The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1876-08-09
Tho Address Of the CoIored Confer
..' ..'' .. ence! IN .Itt H|I.ui .

N'ho @ANAASoS w UtlC )SODlC, -
the United States, adopted ut q con
ference of colored citizens, held q
Columbia, S. G., July 20 and 2lst,
~ published i'll pamphlet form. 1
deals almost exclusively with til,
recont,riot ut Hamburg, and is, no
nearly rs temperate and moderate
as was reported, although to, sucI
of the signers as Representativ.
| Tom Davis it may seem mildnes,
and truth itself. .. l..i.. ..... ,
3. The Address asserts that the
company which was disarmed ii
Hamburg is mot only part of The
legally constituted militia Of the
State, but is. an incorporated body
having been duly Chartered by an
Act Of tho General Assembly.
This had been denied, and if the
statements made in the Address OF.
this point are correct, they will
affect, i'll some degree, the fnal
result.
a very elaborate account of the
origin, progress and termination OF
the rot is then given. 1t is found
Oh entirely on &C 1,uyte testimony,
and includes the statement that the
bodies of two of the killed were
mutilatod. This statement was
sworn to at tho inquest, but is con-.
tradictod and disproved by the
evidence taken by our special cor.
respondent One error Of the Con
fcl ence lies i'll going into particu-
lars. Until both sides shall have
been heard it is impossible to give
IN impartial account Of the atf,ir.
1t was sufficient for the Conference
to know that the whites who de-
! manded the surrender of the arms
had no right to make such a de,
mand that, in consequence of the
demand, there was a collision that
two negroes wore killed by the
whites during or after the fight,
and that three of the negroes who
had surrendered, and were under
guard us prisoners, were shot to
death. These are the paramount
facts upon which the condemnation
of the whole affair, by the respectu-
bic white citizons, is founded, und
by which that condemnation is
justified. But when tho Conference
pass beyond the incontrovortible
facts, and give what purports to be
IL detailed history of the affair, they
lay themselves open to the charge
! that they are thinking more of
making political capital than of
telling the truth and nothing else,
This view is confirmed by the
comments of tho Address upon the
so-callcd narrative of facts 1t is
not true, rs stated in the Address
that such outbreaks 'invariably
occur on the eve Of elections and
in Counties containing Republican
majoritcs! 1t is not true that
thlcats and mcnaccs have been
made that such lnwless and cruel
deeds as the Hamburg affair will
not stop till November ! II is not
true that this Hamburg affair was a
part of II deliberate plan And we
have nothing but unqualified con-
demnatlon for what is said in the
Address concerning "thc stupon-
dous wrongs and gross outrages
daily and hourly intllctef' upon the
persons and committed aguinst the
property of the colorcd citizens of
South Carolina. There are no such
wrongs and no such outrages upon
! the colOrcd citizens. These for
eight years have controlled the
State Government, have levied and
collected the taxes. and have elected
the public officers. They have had
complete mastery over the State,
and the only conspicuous wrongs
and outraGes in South Carolina are
those which the white citizens have
been called on to endnre. The
whites have been "peacoable and
law abiding, docilo and forbear-
inG-forbearing to such de-
gree that in the presence of
, stupcndous wrongs and gross
or,trages daily and hourly inflicted
upon onr persons and committed
against our property, although con
scions of our rights, we have mani
tested n spirit of patience
and endurance mheard of and un-
known in the history of the most
se,'vilc populations" This is said of
the blacks in the Address it is true
to the letter Of tho whites.
AS body the blacks have been
qnict and pcaccablc, we grant, but
their leaders, some Of the very men
who sign the Address, neglect no
opportunity to make them turbulent
and lawlcss Swnils, Davis, Max
well, Moblcy, w. Fl. Jones, and
others, belong to this class. They
are the men who threaten the whites
, with fire and rapine Such rs they
have stolen or sq'andcred the last
dollar in the public treasury, and
are the cause of every public grief
that South Carolina of late years has
known. And the ono thing fol-
which we blame the colorcd people
rs body is that, year after yoar
they elect such mon to offices whose
! profit rcmnins while the honor is
! frnpn fTbn;, ,,,,t;t,,oee r,>,, o,o.. ..A..I