The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-10-26
Address to the People Of Sonth Caro-.
lima.
RooMs STATE Dem. Ex. Cow,

Rooms STATE Dem. Elk. Con-, L
i COLUMBIA, s, c., Oct. ,1s, 1876. i.
BthePsopS Of tke &ate eflSouA Carolina
!vho;dssirs' honest goosser7iasni teithout re.
sgardo political patty os:sacc: q B
His Excsllency the President of the
United States did, on the 18th day Of
this month, issue proclamation where
by he commanded call persons engaged
in unlawful and insurrectionary proceed
ings to disperse and retire peaceably to
their respective abodes within three days
from this date, and hereafter abandon
said combinations, and submit themselves
to the laws and constituted authorities of
said State"
This proclamation is based upon the
statements made by Daniel 81. Chamber
lain, the Governor of this State; which
statements are aimed principally against
his political opponents, and are proven
to be untrue by the testimony of every
Judge in the State, every Trial Justice
or other officer of the law from whom
response has been obtained. Every resi-
dent of the State knows them to be un-
true. Every Republican of character or
intelligence, or who is not in Office or
seeking Office, and many who are in Office
in the State, have expressed horror and
disgust at the course which the Governor
has pursued.
We say this much for our yindication.
Never has people suffered more by dis
honor of Office and dishonesty of officers.
Never has such bold untruth been used
for the support of a movement which
shakes the pillars upon which rest the
constitutional temple of a mighty people.
Our State is but petty portion of the
Union, but we call upon our sister States
of the North to remember that the ex-
pertinent now being made for 'the domi-
nation of our elections by the bayonet
and by soldiers as the irresistible instru-.
mento of revolutionary local despotism,"'
if successful, will become the precedent
before which the whole fabric of Ameri-
can liberty will fall, and will be applied
| to other States just as soon as party exi-'
gencies require it. -
We make this declaration of our inno-
cence not in disrespect of the President
of the United States, but as an act of JUS
tice to ourselves as American citizens,
and to put our case upon the record for
an impartial trial before the great ma.
tional tribunal. We bow in perfect sub
mission to the proclamation of his Ex-
cellency the President, and exhort our
fellow-citizens whom we represent in the.
present canvass to yield full and entire
obedience to every command of the said
proclamation. y ~ H.. - l.a;.,:e,
We, know that the clubs called "rife
clubsn1 are associations formed for home
protection; THAT they are not combina-
tions as charged BY the Governor Of this
State; that there are but fen. that have
arms or ammunition; that those which
have been equipped were so done with
| the sanction and sometimes with the aid
Of the Governor, and have been recog-
nized by him as useful and appropriate
bodies, and not, one of them has been
accused of disorder. ...i So 4.l i
We know that their necessity was oc--
casioned by the reckless distribution of
arms and ammunition among the colored
| people by the State officials; and we fur
ther know that our white fellow-citizensi
were, on the 18th day of this month,
massacred at a. peaceful political assem-
blsge, where (by agreement with Q. e.
Bowen, Republican Chairman for
Charleston County, and Sheriff of. the
said County, and present at the meeting,
and FIRST Presidential Elector for the State
at large on the Republican ticket they
went without arms to meet the colored
race the voters of the so-called Repub-
| lican party in this. State-who we're like.
wise, by Mr.. Bowen's agreement, boundi
to be,without arms !; and we know that
the politicians who are the authors of all
our evils are teaching among the colored
race the. use of the rife and the torch;
we know that our homes are in peril, and
that our women and children are exposed
to the horrors Of ruthless butchery and
barbarity; but nevertheless, We advise
| and command, so far as our authority
goes, that every such "riae club" against
which the misrepresentation of the Gov
ernor of the State are aimed be forthwith
disbanded, and that the members thereof
be held in future only by those ties of
humanity which bind all good men TO-
gether; that the name Of the club be
abandoned, and the officers cease to ex.
ercise their powers This is said with the
| express declaration that these clubs are.
not associated with or subject to our
political control. A.. 49,.
We repeat that We speak without dis.
respect to the President of the United
States. He acts upon the statements
made by the Governor of this State. But
we say it that we may show our unwil-
lingness to obey without committing. an
untruth against ourselves by seeming to
acknowledge that of which we are not
guilty.
We are not engaged in unlawful and
insurrectionary proceedings" We can
not "disperse," because we are not gath
cred together. We cannot "retire peace
ably to our abodes," because we are in
our homes in peace, disturbed alone by