The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-02-15
AAMPT0N,s GOVERNMENT.
4 Colored Republican on the Situation
in south Carolina.


United States Senate favorable to the
government of Gen. Hampton, read the
following letter from Joseph D. Boston,
of Newberry, prominent colored man.
Mr.. Robertson stated that he vas person
allv acquainted with Boston, and knew
him to be man of good character, who
enjoyed the confidence of the entire COM
munity in which he lives, irrespective of
party or race. We commend this letter
to the malcontents who are seeking to
create trouble between the races:
NEwBERRY, S. c., Jan. q, 1877.
Hon. T. j. Robertson, u s. Senator:
SIR-Permit me to occupy small por-
tion of your valuable time with some
suggestions on the state of affairs, past
and present, in the State of South Carolina.
You know me to be a colored man, a
Republican, and, as member of the
House of Representatives of the ~Lcgis-
lature of this State for four terms, an
ardent supporter of Republican princi'
Piles and institutions in all political con-
tests in the State. It is therefore as a
colored man and as a Republican that l
make this appeal to you to make use of
your personal and official prominence to
set before the leading men of the nation
the present unhappy situation of the COL
ored race, and to suggest to them the
course which appears to me to promise
the solution, and the only solution, of our
difficulties.
The two governments which profess to
exist in this State negative each other,
and leave us without any certain govern
ment at all. The wealth and intelligence
of the State recognize that Hampton, as
indeed does the majority of the whole
people, just as undoubtedly as that ma
iority voted for it. The great uproar
made about the acts Of fraud and intimi:
dation alleged to have been perpetrated
by Gen. Hampton and his followers is
without foundation, as far as my knowl-
edge extends. Not being candidate for
Office at the recent election, l watched
both parties with the closest scrutiny, in
order to be able to elect for myself what
course to pursue then and thereafter, and
in order to assist my own race in that
contest and in its consequences. But [
saw no fraud, no intimidation, practiced
by the party of Hampton. On the COIL
trary, the previous majority of the Re
publican party OF upward of l, 200 in this
county was reduced to one of 565 by the
honest, liberal and fair arguments of
Democratic speakers, and by the kind
and frank dealing of the native white
citizens. They appealed, not to our
fears, but to our intelligence and our con-
sciences. No cOlored man WAS threatened
or cheated as far as know, and ! know
that fair discussion, q fair vote, and a
fair count were the cardinal doctrines of
Hampton's campaign. My former politi-
cal associations made me somewhat slow
to appreciate that state of affairs, but as
did not close my eyes to the events oc-
curing before me I could not helpseeing
it. A change;in the Republican vote in
all the counties of the State equal to that
Just mentioned as having taken place IN
this county, would alone have secured
Hampton's election. And that there was
an equal change in the other counties, on
an average, there is scarcely room to
doubt, for this county was Republican
and Chamberlain stronghold, without
an equal except in the counties immedi-
ately on the coast and Richland and Or
angeburg. The evidence presented be-
fore the Congressional Committee is enti-
tied to no consideration whatever, for it
consists, for the most part, of the state
ments Of ignorant, prejudiced men,. hired,
trained, duped, and, in all probability,
forced by ambitious politicians and Office;
seekers. %
But, whatever may be said in regard to
the conduct of the campaign and the
election, it is indisputably true, according
to the admissions of all races and parties
of men, that the colored people are in
the most wretched situation they have
ever known since their emancipation,
both as to their present condition and
future prospects. Not one of them in a
hundred has the means-owing to the
bad crops of the past year and the low
price of cotton-to subsist himself for
one month. They have, therefore, to de-
pend upon supplies to be furnished by
the whites. Scarcely one in a hundred
owns cabin to shelter his head, or even
foot of ground. Homes, therefore, and
food.have to be supplied by the whites to
them, either as laborers or tenants. And
the prospects of this being done, as things
now stand, are most gloomy. And this
is not because of anything like general
prescription of colored men as Republi-
cans. That threat was only brutuns .ful
men employed by a few excited Demo
Gratis during the campaign. There is no
danger whatever of its being carried out,
except perhaps against very, very small
number of colored men whom their
neighbors may consider dangerous to the
peace and good order of the community.
Some of the most ardent colored Repub-
licans in the county now have, and are
secure of, the very best situations filled
by men of their qualifications. The
whites are indisposed to hire or rent land
to colored men, partly because they see
no prospect Of realizing anything from it
in the present state of the State govern
ment but chiefly because they are unable
to do so. They live and operate upon
credit just as we do. Their supplies are
not sufficient for their own subsistence,
much less for the subsistence of another
population more numerous than them
selves. They are unwilling to risk their
small means upon any venture, in this
state of public disorder and distraction; !;
and if they felt that the impotent shadow
OF authority known as the Chamberlain
government were to be set up over US as
the government of this State, they would
refuse to hazard any outlay of money,
supplies or credit; and they could not be
blamed for their refusal. But the whites
cannot supply lis, if they would, out Of
their own stores. They must have credit
in the towns, and the merchant must have
credit with dealers out OF the State. This
credit is not to be had while the deadly
upas of the Chamberlain government
blights the land with its ruinous taxa
tion, its wasteful expenditures, its dissen-
sion-sowing among the people, its utter
inability to legislate as our necessities
demand, and its contemplate impotence
to enforce the laws even so tar as to pro-
tect the lives of the people. Soldiers