Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-10-20
SHERMAN AID HAMPTON.

less and violent methods employed in his
section. Yet this conservative Southerner
now appears before the country in an en-
deavor to disprove a political charge by
recourse to murder. He appears to think
it possible to vindicate himself from the
suspicion of sympathy with violence by
proving that he is ready to fight. secre-
tary Sherman did not, as appears, charge
Hampton with being allied directly with
the Kuklux. What he implied was that
Hampton and the Kuklux were practi-
cally working for the same end, and about
this there is no room for controversy.
MIR. Sher1nan's answer to the fiery South
Carolinian is dignifed, incisive and reso-
lutte. He takes back nothing, denies moth
ing, but enters into an explanation which
gives fresh barbs to his former words.
He points out coolly and plainly that
Hampton and his friends owe the political
power they now enjoy entirely to the
atrocities of the Kuklux that their DOM
nation rests entirely upon "actual crimes
ssof every grade in the code, from murder
"to the meanest form of ballot,box stuff
cling" He calls the attention of lamp
| ton to the fact that some of the worst OF
these crimes have been committed since
1877, when Hampton and his associates
gave the most solemn assurances OF pro-
election to the freedmen. And he pro-
eesds TO draw the just and logical inference
that though Hampton may not himself
have Joined in midnight rides and shooting
and whipping, he and his friends have, by
their acceptance of the fruits of these
outrages, rendered themselves liable to be
classed "as joint copartners with the
Kuklux Khan in the policy which has
thus far been successful in Selling
"political power in the South, and
e which it is hoped, by the aid OF the
"small segment OF the Democratic party
q in the North, may be extended to all de-
s'partments of the Government. 1t is in
this sense, says Mr.. Sherman, that he
spoke of Wade Hampton and the Kuklux,
and he concludes by assuring his CORE
spondent that he and his friends are pur-
suing fatal policy, since "the manhood
"and independence of the North will GER
"tainly continue the struggle until every
Republican in the South shall have free
"and unrestrained enjoyment of equal
|
"civil and political privileges, including
"fair votes, fair count free speech and
"free press" All this is of course per-
fectly legitimate political discussion, yet
Wade Hampton meets it by wild denun-
citation of falsehood, and the belligerent re-
mark, my address will be Columbia, S.
"C.!" Well might Democrat, on read
ing this correspondence, remark that
This tomfoolery will lose us 30, 000 votes
60 in the North. Would to the Lord that
"the mule had killed Wade Hampton,
instead of breaking his leg" Indeed, it
must be confessed that Mr.. Hampton has
done his party more harm in this canvass
than the whole solid South can repair.
His rash reference to the principles of
"Lee and jackson " first opened the eyes
of the North to the real purposes of the
| Democracy and the real meaning of the
solid South. And now he has contrived to
remind the North of the old-fashioned
methods by which Southern men, before
the war, undertook to browbeat and bully
their opponents.
Certainly Wade Hampton's senses must
have taken leave Of him before he rushed
into print as a challenger in this way. Does
he imagine, perchance, that if Secretary
Sherman were foolish enough to fighta duel
with him, and if he were to kill Sherman,
his affiliations with the Kuklux would be
any the less apparent? Why these are Ku-
klux ways altogether, Mr.. Hampton. The
time when civilized men exchanged cartels,
and ''went out, has long passed away in
! progressive communities. 1t is only where
civilization has been arrested, as in the
Southern States, that men continue to
screen homicidal propensities behind the
fetish of " honor" Wade Hampton can
not degrade Secretary Sherman by calling
him liar. The country will sit in judg-
ment upon the controversy, and will con-
denim the dishonest disputant without any
regard to the requirements OF the code.
In this case there is no room for doubt as
to where the blame rests. What Mr.. Sher-
man said of Mr.. Hampton was true, and
when Mr.. Hampton denies its truth it is
he who is dishonored. For him to assert
that he and his " conservative" friends have
not profted by the crimes of the Kaklux
Klan is tor him to perpetrate falsehood
which is not only mean but stupid, in
asmuch as the nation is able to
perceive its falsity in an instant.
And it is still sillier for Mr.. Hamp-
ton to fancy that Southern men will
any longer be permitted to threaten and
browbeat Northern men. The time for
these humiliations is gone by. There can
never again be such stain upon the man.
hood OF the North as was implanted when
the brutal bully Brooks struck down the
noble Sumner in the National Capitol, and
the outrage was unresented. No Southern
swashbuckler can cram the infamies OF the
Kuklux and the solid South down North
ern Threats at the point of the pistol. The
North has felt its strength, and at last
knows what it is entitled to. Wade
Hampton's puerile attempt to draw Secre-
tary Sherman into duel will only react
upon his friends, his section, and his party.
1t is fresh proof of the impossibility OF
trusting the Government in such hands.
Political controversy, Mr.. Hampton has
yet to learn, must be free and untrsm.
meled, and when = political opponent tells
unpleasant truths, it is not permissible to
cali him out and shoot him for his boldness.
The course of Mr.. Sherman in this CORE.
spondence has been manly, frank, and
eminently judicious. He speaks as man
whose cause is too strong to allow him to
give way to temper, yet who will not finch
from the assumption OF whatever response