The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-09-11
THE CAMPAIGN OPENED.


Poor, sick Socrates, when upor
lis death- bed, was asked by friend
Is there nothing more which yor
wish us to do?" The dying philos
Ppher answered, eyes, Offer cock
% Esculapius." What a burning
Feproach upon-ancient philosophy
md how significant of those i'll
bmened times! In passing to oul
subject, let us beg our uuinformeo
ellow-citizens to remember thai
this day, our State is upon the altar
bf immolation, an offered victim,
Now, Mr.. Editor, if you and your
kind readers will permit, and not
grow weary of our humble lucu-
bration, we will make our first en-
ry upon the Campaign of 1872.
One object will be not to surfeit
the indulgcnt reader with an endless
erticle, but, perchance delight him
with both point and brevity, since
short pieces suit our peculiar people
best. Our citizens have queer ways
these doubtful days, and can scarcely
afford enough time from raising pro-
sitless cotton to learn their sad
lamentable condition. However
many even argue the propriety Of in
forming themselves upon the critical
issues of the hour-rather hoping
that by some miraculous power these
pinching moments will be but ephe-
neral. We certainly pity this order
of thinkers. They strikingly remind
us Of the poor sinner who is always
going to join the church, but never
docs it. If we are not mistaken, now
and not tomorrow, is the time to
throw open our eyes and brains at
passing events. My uniformed
friend, don't point your dirty finger
at your neighbor when evil oyercomes
you, and say.a"if this was to do over
again things would be different, but it
can't be helped now
No, when old Scratch gets the sin
ner and our country becomes a pandc-
monium, then Indifferent patriot and
uninformed Caro!inian, you will play
miserable Dives when finally too late.
In calmly thinking over the matter
We can excuse such simplicity only
upon the grounds that every:
body thinks somebody else is
standing on the watch-tower
No sentinel alarming, of course the
enemy cnters-trnly characteristic of
our present political situation. By
the way, to be generous in our views.
we will admit that few noble pa
triots have sounded the alarm, but
what Of that, when tie masses fail to
rally. South Carolina we regard in
l.er last throcs, and as mark Of res
pect-if die she must-to her departed
worth, let Liberal Republicanism fol-
low the corpse to the grave and re-
pounce any bloody hand in the mur-
dor by mantully casting its ballot for
Greeley and Brown. Substantial re-
lief can only be. secured to our plum
dered State by adhering to the man
dates as taught by true republican,
ism. The doctrines of national re-
publicanism Misunderstood North diff
fer widely from .Radicalism as known
in South Carolina. The colorcd man
South is taught to believe that Rad-
calism and Republicanism are one
and the same thing. How dsiuded.
Again, the colored man imag gines that
hsmust live atsdagger's point to the.
white man, W hieh, in the end, must
prove his destruction, or else al
change must come over his vicious
manner Of thinking. Suppose, for a
while, we discuss this manner of ac-
ton as exercised by the colored man
South. Does he know or believe that
his strength in the United States is
insignifcantto that Of the white man !?
lie numbers but one against ten.
We grant that when this strength
is directed by proper motives
then it is worth something to
the General Union, but iujja-
rious to himself alone when misdirect-
ed. Now what is tho auimus Of the
colored man South towards the great
leaders of Republieanism North !?
We answer that the educated honest
eolored man sees the danger of the
inimieal feeling, andto-day is pleading
with his race to cease his folly. Sup
pose the great. struggle now going on
an tho United States between Greeley
and Grant should result in Greeley's
favor-the colored man voting against
him-would not the world condemn
him? Would not this act Of the COL
ored man disfranchise him in few
years? Reform in the General Gov