The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-02-01
TAe ENGLISH VIEW OF 1T.
Strangers Sketch Of Some Recent
Scenes iG Columbia.
Correspondence ofthe london .Time..


Sceaes ~ Ce!aE,hia.
Correspondence ofMe london Times.
COLUMBIA, s. c., December 2.
Whoever may have refused
admission to the eight members frem
Laurens and Edge6eld, there Is no doubt
that IL was refused, whereupon the other
Democratic members, who, being pro-
vided with certificates from the board Of
canvass, might have entered the House If
they had liked, declined 10 separate from
their coa;-a4ss, ssd the -shc!e Democrat
ic party went to another hall, and there
formally declared themselves the legally
constituted House. 1t seems to me, J
must confess, pity they did not remain
there; but OH Thursday, taking advan.
tage of the Thanksgiving holiday, they
stole march upon the enemy and got
into the State House. hustling away the
doorkeeper, who made feeble effort to
stop them, aud seized the unoccupied
chair for their own Speaker. The Re.
publicans soon gathered, aud attempted
to dispossess him by commands and
threats; but no force was resorted to ON
either side. The attempt proved fail
ure, and he is still there, the Republican
Speaker being driven TO the not very dig.
nified expedient of occupying a chair
alongside of him. The comical part os
the situation is that neither party dare
leave the House ungarrisoned, les. they
should be surprised by coup de main,
and some Of the garrison have now been
there over sixty hours continuously.
They have their food brought in, and Ut
night lie on the floor, wrapped in bIan.
kets, or sit doing in arm chairs round
the stoves. The negro Legislators while
away the time by singing political songs
to religious airs, such rs Hold the fort
for Hayes and Wheeler" and by other
grotesque buffoonery Of kind never,
suspect, witnessed in hall OF Legislature
before. Their usual chairman, a white
man, can keep them in something like
proper order, aud so can two or three of
the ADLER men of their own color. But
as the chair has to be always filled, and
the chairmen, in consequence, are con-
stnntly being changed, an average men,
Der occasionally gets into it for whom
they have no respect, and then scenes
ensue which, rs an Anglo-Saxon with the
same blood in my veins as the white
members, Democrat or Republican. l
am almost ashame to describe. / need
nos. hope, say that have no sor. of
prejudice against tfc colored members
40 such: There are among them some
very able and we'll educated men. MIR.
Thomas and Mr.. Miller made as good
speeches Us one could expect on the aver
age to hear in any Parliament, much bet.
ter speeches than some ] have heard in
st. Stephens. Such men are, Of course,
in their right place, for, though they
have llore white blood than black in
f0 Ha l. et~
custom Of the country. with the negro
population, and are we'll fitted-so far as
their intellectual qualifications go-I
know nothing else about them-to watch
| over its interests. Mr.. Hamilton. com.
! monty known as "Tom Hamilton" is
another type of colored member to whose
presence in the House no impartial man
! would object. He is not well educated
in the ordinary sense, and his English
| and grammar are sometimes quite his
own. But he Gun make himself intelli-
gible, and can speak very straight to tue
point. He is, perhaps, a little too fond
| of talking about his pistol and the good
| shooting he can do with it. In one
speech he told a member who was rash
enough to venture upon an interruption
which would have been thought very
! mild In the House Of Commons, "Ary
man that feels himself insulted by re-
mark from my lips has his remedy; he
has only TO say how he wants it," In
another speech, turning to group of his
colored brethren, The has, though q Re.
publican, temporarily Joined the Demo
Gratis on the question which House is
legal, he remarked--"I am one of those
who, if they think a man u = thief tell
him so. don't talk about my shooting.
though / now and then hit sparrow fly-
ing over the rice fields just to keep my
hand in. Make your threat, but when
you 60 to put it into execution make
your will" 1took down these observations
verbatim in my notebook. as l thought
l had seldom heard any more pithily ex-
pressed and to tho point, and they were
ali the more remarkable as coming from
a man who, few minutes before. had
expressed = hops that If he were killed
| fighting for his dear South Carolina. his
'remainders" might be deposited by those
of his father and mother.
It is only fair, too, to explain that this
reference to shooting and fighting does
| not sound as parliamentary here as il
would in the House of Commons. The
whole atmosphere is charged with talk
about pistols and fighting. / belle, g
that !, being the only neutral, am the
only person who goe. 10 the House with.
out pistol; some strangers" take two
| and even three, 90 as to have q spare one
for friend. The reporters gallery ia
armed, and some of its occupants quite
eager for the fray. When one Of them
found out in TIC course Of conversation
| that had no weapon, !ie stirred at me
much as in England o man might have
stared if had said did 1t own tooth.
brush. l dc MI, ef course, .ss:=h <, imply
that this is the ordinary state of things ii
| Columbia, at least as regards the House
1t is due to the threat uttered by the Re.
publican party that they will have the
Laurens and Edgefeld members forcibly
expelled from che House by the State
constabulary, and the Democrats solemn.
ly declare that they will offer armed re.
sistance to the State constabulary unless
it Is supported by Federal troops. With
the latter, whose authority they recognize
and respect, they have no wish to come
into collision. Hence every Democrat
in the House, whether q member OF
''atranger." would assuredly ioin in 9
fight with the constabulary (who are col
ored,) and, therefore, Democrat nov
wants something more than the one con
ventionai pistol, de rigueur, which Il I. car
ries about everywhere. The Republi
cans. need not say, are equally vel
armed, and each side keeps very clos,
/ watch upon the other, and the leaders de-