The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-17
rae RADICALS AND THE NEGRO.

The following article from the iemars
Iowa. Sentinel, an intensely Republican
paper, written under the head of "The
will be profitable food FeS the
reflection of our coaosed people, for it
shows to them What their professed Re-
publican ffiands think of them, and
what they wish to do in relation to their
right of suffrage:
While the amiabfs idiocy that pre-
vailed in Congress during the reconstruc-
ton days vas at its height, the Niger
was enffanchised. He was invested with
the ballot on the pretty theory that he
was man and a brother, with ah ihfu.
sion of sand in. his make up. It was
given him on the school girl notion that
affection for Che party that gave him his
freedom would make him its, perpetual
instfeEaent. But. the Niger is less ser
vlceable to the Republican party as a
voter than he Sas as slave. He needs
too much coddling-too much protection.
He can only vote the Republican ticket
when surrounded by a cefIon of Repub-
lican bayonets. There is no grit in him.
There is moe voting energy and party
strength in a dozen raw Irishmen than
Ia thousand well fed niggers. There
is not an ounce of "stalwartism" to q
ton Of Niger. The more Niger the
less strength. Asaslave, the picturesque
misery of the Niger was an tpfailing
armory of party weaponszas o freeman
there is no romance In hfm-cowardice
is not romantic. All over the South he
is Throwing his ballot for rebels and
traitors, when he votes at all. He is toe
cowardly to vote his convictions, or toe
stupid to have convictions. When the
"stalwarts" get into power in 1880, he
must either be disfranchised or compelled
to vote right. The free Niger is fraud
We are driven to the admission, after
reading the above article, that It is pos
sible for Republican editor to stumble
on to expressing his candid convictions
once in q lifetime. We have never be.
fore seen the true feeling of the Repub.
lican party as to the negro SO clearly
defined in words. The most important
admission for Che county to consider is,
that this party, without any sympathy
for the negro, has been using him as q
theme,for stirring up strife and perpetua,
ting its own mean life by the lies il
could induce the honest and unstspect-
ing masses of voters to believe about the
wrongs and, expressions of this race. II
is with them simply question of ser,
vice, and the Sentinel evidently bemoans
the fact that the negro is a free man,
because it says that he "is. less servicea.
bic to the Republican party as voter
than he was as o slave" This lament
finds further expression in the sentence
in which the editor declares Gas slave,
the picturesque misery of the niger was
an unfailing armory of party weapons
as a freeman there is no romance in him. y
This sentiment fairly represents the in,
famous means by which the Republican
party obtained and has retained power
in this government. 1t was by false.
hoods and ISLANDERS of our people that i,
first drew the sectional lines which
goaded the South to desperation and
secession, and filed our common country
with mourning and blood. After the
war was over this same party kept alive
the feelings of strife, when the patriots
of; all sections were trying to bury the
dead past and forget its sorrows, in ordel
that the Union might be restored, MOI
only in name, but in the hearts ani
affections of all our people. Theil
efforts have been successful everywhere
exceptin the ranks of the Republican
party, which has never been willing, ant
is not now willing, to see the element'
of discord removed from our land. 1t ii
time, when Republican papers admit
this purpose as clearly as is done in the
above article, for the people who love
the Union to unite in q common effort
to drive from power the. political pirates
who are willing to sacrifice the dearest
interests of our land in order to retain
power within their own grasp.
To the colored people, however, there
are two or three reflections which we de.
sire to impress from this article. 1t be.
gins with the assertion that it was idiotic
in Congress to have given the ballot to
the colored man. 1t admits that the
right to vote was given to the color.
ed man, not from any desire to help
him as o freeman, but simply to make
use of him for perty purposes, and hence
the Sentinel owns up that the Republican
party gave him the ballot because it was
thought he would be a perpetual instru.
n,Snt for that party. The Sentinel after
this is inconsistent in asserting that the
negro stis too cowardly to vote his con-
victions, or too stupid to have convic.
tions,n for the Republican party by its
own admission did not want him to have
convictions. 1t wanted him to be o
machine. The fact that the negro is be-
ginning to get convictions that the
Southern Democrats are his best friends,
and is having the courage to vote accord
ing to those convictions, is exactly where
the Radical disgust and disappointment
comes in. 1t is very marked example
of the manner in which men sometimes
confer a benefit upon those they seek to
ipjure. The ballot was given to the ne
gro for the purpose of crushing the South,
and instead of doing this it will, before
we are through with the fight, crush the
Republican party. The &sntinelconcludes
by announcing that when the Republi-