The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1879-04-04
HON. j. n. TWINS sPznoH.

Ht.' -.'as
The Campaign of 1875 ably Tiadicated
on 1e Floor Of Congrcss 6y a True Son
of South Carolina. ao.
Wo copy from the Congressional Record
the following extracts from che able and
exhaustive address Of Hon. j. II. Evius
our Representative in Congress, delivered
IN the House of Representatives, Friday
February 2Sth, 1879, on tho Coute,ted
Election cuse of Richardson vs.. Rainey,
from the First Congressional District oi
South Carolina ., r
Az. Spsa4er trust I shall be ,pardoned
lsJlise Sp5s lE|s s iIsss' 8 i : - =,
TIE issdSs presented ID. .shis case.s Il wiIi
enable Is, / am sure, the better to under.
stand the condition Of things which brought
shout the campaign preceding the fall eIec.
tion Of 1876, out of which this contest has
arisen.''r '"'ai q" a@tErd -
r,I confess, however, when remember
that for eighteen years (years into which
are crowded 90 many signal events of our
history that the voice of no true son of
South Carolina had been heard iu this Hall
in her defense, I am oppressed with sense
q ny Inability to give utterance to the
thoughts which auch an occasion should
inspire, asd feel stronger than before tho
desire TO shitk from the undertaking. ,ni
Under the operation Of the reconstruc-
t.sn laws OF the Freedmen's Bureau and
the bayonet, the white people of Soath Car
olina were in 1858 subjected to the complete
douiiuation Of their former slaves.-In the
history Of tho world it was reserved for
people who h6d given to the country in the
hour of its dire extremity such patriots as
Laurens, Pinckney, Rutledge, Marion,
Sumter, and MouItrie, and bad contributed
to the noontide Of its glory the luster that
shone around the names of Lowndes, Hayne,
Calhoun, land McDufie, to drink to tho
dregs this bitter cup of humiliation. All
the people Of the Southern States who had
Joined with South Carolina in the war be-
- the States we're put to the rack and
broken upon the wheel set in motion by
these laws, but those Of South Carolina and
Louisiana alone went down under their
irresistible force into that dark valley and
shadow of death where for years they strug-
'gled against adverse legislation, an adverse
administration, aud all tho red dragons of
political and social revolution.
, *
FEARFUL CONDITION OF THE SOUTH.
I will do my friends on the other side of
this Hall the justice to say that, blinded by
the passions eDgenderod by the war, be-
lieve they did not foresee the direfal conse-
quences which would necessarily follow
their legislation in regard to the States of
the South, and that 30 great has been the
partisan prejudice Of the last decade that
they do not yet fully appreciate them. I
ask their attention, therefore, for very
few moments while sketch in the briefest
manner possible the condition of things in
my own State, brought about by the recon.
struction laws Of Congress and the arbitrary
measures adopted by the Executive in en-
forcing them, in order that the supremacy
OF political party might be maintained.
BY the fortunes of war and its results the
aggregate wealth Of the State was reduced
from six hundred and thirty millions, to
about one hundred and thirty millions but
her people returning from the war with
stout hearts went manfully to work to re.
pair their shattered fortunes and build up
their. wastsplaces. It was impossible for
them at once TO appreciate the full effects
of the complete revolution wrought BY the
emancipation Of their former slaves, or to
understand how best to deal with problem
where they had no precedent to guide them,
and the solution of which had never before
taxed the human understanding. It should
not, therefore, seem strange 10 the light Of
subsequent legislation on the part Of Con.
gress and subsequent events, that they did
not act with the greatest wisdom, or even
with that intelligence and foresight with
which others who had no life. long pre;u.
dices and opinions to overcoms would have
acted. t"I a'a
PLACED UNDER NEGRO DOMINATION.
Their efforts at solving the dificulties Of
this problem, had, however, q very brief or.
pertinent, and after . few years OF absolute
military rnls, new amendments TO the Con.
stitutiop, aad nov acts Of Congress, gave
the newly enGanchised race complete con-
troll Of the State. Grant was magnani.
NOUS in the terms he made whom he re-
ceived the spotless sword Of Lee, but il
can scarcely be said thst the Government
Ct tho conqueror was rnagaapimous, which
placed brave people, rho lad in good
faith accepted the terms of an honorable
aurrendsr Of the cause fer which they
Ecvuhk ,,ndar tho I~n,sa:n. - Al - r. .--.s