins of a relentless massacre, but there are
Intelligent white men who soberly acknoWl-
| edge the possibility of such an occurrence, ex-
pressing themselves usually In this way:
/ 1--WE can't endure this niger government
much longer. No white men would stand IL
to be ruled by ignorant .niggers. Our people
are nearly driven to desperation, and a des-
| perate people don't care what they. DO. We
had rather die than live under niger rule
all our lives and II it can't be got
rid of In any other way; something des-
| perate will be DONE" When one inquiries
what this something desperate means, 1t IS
usually found to be. Just what the negroes ap'
prehenc. The general conclusions arrive
at respecting the condition OF the negroes IN
this Stale are that the plantation laoorers are
doing well wherever they are well treated and
jldfciously managed by the planters; mat the
mechanics in the towns are industrious and
thrifty; chat few OF any class have saved any
money since they became free, partly from
lack of Judgment aud economy, but largely on
account Of the unsettled and disturbed condl-
ton of affairs which keeps the white men, us
we'll as the negroes, poor; and hnaly, tnat
there can be ne prosperity until amicaole re-
latIon phall be established between the races
and The present feeling OF hostility shall sub
ai6a