Litchfield enquirer., 1878-12-26
THE TROUBLE IN SOUTH CAR
 OTIWA.

g
 Evening Post from Pocotaligo, s. c. It Is. valuable as showing the way conservative South Carolinians palliate, if they do not ex- cuse, the conduct ot the recent election in that State
 It seems to me an unfortunate thing that re- cent events in South Carolina politics have been treated, thus far, solely from partisan point of view, whether discussed by the news papers of one party or by thnse of She other unfortunate because such treatment does wrong under pretence of doing justice, and still more 60 because 1t threatens to work serious and permanent harm. Believing as do that there are much more important things to grow out ef present American political activity than the elecuon of President by one party or the other in 1880, and believing that the Evening Post seeks to serve those permanent ends rather than to gain present partisan advan- tage, ask space in which to suggest some things that ought to be considered
 Violence and fraud in elections are to be c0ndemed without question, but even if all that is alleged concerning the conduct of the late election is true, it is scarcely fair to judge the South Carolinians by precisely the same standards which apply to the people of state
 whose circumstances are wholly different. It is not fair nor is it quite wholesome for the press and the people of this country, in con- demning misdeeds in South Carolina, to for get that the people of this state are placed in peculiar and abnormal circumstances which account for, although they may not justify, many things that in ordinary circumstances would indicate utter political rottenness.
 Without apologizing for what Is said to have been done in South Carolina, wish to sug-
 gest that it is neither so bad in itself nor so
 discouraging as a sign for the future as sim
 liar occurrences in Connecticut or Ohio would be.
 The majority of the voters in South Caroli-
 na are recently enfran 3hised negroes, whose
 average inteli seace is considerably below
 that of the of the negroes in other southern states. These negroes, capable of .outvoting the whitGs have been carefully drilled into
 compact political party, of whose leaders
 in the past, it is not too much to say that a
 majority were bent solely upon plunder
 On the other hand, half of the whites have had no political education by experience; only those of them who were grown men
 before 1860 have had any practical acquaint. ance with the business of self government by
 ballot. The young men were bred in the bad school of the civil war, out of which they came with int1amed passions, unchecked by
 knowledge of the principles of republican gov
 ernment.
 The enfranchsement of their late slaves by a power from without the state, and in opp0- sition to their lifelong preiudces as we'll as
 their convictions, still further intlamed their
 bad passions. The fear of the actual domina-
 tion of the negroes bred very natural terror among them, which carpet-bag rule confirm ed.
 The state of affairs was precisely that our of which desperation comes. The negroes be- Iieving that they were in danger of re-enslave- ment, were prepared to resort to any means, to vote for any leader, necessary to their self preservation and they have retained their conviction that only by voting together in one way, without regard either to candidates characters or to political principles, can they maintain their personal freedom. The whites, in their turn, unskilled in peaceful self govern ment, bred in a school of war and violence in dread of negro domination, had their instinct of self-preservation roused-an instinct which everywhere asserts it's superiority to law and to everything else
 Here were all theselements of turbulence, violence, fraud and lawlessness, and only q miracle could have prevented'these results in greater or less degree. Whatever violence and fraud may have resulted are deplorable things certainly, but they are far less deplora- ole than such things occurring in more pc ce ful parts of the country would be, lecaus their significance is smaller. If such lnings had deen deliberately resorted to for the pur- pose of carrying an election in such a state, AVI CAduIpiC, uS OllHD, Gut IhCb WOulu Utut serious i'll fer the future c ausc it would in- dicate hopeless incapacily for free sef-gov. ernlnent, hopeless decay of political virtue. In the case of South Carolina such things are much less serious of import because they con- stitute symptom rather of present and tenn pOrary than of permanent disease, of function al Arrangement rather than of organic decay. The circumstances of the case do not excuse wrong doing, but they account fer it, and as rSrO there is every reason to hope for the disap- pearance presently of the political symptom to which they have given rise
 These things will work themselves out. Men are not to be taken by the nape of tho neck and raised into civilization and virtue. They must work up through their own struggles with circumstances The political lines in South Carolina are just now unnaturally drawn, and they cannot always remain s0 As pas sion coOls, and still more certainly, as person. al ambition asserts itself, the negro vote will come to be courted by native South Carol- nans. natural opposition will appear. q natural division of parties will come, and the solidity of the whites on the one hand and of the blacks on the other will be broken Then peace will come in South Carolina, and with it will come both the disposition and the ability to enforce the law and to conduct elections with scrupulous fairness.
 uACdutlIlIC btC idCLC JO WHICH nave TeIGTTSU should not be forgotten; we do not wonder when blind men stumble, and these are politi- caly blind men just now.
 The problem in South Caro- lima is the prob. lem of fermentation. When the negroes were enfranchised a new and strange element was added to the political mixture there at a time when the caldron was hot. The seething which has followed is inseparable from the conversation of the incongruous mixture into an harmonious compound. It must go 0n until in some way the two races are fused into one great body of citizens who can govern themselves. The first impulse of the W i es was, naturally, to dominate the blacks tine first impulse of the blacks was as naturally, to domominate the whit g. Neithr of Ih ,se things is peaceably possible, and until this point shall be settled the instinct of self-pre- servation in both races will prevent peace in South Carolina When both races cease to struggle for race supremacy, when both dis. cover that they must find method of living together not as two antagonistlc races but as one body of citiZtns of whom not the race which can poll most votes or own most rifles, but the party composed of men of both races which is in ths ma, ,oritv, shall rule, peace and order will come to the state. Until the Sonth Carolinians find these facts out by experience it is not to be expected that their elections will be conducted quite so peaceably as elections are conducted elsewhere. Human nature iS stronger than election laws, and hu- man nature learns by experience rather than by precept. The experience of the present may be trusted to teach the South CarOlinians some part at least of the lesson they need to learn. But to forget the circumstances out of which the turbulence grows, tO ignore tle facts in netting out censure, is te retard rather than to help that growth in political wisdom in which alone there is hope. To make these things texts for partisan harangues only feeds the flame Of race passion and prejudice, and prevents that breaking up of race parties and that union of the two races into single body of good citizens which the whole country needs to promote. It matters very little to the country at large who shall represent South Carolina m Congress, or wh shall hold office in that state but it. is of the utmost importance to the whole land that this political cancer of race politics shall have chance to heal before it infects the blood of our political life The nations only real interest in the