Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-08-31
service as the government had received at his

Ihe last night OF dampt0ns commauu was
near Raleigh, North Carolina, just after the
Confederates evacuated that city. General
Fitzpatrick charged Hampton's rear guard.
The Confederates turned on the Federals,
charged and drove them back in confusion,
taking prisoners, and killing and wounding
some.
/ In general estimate of these military SER
vices, we must not forget the magnitude of the
war. tits doubtless reasonable estimate to
reckon that General Hampton saw ten times
as much actual service in the field as General
Washington did.
When the war was over, he that had been
great in war, showed greatness quite as hon.
orable in peace. Temperate in all bis views,
earnest in every issue clear-sighted when most
others we're confounded, he has spoken and
written words that the future will cherish as
words of wisdom, when such words were 50 few.
On the Goth of August, 1865, just after
public meeting of whites had been held in Co.
lumbia, General Hampton advised against any
public movement until the general govern
ment had indicated its policy toward the State.
He said: "The State is either u member Of the
Federal Union, or it is not. If member,
then not only is it work of supererogation
for her to ask admission to the Union, but she
is BY the Constitution of the United States,
guaranteed Republican form of fGovernment,
and she has the right to administer her gov
ernment under such Constitution and by
such laws as she chooses. But if she is, on
the contrary, not q member of the Union, she
must be regarded either as Territory, or as
conquered province. In either condition,
the United States authorities are charged with
the duty of providing proper government
for her, and think the true policy Of the
State is to remain passive until such govern
ment is given her, or is forced upon her" He
then proceeded to show that Convention of
the people and an acquiescence in every de-
mand that Congress might make, would not
result in restoring the State to her proper re.
lations to the Federal Governments fact
which has become patent to good many since
that time.
On the 7th of August 1S67-two years Ia
ter, when two conventions of our citizens had
been held-he expressed the same convictions.
After showing that the faith kept by the
North toward the South had been Punic, be
says II touch on these points only to show
the mistakes committed by the South, when it
conformed to those demands of the North
which were interpolated into the conditions
after our surrender Our State Conventions
were mistakes; 80 were the changes of our
Constitutions greater than all other, was the
legislation ratifying the amendment of the U.
States Constitution known as Article 13."
Again, he says: "Has this policy Of conces-
sion to unlawful commands been productive
of benefit that we still desire to pursue it?
Are we prepared, for the sake of fezpediency-
that fatal fallacy which has lured US so far on
the road to destruction-that Trojan Horse
which has brought with it an Iliad of woes
to barter away the few rights remaining to us?
Yet this is the course we must follow, if We
accept terms which we know to be contrary
to the conditions on which we surrendered,
and which are in open and pslpable violation
of the Constitution of the United States-of
that Constitution which we swear to support
at the very moment We are grossly o1trag'ug
it's most sacred provision" His advice at
atjuncture was: "Let every man register,
and cast his vote against the Convention"
In all his discussions of the difficult prob
lem of the relations between the two races in
the South, General Hampton has never lost
sight of their identity Of interests In Feb.
ruary, 1867, addressing meeting of freed.
men in Columbia, he said: "Your welfare is
inseparably linked with that of the whites of
the South. five are unjust taxed, you will
suffer; if we are ruined, you will be destroyed.
Your prosperity depends entirely on that of
your country, and whatever fate awaits the
white people of the South will be yours"
These are words Of wisdom that the unfor-
tunate freedmen have been sedulously taught
to forget; taught by adventures who grow
rich upon the ruin of both races.
Upon the abolition of slavery he said
"The deed has been done, and I, for one, do
honestly declare that never wish to see it re.
voked. Nor do I believe that the people of
the South would now remand the negro to
slavery, if they had the power to do so."
His idea of the course to pursue toward the
negro appears in these words, addressed to bis
former companions in arms, in the fall of
1866: "As slave, he was faithful to us; as
freeman, let US treat him as friend. Deal
with him frankly, justly, kindly, and my
word for it, he will reciprocate your kindness,
clinging to bis old home, bis own country
and his former masters" This was before the
negro had been tampered with by party poll
ticians. ...
In 1859, he gave the most decided express
sion of his opinion as to the policy to be Pur-
sued-even yet pursued-toward the negro.
This was his Grafton at the Georgia State Fair
in Macon, on the 18th of November. These
are his words:-
'The negro is undoubtedly better fitted, from
his long training, his physical contiguration and
his adaptability to all the diversties Of our cli-
mate, to make more efficient laborer than any
other Especially is this true when the labor is to
be performed in the more malarial portions of our
country. Our object, then, should be to develop.
this, timeis requisite, and we shall have to exer-
else great forbearance, constant prudence and
steady kindness. We must make him feel that
his interests eindissolubly bound up with ours
that high prices for urproducts insure high wages
for him that we have no animosity toward him
but, on the contrary, that we cherish the kind
feeling engendered by early associations and old
memories. Let US be scrupulously just in our
dealings with him let us assist him in his aspl-
rations for knowledge and aid him in its acquisi-
tion Try to elevate him in the scale Of true man
hood, of civilization and Christianity, so that he
may be better fitted for the grave duties and high
forced hm by hs new POSI-
best, if not his only, friends, and when we shall
have done this, we shall not only have placed our
labor on sound footing, but we shall have gained
in the laborer strong and Jealous ally. On inns
subject, speak not from theory but experience
an experience which has taught me that the kind:
est relations can exist between the planter and
his former slaves, resulting in mutual advantage
to both parties. My dslaves are cult1vatng the
land on which they have lived for years, and there
has been constant and marked improvement in
their industry in each year since their emancipa-
ton, though they have not yet attained the same
have promised to put up for them q school-house
and church, and to pay portion of the salaries of
their teachers Such system, If generally adopt
ed, would tend greatly to fix the ahorers to the
soil and would by adding to their content and