The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-04-26

hepuUllCUu IlleIG. u SlCou 1nohS o. ASeA
conciliator, with principles and courage
both, would have put Key, and Alcorl
or Settle and Frederick Douglass-al
three of them-in the Cabinet, even i
he should have been forced to enlarge
the body of his councillors to do so. Tha
would have meant equal rights, justice
and conciliation. Like all weak men
Hayes went just far enough to lose ane
not far enough to win. It was an insult
to the Southern white Republicans il
every Southern State to leave them un
represented. The organs of the Presi
dent have heaped fresh insults on thi;
conspicuous insult by sneeriug at the1!
as unworthy of honor and trust-they
the most sincere and the most Trustworthy
Republicans in all this nation. AS fal
and as fast rs Hayes shall turn out o.
Office in the South the political birds oil
prey from whatever State they may
'hail"- giving to the citizens of the
Southern States all the Federal offices II
those States; as far and as fast as he
shall weed out, without pity or exception
every fioce-holder in the Departments
here who is "credited" to Southern
State without being citizen of the State
thus taxed; as fast and as far as he shall
show by word and act that the crime ol
rebellion is absolutely and forever con
doned, the President should receive the
cordial cooperation of every patriot, ano
especially of every friend of the blacks
Nobody but demagogues have ever de-
sired to keep alive the memories Of the
war, excepting so far as they serve te
convict the rebels of to-day. General
Chalmers, openly defying the Constitu.
ton in the "Whip-Cord, District" o1
Mississippi, calls up by his own act the
black spectres of Fort Pillow; as Gen
Hampton, by his arrogance, uncovered
the graves of the national soldiers whose
dead bodies were exposed in the streets
of Charleston with derisive placard or
their bullet-riddled breasts.
1t was not with the rebels against the
country that we had any quarrel, because
that contest had come to an end. II
was only with the rebels against the con.
stitutional guarantees of equal rights that
were the ripest and best fruits of the war
But even that fight is over now. 1t is
idle to-day to denounce Hayes or to op.
pose his policy of abdicstion of Presi'
Dental prerogatives to the Democratic
banditti. We made him our leader, and
he has surrendered, and we are bound by
his act. I was one of the Radical Re-
publicans who advised Gov. Chamberlain
to make no useless contest, and sincere.
ly trust that Gov. Packard will not delay
the inevitable hour in which force shall
triumph in Louisiana. It is better fol
the sake of the blacks that the surrender
should be made quietly and quickly. :.
The ofice-holders say that "we should
give Hayes policy a fair trial"
What part of his policy? No one op'
poses cancellation. Every decent man
desires it. That is part the first of Hayes
policy. But part the second is surrender
It means the acquiescence of the Nation
al Governmet in the rule of the majority
by the minority; because that minority
of citizens has a majority of property, in
telligence and military power. Now that
policy has been tried in this planet OF
ours for ages upon aons; for six thou.
sand years by the briefest and least scien-
tifc computation and it has always, in
every cline and among every race, resul:
ted in the oppression of the ignorant and
the poor. It has had trial enough in this
world. Republicanism means not the
rule of respectability but the rule of the
majority and Hayes Gulf State policy
is the suicide of rePublicanism.
Now, then, for your question, What
should the blacks do?
First of all, they should be taught that
they can now freely and honorably choose
their political associations without refer.
ence to the past history of their race.
They should be taught that the men
who fought for their freedom are now in
a helpless minority in the Republican
party; that the blacks owe it no allegi-
ance whatever now; and that its recog.
nized leaders, who WELD the power of the
Government, are to-day the recreants
who advocate and defend and decree their
abandonment.
1t is true the Democratic party resisted
their enfranchisement, but it is equally
true that the Republican party refuses to
protect them in the exercise of the fran.
chise that they gave. There is absolute,
ly no difference whatever, now, between
the Democratic party and the Republican
party, las represented by Hayes, on the
question of the rights and condition Of
the negro, excepting in one important
particular. That exception is vital one,
It points out the path of safety to the
black voter. 1t points out, also, the path
of duty. We owe allegiance where we
receive protection. The Democrats pro.
tect the Democratic negro; the Republi'
cans abandon the Republican negro.
For myself, being white man, and q
Northern man, I propose to remain in
the Republican party to do my part to
purge it from the thieves on the one hand
and the pedagogues on the other hand
who now infest it; but if were a negro
and in the South, I should join the Dem
ocratic party at once, and vote for its
candidates whenever they were reputable
men. Whenever they were bandits
should refuse to vote at all. | was
member of the first Republican National
Committee, and have always been q
radical Republican in my political action
But I was more than that-a "Kansas
Republican," a "John Brown abolition.
ist;;" and through good report and evil
report, have never wavered in adyocat'
ing the rights of the negro. There is nc
man so black that am ashamed to look
in his face. I feel that I have done my
whole duty to the black race. And with
this. record, unbroken by single word o.
act conservative, should urge the black
men of the South, if my voice coulo
reach them, to join the Democratic par
ty.
If they were to do so in body, wha
would be the result? Absolute protec
zion, to begin with, in their rights of life
and property. They would not be driver
from their homes by the thousands a.
they were driven into the highways O
South Carolina, Mississippi and Loulsl
ana, because of their loyalty to the Re
publican party. The Democratic negrt
H. Is&, -