The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-01-20
pILGRIMS TO MENTOR.
Elliott, Lee. and other self-Constituted
Representative Malign the Eouth and
: Plead Ter. the Negro.
CLEVELAND, OHIO. Jan. IA.

*
Plead fsr the Negro.
= CLEVELAND, OHIO, Jan. IA.
"A colored delegation visited Mentor
to-day and waited upon Gen. Garfield al
his house. The delegation was comnosed
of R. B. Elliott, Samuel Lee and D. A..
Straker, of South Carolina, Henry T..
Curry. of Texas, James B. Deyeraux, of
Georgia, and Geo. w. Prince, Jr.. Geo.
l.. MADISON, James w. Hood, John A.
Leahy, j. W. Harris and Stewart Ellison,
of North Carolina.
On being received by Gen. Garfield,
R. B. Elliott, the spokesman, addressed
the President elect, and after congfatu-
lating him on his election, said: We
have come to present you brief state
'ment of our condition in the South, but
not in the spirit Of dictation, but in the
belief that u fair representation of our
cause can best be made BY those of US
who are compelled to endure grievous
wrongs for opinions sake. Although
clothed with the rights of citizenship by
the provisions of the Constitution of the
United States, and recognized as such by
legislative enactment and judicial decis.
ions, yet still in all the Southern States
we are citizens in name and not in fact.
Our right to participate in elections for
the choice Of public officers is not only
questioned, but in many localities abso-
lutely denied US by means of armed vic.
lence, fraud and intimidation in many OF
the Southern States. Sir, the rights OF
majorities are illegally aud wantonly
subverted by the imperious will of un
scrupulous minorities for no other reason
than this, that these majorities consist OF
men who, free and enfranchised by the
laws of the land, prefer to remain loyal
to the country of which they are citizens,
and steadfast in the support of that
political party which saved the life OF
the nation, and to the charge of which
can most safely be entrusted the duty OF
preserving the results accomplished by
the late war. The methods resorted to
by our political opponents in the South
to deprive us of rightful participation in
public affairs nave been so often stated
to the public, and are so we'll known to
you, that it is unnecessary that we should
enter upon a detailed statement on this
occasion. Suffice it to say that by the
infamous use of fraudulent tissue ballots,
by liberal Justification of registry books
and election returns, by forcible eject
ment from the polls of negro voters by
armed mobs, by murder and general
system of terrorism, and by the refusal
in many instances to hold elections at
precincts where the majority of voters
are Republicans, the elections have been
rendered mere farce, State governments
have been made to derive their powers
not from the consent of the governed.
but from the arbitrary will of domineer'
ing minorities. We are powerless, sir, to
redress our wrongs through the machine.
ry of the State courts, for to all intents
and purposes they are organized against
us, the jury ofteItimes being composed
not only of those who sympathize with
breakers of the law, but frequently con.
sisting in part of actual participants in
wrong doing.
The address then goes on to say that
even in the Federal courts the colored
people cannot obtain redress of wrongs
done them for the reason that those who
are responsible for these wrongs sit in the
jury box to pass judgment on them. That
this condition of affairs has created 8
feeling of unrest among the colored peo'
ole of the South, and has led many 0l
them to seek relief in strange and un.
congenial parts of the country.
The address then sets forth the made.
quacy of educational facilities in the
South, and urges the Importance Of Gre
ating national system of education I'm.
der the control of the Federal Govern.
ment. The address then continues
We deem it our duty in the interest Of
those whom we have the honor to repre-.
sent, rs well as in the interest of the
Republican party at large, to call atten.
tion to the character Of Federal appoint.
ments in the South in the past, and re-
spectfully urge that the system of placing
in public positions men not only in want
of sympathy with the principles of the
Republican party, but who use those
positions to obstruct and hinder the en-.
:orcement of the laws passed for the
protection of the rights of American
citizens, be abandoned. and that men
who, though calling themselves Republi-
cans, are of no fixed or we'll. defined 90.
litical sentiments; men who are all
things to all men and nothing to any
and who are totally without following
and represent nobody but themselves, be
no longer set over US as representatives
of the Federal Government. Such ap-
pointments, sir, instead of strengthening
the Republican party, have been posi-
tive source Of weakness.
The address closes with the expression
of the hope and belief that the rights
and interests of the coiored peopla will
not be forgotten by the President elect in
the hour Of his triumph.
A Wise Answer and Wholesome Advice,
Which Will Not be Needed.
The following is the sensible and sig
niHcaut reply made by Gen: Garfield On
Friday last to the hypocritical jeremiad
of R. B. Elliott, the spokesman Of the
gang of colored politicians WHO called
on the President-elect at his homo iu
Ohio:
Gen. Elliott and Gentlemen: I thank
you for your congratulations for the Sue
cessful termination of the great cam.
paigu that recently closed, and especially
for your kind allusion to me personally
for the part I bore in that campaign.
What have done, what I have said con-
cerning your race and the great problem
that your presence on this continent has
raised, I have said as a matter of pro.
found conviction, and hold to with all
the meaning of the words employed in
expressing it. What you have said in
regard to the situation of your people,
the troubles that they encountered, the
events from Which they have suffered
and still suffer, I listened to with deep
and I shall give it full meas
ure of reflection. This is not the time
nor the place for me to indicate anything
as to what I shall have to say and do by
and by in an official way, but this may
say: noted as peculiarly significant one
,ontanca in the rnmarks of Gen. Elliott.