The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1881-05-25
IConcludled from FRS! Page

whisper When we were down, when
We, were being traa'ped upon, when
We were being robbed, our republican
friends sat silen: as the grave and
never extended finger for our relief;
but as long as their political allies, the
solid republican South, were plying
their avocation. everything was love
ly and the people had to submit
When 10 the course of time, In Gods
owu providence, that nightmare was
shaken off by the gigantic efforts OF
the Anglo Saxon race and it became
democratic, then the hue and cry is
raised from one end Of the country to
the other, 'The sclid South menaces
the liberties Of this country and ia
the language Of the Senator fron
Maine is a wicked, criminal usurpa-
ton of the rights of the people. Oh
consistency, thou art indeed jewel
How mems minds and souls and bodies
are warped and deformed by the
love and lust of political power And
how conveniently cant and Hypocrisy
enable men to shift their political
: sails aud back and fill before any
breeze!
] know not, Mr. Presidec:, whether
the South is solid or not. l do say.
however, that so far as our democratic
solidity is concerned, she is solid for
good government; she is solid for the
honest administration of affairs she
is solid for the education Of her chil
dren; she is solid for development Of
her industries she is solid in en-
couragiug the people of all sections Of
this country to come and live under
her beautiful climate and partake of
the almost boundless possibilities Of
her. future she is solid for the peace
and order Of society, and there is not
q sentiment in the heart of any man
in the South, who is a man, that
feels a scinrilla Of hostility for the col
ored race. Why should we? As tie
Senator from Maine said, patbetically,
they stayed at home while We were at
the front in the army of the confed-
eracy and protected our wives and
children. So they did; aud | hope
God may strike me down and para
lyze my right arm if have cherished
sentiment of hostility to those kind
hearted people who protected my wife
and children.
I am not quite prepared to adiDis,
however, aud the Senators, if they
give expression to their honest senti-
timents, are not quite prepared to
admit that those people, recently re
leased from slavery, are fit to be
judges and governors and legislators
and magistrates and when the SEN
ator from Maine says, we educate our
voters in New England; aud says,
why do not you educate yours in the
South?' l throw back to him the
inquiry, that when you had absolute
control Of those people, when you were
reconstructing the governments of the
South, when you controlled every
Office from governor to constable and
dictated every line of the RECONSTRUCT
ton measures, why did you not pro-
vide an educational qualification for
the suffrage in South Carolina? The
white people Of that State had no
voice in the form and character of the
charter which was 10 be the organic
law Of their future government; from
which they were to derive protection
for their lives, their liberties, their
families, and their property. They
we're as voiceless as the tomb and as
powerless as the shorn Sampson.
The Senator says that the civillza-
tioD of the South is founded upon the
barbarism of slavery. Well, Mr..
President, it is not a matter of much
practical consequence at this day and
generation who is responsible fer sla-
very in this country; but ioasmuch as
We are making history, as it is said,
(not very creditable perhaps,) and in
asmuch as the Senator has invited US
into this arena, instead of to the hust-
ings, to discuss the facts of history
with him, I will read letter from
Hon. Jeremiah S. Black to Hon.
James A. Garfield in 1876 on the
subject of slavery. lie says:
The Plymouth colony and the pro-
vince Of Massachusetts, Bay were pro.
slavery to the backbone. If you doub,
this, I refer you to Moorc's History
of Slavery in Massachusetts,. where
the evidence Consisting chiefly of re-
cords and documents perfectly authcn
ticated) is produced and collated with
a fullness and fairness which cannot
be questioned. The Plymouth imni-
grants planted precisely the doctrine
which you ascribc to the Jamestown
colonists; that is to say, they held
that the negro had no rights of man
hood, that the white man might buy,
OVID, and sell him and his offspring
forever Practically and theoretically
they uaintaiaed that human slavery
in its most malignant form was a per-
fectly just, proper, and desirable in.
stitution, &c.
Then he goes on to say:
They executed this theory-(that is
the Massachusetts, people, to the
fullest extent 10 their own wars with
the Indians. Without cause or prov,
ocation, aud without notice or warn
ing, they fell upon the Pequods, mas
sacred many of them, aud made slaves
of the survivors, without distinction
Of age or sex. About seven hundred,
including many women and children,