Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1872-01-04

oIdtllS VIC prOClamaLlOn issued Dy aDra-
ham Lincoln, that legally severed the
chains from you and me. You may i'm
agine the pleasure that it gave me to-day
to be with you on the ninth anniversary
Of that important event, and I feel all the
more proud when remember I am ad-
dressing those who were particularly ben
efitted by that instrument I feel still
more proud, when remember that in his
tory they present record, that will COM
pare favorable, yea l will say unequalled
in sublimity by any other race.
Having made this assertion, Twill state
why it is so. On the 1st day of January,
1863, and for two hundred and fifty years
anterior to that date, our race had been
enslaved by those in whose power it was
to Oppress US. We are not however the on
ly race, that have been enslaved, every
race of men save the aborigipes Of this
country, have been at one time or another,
in one way or another, debased and abject
slaves, slaves to hoard Of petty tyrants,
feudal despots, lords rich in some dozen
villages, strong in some hundred spears
men, and only great in that strange spell,
name.
Slavery has passed from the face of the
earth in four different ways, first, by the
advance of civilization, which abolished
saxon slavery in Briton. by purchase, by
voluntary emancipation, and by war.
The peuHof the historian records but one
race that aroused in their might and with
their own right arms, struck the shackles
from the wrist, and to that race you and
1 belong. refer to the struggle that was
carried on in Hayti. In this country the
liberty We now enjoy the privileges of as
sembling here, and the right to assemble
without interference, has not been grant
ed, without an effort on our part, an effort
that has been recorded to our honor. I on
ly refer incidentally of the past, and will
proceed to that whichis of more Importance
TO US both. | speak Of the present. Would
to God there was nothing to mar the splen-
did triumph recorded by the historians to
our race, would to God that we could as
semble here on this beautiful day and eel.
ebra.e this event unsulied by anything
since Abraham Lincoln invoked the great
war power of the nation after every renne-
dy failed to induce the rebellous states
to return to their allegiance to the Union,
when he was equal to the exigency Of the
times, declaring that the great object for
which they fought, was the enslavement
of the african race, and declared freedom,
to the bondsmen. But it was not enough
for them to be declared free, the rights of
| freemen must be secured to them, and on
the End of March 1867, followed by anoth-
er acc on the 23d of March was granted to
you and me the right of freemen, which I
trust we will ever guard as only freeman
can. Would that we could have fulfilled
all that might have been expected from a
race of people springing from these former
abject positions to the heights ofglorious
| manhood, but there have been occurrences
in the history Of our race in this state,
which mar the pleasure Of this day, aud,
which I feel called upon to bring to your
attention, and snail continue 81 to do for
| the next few months. allude to the
trouble which We are called upon to face.
l have been chosen on every occasion and
upon every election in the county to rep.
resent you, and therefore as steward Of
yours, | think it my duty to bring home
o.yOu the troubles that now exist. l will
try TO the extent OF my ablties to explain
them to YOU. | do not expect to elicit
your applause, would not tickle your fan-
cies even if could, but do expect to
arouse you to a sense of the magnitude
OF the danger that you and l must meet;
[ do it at This time because feel that at
no distant date we must appeal to you for
that relief which We cannot elsewhere OBJ
tain.
In the fall of 1867 for the first time un-
der .ne law you and l We're allowed to
vote for members to convention, and
these members prepared constitution
which you afterwards adopted, a constitu-
tion which extended protection TO the
humblcst citizen Of South Carolina, as
well as to those who could attain the high
est position.
l honor that constitution, and have sew
en- times sworn to support it, and am ready
to swear to support it now, equally ready
am to expose those men who sworn to
its support and afterward disregarded their
promise. After the adoption of that con-
slitution, we elected legislature to make
lawsin pursuance thereof, laws that would
carry into effect the great organic law Of
this state, and at that time fiattered my
self and tiattered you that we had entered
upon the political millennium, and We were
in fair way for an advance unparalleled in
the history of republican governments.
honestly believed it then, but the time has
come and the tide has turned and to-day
it is for you, for me and for the republican
party of South Carolina, to rise in our
majesty and might, and prepare to meet
the emergency that threatens to over
whelm us all. Can we, dare we, will we
do it? are the questions which thrust
themselves on the understanding not only
| of frpnrpsent atiyes hut the peonIe for IL "a