Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-10-21
WASHINGTON, September 81, 1890.

Hon. Wade Hampton, Ne,o York.
S1R-Your note of the 18th instant is re.
ceiveG, in which you inquire whether at a
conference held by the National. Republican
committee at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New
York, l used the language attributed to me as
follows: Sand now you are asked to surren.
der all you have into the hands of Wade
Hampton and the Ku.Klux, and the little
segment in the North that is called the Dem.
ocratie party" In reply, have to advise
you that while do not remember the precise
language, l presume the reporter correctly
stated, in condensed way, his idea of what I.
said. I no doubt spoke of you as a leading
representative of the Democratic party i'm the
South, and referred to the Ku-klux Klan as
representatives of the barbarous agencies by
which the Democrats have subverted the civ
il and political rights of the Republicans of
the South.
did not connect you personally with the
Ku klux Klan. Indeed, know that you
had, in one or two instances, resisted and de-
feated its worst impulses. l appreciated the
sense of honor which makes you shrink from
being named in connection with it. Still you
and your associates, /. aiding men of the South,
now enjoy the benefits of political power de-
rived from the atrocities Of the Ku klux
Klan, in which phrase is included all the
numerous aliases by which it has from time
to time been known in the South.
Your power in the Southern States rests
upon the actual crimes of every grade in the
code of crimes, from murder to the meanest
form of ballot-box stufing, committed by the
Ku-klux Klan, and its kindred associates,
and, as you know, some Of the worst of them
committed since 1877, when you and they
gave the most solemn assurances of protection
to the freedmen of the South These crimes
are all aimed at the civil and political rights
of the Republicans in the South, and, as be-
licve, but for these agencies the very State
that you represent, as we'll as many other
States in the South. would be represented both
in the Senate and House by Republicans.
But for these crimes, the boast attributed to
you THAI the IA solid Southern votes wouid
be cast for the Democratic ticket, would be
but idle vaporing; but now we feel that is so.
ber truth.
While I have no reason to believe that you
or your Northern associates personally par
ticipated in the offences / have named, yet
while you and they enjoy the fruits Of these
crimes. you are joint co-partners with The
Ku.kluG Klsn in policy which SO far has
been successful in the South, and which il is
hoped, by the aid of small segment of the
Democratic party in the North, may be ex.
tended to all departments Of the government.
1t is in this sense that | spoke of you, the
Ku.klux Klan and the Northern Democratic
party.
Permit me, in conclusion, while frankly
answering your question, to say that the most
fatal policy would be by such agencies az 1
have mentioned to secure again political as'
tendency in this country, for / assure you
that the manhood and independence of the
North will certainly continue the struggle
until every Republican in the South shall
have free and unrestricted enjoyment of di.
rect and political privileges, including fair
votes, fair count, free speech and free
press, and the agitation made necessary to
secure such results may greatly affect in-
urously the interests of the people of the
South. Very respectfully your obedient SER
want. JOHN SHERMAN.