The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-03-06

| DOrile III nlllu tiIat III the tlmo THIS was
done some of the most prominent leaders
0! tic Republican party had taken de-
cided ground against giving the right OF
suffrage to the Z gro. 1t is Unnecessary
to give al the reasons that induced me
to take this course; it is sufficient to SAY
that | fully realized that when man
had been made a citizen Of the United
States he could not be debarred the right
OF voting on account of his color. Such
exclusion would be opposed to the entire
theory of republican institutions, and
ioresaw that, unless the States, while
they had the right of regulating the cleo
tive franchise, prescribed the Qualtica-
tons of their voters, the National Gov-
ernmcnt would intervene, and we should
have universal suffrage forced upon U.s.
My object, then, was, by fixing an edu-
cational qualification rs prerequisite
for voting, to allow the most intelligent
of the co',rcd people to vote at once, and
this would have been an inducement to
the rest Of the race to endeavor to qualify
themselves for the attainment and cxer-
else of this privilege by securing the
necessary education. The admission of
the Limited number who would have pro-
duced no confusion in the machinery Of
the State governments, and the relation
between the two races would haze been
friendly and harmonious; but the course
that recommended WIS not adopted,
and we Of the South have been subjected
to all the humiliation and crime brought
about by reconstruction. As the negro
Is now acquiring education and property,
he Is becoming more conservative, and
naturally desires to assist in tho cstab-
lishmcnt and maintenance Of good gov
crnment and home rule. | have cndcav-
ored-and think not without success
to teach him here how To use the vote for
his own good, and lie benet. of the po-
litical society in which he ives and with
which his future prosperity is identified.
The result has been shown in the last
two general elections in this State, where
thousands of negroes have voted with
their white friends; and if any doubt is
entertained of the sincerity Of these vo-
tiers, and any impartial visitor from the
North will take the pains to inquire
throughout the State, I will venture the
assertion that in every locality he will
ind lis earnest, rs active and ~ consis-
tent Democrats among the colored peo-
pie as among the whites, and these col
ored Democrats arc generally among the
more intelligent of their race.
Under these circumstances, rs the
negro is endcavoring very generally to
qualify himself fo5 the duties of citizen
ship, the wrong of disfranchising him
would be as great rs that inflicted upnn
lis in the first instance. when universal
suffrage was given to him while he WAS
yet utterly unpreparcd to exercise it,
The second question to which nv at
tention has been invited is, "Ought the
negro to have been enfranchised ?" It
may seem inconsistent with the views L
have expressed in the first part of this
article to say that do not think he
should have been enfrancliiscd ut the
time and i'll the manner in which it was
done. My first objection is, chat the
mode that was pursued, if not directly
unconstitutional, WAS certainly extra
constitutional, and am utterly opposed
to any violation, direct or inIirect, OF
that instrument. Whenever political
party thinks it is necessary, in order to
secure It's supremacy, To act outside Of
the Constitution, and this is permitted
by the people without rcbuke, we may
be sure that we have entered upon that
downward plane which every previous
republic has travelled 10 destruction.
The only hope Of maintaining our irr.i-
tulions in their integrity is by strict
observance of the Constitution, and no
party should be allowed to remain n mo-.
mcnt in power which countcnanccs iii
any manner any violation of its sacred
provisions.
My next objection to comforting suf-
frage on the negro, immediatei. upon
his emancipation, that he Sis to-, My in
competent to exercise or even to under
stand the ri hts conferred upon him.
The Injection of such mass of ignorant
and unframed voters into the body poll
tic was the most perilous strain to which
our institutions have ever been subjected,
and the danger arising from this expert
mcnt has not yet passed. 1t was crime
against the whites Of the Scmth to dis
franchise them in large part while en-
franchislng the negro, and thus practically
placing all the rights OF the former ut
the mercy of newly cmarcipatcd slaves.
All these difficulties might have been
avoided had partial suffrage been adop-
ted in the first instance, anC the relations
between the two races been allowed to
adjust themselves by the unimpedcd ac-
ton of natural laws. This course would
have been infinitely better for the negro
himself; rs it would gradually have
trained the exercise of the rights Of free
men, and would have prevented that an
tagonism between the two races which
has resulted, in SO many instances, to the
injury of the negro.
Those who assert that the negro should
have been enfranchised have not hcs-
tated to declare that the Indian, the ma
tive frcomcn of America, and the Chi
nese, who have sought our shores in such
numbers, should be dcbarrcd that right.
There seems to DC some inconsistency in
these views, and the advocates Of negro
enfranchisement should be called on to
show why the privilege should be grant
ed to him, the newly emancipated slave,
and yet denied to men who have always
been free and who possess more intelli-
gence.
When the negro was made a citizen,
it followed as logical consequence, un
der the theory Of our institutions, that
he must become voter. My objection
10 his eniraucniscment, therefore, is con-
fined to the time when and the mode in
which this privilege was conferred upon
him.
/ have answered these questions with
entire frankncss, in the 'ope that such q
discussion, free from / litical acrimony
and partisan misconceptions, would en-
courage the calm and conscientious con-
sidcration of the whole subject.
WADE HAMPTON.
A MIDNIGHT SCENE IN JERsUALEM.
One evening. while strolling about
Jerusalem, l met strange choking pro-