Litchfield enquirer., 1877-02-01

But the aegneh SsmsiBsds solid. and the regular rsprhlican .tsekek was again elect ed. The. leadafs q ne fhites now ac- quieseed Ida ahS al8zgS SAfA policy For l four years the whites kept almost aIto- gether out of politics. The nomination of Greeley, indeed, excited their hopes powerfully at first, but his election was soon perceived to be impossible. No state ticket was run in 1872. There were two republican tickets in the field: the regular nominees supported by the cor | rupt element and consequently the bulk l<-of the party. and bcltlng ticket sup ported by some republican leaders, with their followers, who were in favor of re- form. The few whites who turned out to vote for Greeley also voted for the bolting candidates, who, however, were defeated. The tax-paying democrats met once or 1 twice after this to consult over their grlev- | ances, but confined themselves to temper i ate remonstrances. petitions, and non- l partisan investigations.
 | In the election of 1874 there was again a split among the republicans. The par l ty convention nominated ticket at the l head of which was Mir. Daniel H. Cham | berlain, for governor. He was supposed l to be corrupt, as he had been attorney general and member of various impor- tant commissions at the time when cor ruption was greatest. The honest element again bolted. The whites met in conven- tion, and resolved to support the boiling l ticket. In return the bolters divided many local nominations with the demo- crats. The whites almost to a man voted for the bolting candidates. county, leg l Iolat,xo op1 foho o1kborrrb of them (even the nominee for lieutenant governor) were colored; so desperate at last had they become under governmental oppression. Mir. Chamberlain and the other regular candidates for state officers were elected: but the bolters and demo- crats elected about two ffths of the legs- l lature.
 The whites now expected the oppres- sion to be redoubled. But when MT. Chamberlain was installed, curious spectacle was presented. He had made ! the usual promises of reform on the I stump, amidst the smiles of his support | CTS, who had nominated him because they thought him congeniaI spirit He now announced that he had spoken in earnest. He made wholesale removals of the cor rupt officers appointed by his predeces sors, and replaced them by honest and competent men, in large part democrats. The corrupt schemes of the legislature were relentlessly vetoed. It was as bad as any preceding body, and elected two infamous men as circuit judges. Terrible excitement arose, which the governor quieted by refusing to commission the judges on legal quibble; and by his threatening to veto the usual extortionate tax-blll, the most reasonable one known
 
 regular republicans went into vehement opposition to the governor, while the bolters and the democrats rallied to sus- tain his vetoes.
 The reforms in justice, however, were most widely, deeply, and immediately felt. The wholesale pardoning at once stopped; the penltentiary began to fill up; good jury commissioners (the executive names them) who would select decent blacks for jurors and give the whites half the panels, were appointed. The whites began to take interest in the courts, and to look with less disfavor on colnrsa a,,sns .0As -1--------E' a--~SA uAi0 PiosiAA by scores; a great decrease of crime was perceptible in few months; race hatred greatly subsided. It is impossible to ex- press the immense feeling of relief expert enced at the restoration of confidence in the government.
 The whites were unable to make too much Of their savior. He was admitted into the most aristocrat1c society. He was elected orator by the colleges, called on by fashionable associations to respond to toasts, and ionized everywhere. The white leaders and the papers called loud- ly for his reelection, and though the cor rupt element of his party were determined to nominate another man or bolt should he carry the convention, @ large section was in favor of renominating him. The whites shuddered at the terrible ordeal they had gone through, and seemed ready to recognize the rights of the negro and do anything in the way of compromise to avert such evil in the future. In several municipal elections (noticeably in Charles. ton) mixed tickets, half democrats and half blacks or republicans, were elected. It seemed as If a political millennium were about to dawn.
 The motives of the governor have been varlously construed The belief became common that he was pure man and had been slandered in the past. Many, how ever, believed him to be talented, ambi- tious, and interruptions; declaring that he had been a corruptionist while it suit ed his designs, but that on becoming gov ernor he had determined to turn over to the whites. get socially recognized, pro- cure an election to the United States Sen ate, and go there with such a powerful Southern support behind him that he could play an important part in national politics. This is the belief of the whites at present. Governor Chamberlain is cold, elegant man. a graduate of Yale, and lawyer. He is student of comparative literature, and is thoroughly familiar with the course of modern thought. Some cultivated men in the State say that he went with the current till he gained power to control it; that then, out of pure love of political science, he undertook to bring about reconciliation betW cen the races and solve the great problem of Southern reconstruction and harmony That he has ambition they do not deny; but they look on 1t as the ambition of statesman, not of politician. They recall the cold, judge-like neutrality with which he pre- sided over the people. He did not truckle to the whites, as has been charged. He associated with them professedly as re- publican, but avoided insulting their prejudices. He always gave the blacks strict justice. In his appointments he preferred republicans, when fit ones could be found; but where none were fit, he would select democrats
 The governor of South Carolina is elect ed every two years. Mir. Chamberlain was elected in November, 1874, simulta- neously with the democratic national House of Representatives. The election of that house was hailed with thanksgiv- ing in South Carolina, as an indication that the North had determined to protest against the oppression of the Southern whites by their old slaves and the carpet baggers. But, after tune, the fact be- gan to attract attention that majority of the democratic congressman were South erners, and many of those Southerners ex- Confederate generals A wild hope seized our political leaders that the palmy aete- belluna times were about to return, that the democracy was again to control the national government, and that the. South was again to rule the councils of the dem ocracy. Every Southern State was now democratic except South Carolina and