The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-10-12
WHO FREED THE SLAVES?
A TRENCHANT LETTER FROM EX-Gov.
PERRY 70 Gov. jCHAMBERJAIN.

IL "t f-----l. T-. ''ti
A TRENCHANT LETTER FROM EX-Gov.
PERRY 70 Gov. 5CHAMBERJAIN.
}a GREENv1ILE, S. c., Sept. IS, 1873.
10. His Ercellency Gou. Chamberlain:
SIR: With all due Difference to the
high Office which you fill in South Caro-
lima, shall reply to some ofIyour state
ments in your campaign speeches as re.
ported in the newspapers. The colored
people have been told over and again by
their unprincipied leaders that if they vo-
ted for the Democratic party, they would
be thrown. back into slavery again, and
all their political rights taken from them.
do not charge you, sir, with having ut
tered so fragrant a falsehood, but you did
say at Lancaster, Marlboro and other
places that the Republican party set the
negroes free, and that they ought to, in
gratitude for their freedom, stand by and
support that party. Now, sir, this asser-
ton, in point of fact, is not true, and, as
lawyer, you knew it WAS not true. The
State Convention of South Carolina rep
resenting all the Shareholders of5the State,
did almost unanimously, in 1865, abolish
slavery, and declare in their constitution
that it should never exist again in the
State. The Legislature of South Carroll
ma soon afterwards adopted the amend
ment to the Federal Constitution declar-
ing that slavery should never again exist
in the United States. In this way, and
in no other YVES slavery abolished In
South Carolina.
You know very well sir, as aconstitu-
tional lawyer, that neither the President
by proclamation nor Congress legisla-
tion had any right or authority under the
Federal Constitution to abolish slavery
in the States No one would have dared
assume such proposition before the Su-
preme Court of the United States. Hence
it was urged by the authorities at Wash
ington, knowing that President Lin
coins proclamation emancipating the
slaves was mere bra&en, fulnen, that
the States themselves in conventions
should abolish slavery, and accept the
amendments to the Federal Constitution
declaring that it should never exist again
in the United States.
Now let us analyze this great interest
and tender regard which you say the Re-
publican party have had and will have
for the colored people. We'will find that
it exists solely and ever has in 1.-The ad.
vancement of their own interest and
their noted Jealousy. of 1.-The Southern
people. The African slave trade was in
troduced by them solely for gain, and
thousands of them made fortunes by it.
Vessels were fitted out in all their ports
and sent to Africa to kidnap the poor ne
gro and sell him as slave to the South
ern planters. Was there any kindness in
this to the colored people? They owned
slaves themselves and kept them till the
population of the Northern States became
so dense that slave labor was no longer
profitable. Then they sent as. many of
their slaves South as they could and sold
them. Ultimately their own interest
prompted them to abolish slavery in
their several States. Was there any
tender regard for the colored race In all
this conduct? They saw that by the cul7
tivation of rice and cotton in the South
ern States with slave labor these States
surpassed them in prosperity and wealth
and had control of the Federal Govern
ment. This excited their jealousy and
hatred, and under the pretence of philan-
thropy and humanity they commenced
their abolition movement for the purpose
of consolidating the non-slaveholding
States and wrestling the Federal Govern
ment from their hands. Was this kind
ness to the negro or selfish ambition and
hatred on the part of the Republicans? !?
The Northern Democrats had no sympa-
thy in this movement, and denounced 1t
as fercly as we did at the South.
The colored people have been told a
thousand times, and perhaps by you, that
the civil war was carried On for their
emancipation that all the fraternal blood
shed in this contest, and all the lives that
were sacrificed, and all the thousands of
millions of dollars expended were to set
them free When history informs us
that after the war had waged for length
of time, Congress declared almost unan-
imously that this bloody war was only to
restore the Union as it was before the
war, with slavery as necessary conse:-
ouence! Did this show any regard for
the poor slave? Were his interests or
bis rights at all considered? They did
nothing for them. All they wanted, all
they were fighting for, was the restoration
of the Union When the slaves of Mary
land fed from their masters and went in
to Gen. Buffers camp for protection, he
sent them back to their owners. How
much regard was there in this for the
freedom of the slave? Itw thought at
that time that any interference with sla-
very would defeat the restoration of the
Union for which alone they were fight
ing. They cared nothing for emancipa-
tiion. 1t was not then in their war pro-
gramme.
Again, when parcel of colored troops
rendered their service to the government,
President Lincoln refused to receive
them He told them that they belonged
to different race, and could not with
propriety be incorporated into the army
This was showing great respect for the
colored people! The hope had not then
been given up of restoring the Union, as
it was before the war, with slavery in full
blast In the course of time, as the civil
war progressed, the Republican party
saw that there was no hope of bringing
the Southern States back into the Union
except by conquest and subjugation.
Then, for the first time, their kindness
and consideration for the negro began to
show itself. President Lincoln issued a
proclamation, declaring the slaves free
in all the States that did not lay down
their arms and come back into the Un-
ion. This proclamation showed that they
cared nothing for the slave nor his inter
est, but only as power to preserve the
Union, for which alone the war was
commenced. They were willing for him
to continue slave if this would end the
war. Giving up all hope of restoring
the Union by consent Of the Southern
States, they began TO think how best they
could conquer and destroy the South
} Then the idea came into their minds OF
enlisting the negro in their army, and