The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-08-31
"INTIMIDATION."
Extract from Speech Delivered by
General Chalmers at Friar's Point,
Mississippi,

what is meant by it, and whether there
are times and circumstances in which it
may become not only lawful, but emf
nently proper and essentially necessary
for the protection of public or private
rights. when the thief is restrained by
the fear of punishment from the commits
sion of crime, when vice stands abashed
in the presence of virtue, it may be said
that these are the result of intimidation /;
when the midnight robber flies from the
wrath of the awakened household, it is
because be is intimidated; when das-
tardly mob is arrested by some brave
man, who plants himself in their front,
and threatens to kill the first marauders
who advance, they pause, because they
are intimidated; when pack OF coward
ly hounds fly bowling in terror and yelp-
ing in pain, from some noble mastiff,
whom they have assailed, and who, in
self.defense, has turned upon them, it is
because they are intimidated. And
Scotland's sweetest bard has said:
''The fear O. hell's the hangsman's whip
To haud the wretch in order"
And, yet, who will say that such in
timidation is either improper or repre-
hensible2
THE TRUE STORY OF THE LATE ELECTION.
But we emphatically deny that any
illegal intimidation or that any fraudu-
lent voting was practiced in the late
election; and we insist that the true the
ory of the result is to be found in the
bold front, determined efforts, and in the
grand spectacular display and demonstra-
ton made by the Democratic party. The
negro is fond of demonstration and dis
play, and, being trained to obedience in
the days of slavery, he gives an undue
weight to the exhibition of power, and
naturally inclines to that side which
seems to be the strongest. In 1868, even
after the odious Legislature of 1866, of
which so much capital has since been
made, we had but little trouble in carry
ing the election in the State of Mississip-
pi, because we then had confidence in
our own strength, and the negro voted
with us because we impressed him with
our confidence and infused into him q
belief in our power. But when our VIC
tory was taken from us, when our elec-
tion was declared void, and our officers
refused admission to the seats which. they
had been elected to. we lost confidence
in ourselves and openly acknowledged
that we were powerless in the hands of
the Federal government. The negro was
quick to perceive our weakness, and with
the instinct of his nature abandoned us,
and seeking the strong side, allied him
self with the Radical party. Our depres-
sion amounted almost to despair, and in
the hour of our greatest adversely we ap-
pealed to the negro to relieve us from
the heel of oppression. But our appeal
fell on cold and callous ears. The mass
of the negroes had passed under the COM
plete control of carpet-bag leaders and
negro politicians, and these not only
turned deaf ear to our entreaties, but
gloated over our fallen condition. They
insulted our weakness and rioted in their
own confidence and strength, and because
NE were patient and long suffering, they
misconstrued the character of our SUBJ
mission and pressed Us beyond endurance.
When the people Of Mississippi, thus
goaded by oppression, awoke to sense
of their true condition and began to look
around them, they realized the extent of
their desolation.
When they turned to the treasury they
found it surrounded by vampires ready
to suck up each dollar as it dropped in
the till. When they examined the re-
sources of the people they found them
dried up and withered like the flowers in
August, upon which no friendly shower
had fallen for many days, and yet in the
midst of all this suffering they saw the
Governor preparing, illegally, to appoint
tax collectors, who, under straw bonds,
could ring from the people the last rem
nants of their property, and with impu-
nifty fly away with their stolen millions
to Join the band of the Radical martyrs
who had fed the State and proclaim that
they, too, had been driven off by the in.
timidation of unrepentant rebels. And
more than this, they saw that Governor
preparing to surround himself with an
armed militia, band of Janissaries who
would eat out the substance of the land
while they protected him and bis official
plunderers in their unhallowed work of
devastation. When they beheld all this
the manhood, of Mississippi determined
to assert itself. The men who, under the
stars and stripes, on the plains of Buena
Vista, had snatched victory from the jaws
of defeat; the men who had fought last
and longest at Shiloh; the men who
charged Malvern Hill with empty guns
the men who inscribed the name of Mis-
sissippi in deathless fame upon the hills
of Gettysburg, where the intrepid spirit
of Barksdale winged its immortal flight,
and side by side with these men in gray,
many of the true men who had worn the
blue, who followed the flag of the Union
under the command of Grant and Sher-
man, were all aroused and could no long
er stand like dumb driven cattle and sub
nit to this Egyptian bondage. Believing
that self-preservation is the first law of
nature, they turned upon the Radical
robbers and said: "Thus far shalt thou
20, and no farther" The carpet-bag
leaders were amazed at this unexpected
DOluuSSS, dLu GTSuUlcu lOI tllOA oaAOoJ
The mass of the negroes, true to the in
stinct of their nature, deserted the trem-
bling carpet-bagger and rushed to the
side of boldness and confidence, and the
election was won. But more quiet,
peaceable and orderly election was never
held in this or any other State. If there
was any intimidation in this, it was but
the intimidation which outraged virtue
inspires in cringing vice. 1t was the
intimidation of the thief when the Off
GERS of the law are on his track; it was
the intimidation of the hungry wolf
when the sudden appearance of the mas
ter drives him from the bleeding lamb he
is about to devour; it was the intimida-
ton which fell upon the polluters of the
temple when the Saviour of mankind, in
righteous indignation, drove them out
from his Fathers house. The giant of
Mississippihad been shorn Of his strength,
and lay bound, blind and bleeding before
Ames and his minions, and when sudden
lv like Sampson. he snapped the cords