The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-11-09
a LETTER FBoM Ex.Gov. BROWN.
ATLANTA, Ga, Nov. l, 1876.

utFSOH Z. H., a. C.:.-... ''A 81
DEAR SIR--On my return home, after a
protracted absence, find you- Kind let
ter inviting nc, i'll the name of the Dem
ocratic Executive Committee Of Ander-
son County, TO attend mass meeting on
the third day of this present month, aud
address the people at barbecue TO be
given by all the Democratic Clubs of
your County.
thank yon very cordially for the in
vita.ion, and regret that am not in CON
dition 20 accept 1t. My tip West was
taken with view 10 the recupcration OF
my health, which has been much; i'm
proved, but l am not yet entirely relieved
of disease in my throat, and of cough
which prevents Inc from public speaking,
and puts it out of my power to comply
with your wish.
must, however, cxpres my cordial
sympathy with your movement, and my
earnest wish for the success of General
Hampton, your noble standard bearer,
and of the Democratic purity of your
State, in the approaching election. Prob
ably 10 people on earth have had heavier
burdens to bear, on account Of bad gov
ernment and maladministration, than
the people Of South Carolina have en-
dured for the last few years. Whether
your people made n mistake, Immediate
ly after the passage of the reconstruction
act i'll lying still, and giving up the con-
troll of the State government to carpet
baggers, by allowing them to control the
colored people of South Carolina, is not
an appropriate subject for discussion at
present. If any error of that character
was committed, you have long since suf-
fered its penalty, and the united end de-
termined effort which the intelligent
hjgh-toned, honorable citizens of your
once noble State arc now making to
throw off the yoke, gives promise, in my
Judgment, of an early deliverance. In
this effort, you have the cordial sympathy
and best wiRhes: cf all intelligent, right
minded people, both North and South,
who are not controlled by partisan inter
est, or political malignity; and the prayer
goes up from hundreds Of Thousands of
hearth stones, all over the country, that
you may be able to throw off the yoke,
and substitute good government and an
honest administration, Cor the bad gov
eminent and maladministratio of past
years.
AS native of South Carolina, I feel
the moro keen!y .hS Tv;7ongs inflicted
upon her, and trust the more ardently
that they may soCn cease to exist. In
General Hampton. your leader, yon nave
man who has the confidence and respect
Of, good people, everywhere, who has a
national reputation for gallantry and
ability, and character untarnished by n
breath of reproach, who is able, wise,
prudent and sagacious, and who, if he
should succeed to the position of Governor
of your State, will, I have no doubt, see
that the laws are faithfully and impair
TALLY administered, and ,hat equal and
exact justic, is done alike TO all persons,
without regard to race, color or any 9TH
er condition in life.
The colored people of South Carolina
may well give to General Hampton a
cordial AID enthusiastic support. Some
of them knew h:s ancestor before him.
Many of them have known him all .heir
Ewes, and they have never been deceived
hy Hampton, or bad reason to call in
question tho humanity, integrity or sense
of justice possessed by him who bears
the Democratic standard. It is to me
matter of surprise that all intelligent col
ored people in your State do not see that
their interest, lies in, common with the
white people of the State, who were born
upon her soil, who are identified with
her interest, and who, st every stage of
their existence, have been in some friend
ly relation connected with the colorcd
race, and who have constantly shown
themselves its bess friends. Can it be
that any sensible colored man who looks
to his own interest, and the interest of
his family in future, can believe that
they would be better served by retaining
in power carpet-bag officials who have
piled upon the State an enormous debt,
and burdened its population with taxa
tion almost too grievous to be borne, than
by electing such native men as Hampton
and others who are before them for their
suffrage, whose interest it will be to stop
the accumulation of debt, and reduce in
every possible way the taxation by which
they are burdened? Every colored man
must see that his labor is burdened by
the yearly taxation with which carpet
baggers have loaded the people of the
State, and il. would seem that the prompt
ings of self-interest and self-protection
will naturally lead him to lend his aid to
throw off this grievous burden. The
carpat-bagger who makea n fortune hy
dishonest means, and leaves the tax
payers to raise the money to meet the
burdens which have been imposed for
his individual benefit, has no particular
interest in remaining in your State long
er than he can continue to accumulate.
When out OF Office he can return to the
North, carrying his spoils with him.
How does it benefit either the white citi-
zen or the colored citizen to give his cid
to the carpet-bagger. by placing him in
power where he can enrich himself at