Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-09-21

SoS.
which our oppressors had entrenched them
selves, drove out the unclean creatures that
had polluted our high places, and having
cleansed and purified them, turned them over
to those who were worthy to fill them. The
campaign of 1876 was thoroughly aggressive.
Since then we have held possession of the State,
and have had to stand upon the defensive.
We have been called upon not to wrest the
government from the hands Of enemies, but to
maintain and vindicate the government which
we established through the political revolu-
ti0n of 1876. Such defensive canvass, though
quite important, is far less exciting and inter-
esting than the aggressive campaign of 1876.
We have now to appeal, not to feeling, but to
reason and judgment. The political problem
forced upon us in 1863 remains still to be solv-
ed.
How shall we maintain honest and good
government based upon universal suffrage
where the majority of the voters are not fitted
for the honest and intelligent exercise of the
franchise? ? Now while is true-and we can
not shrink from asserting it-that in South
Carolina the majority of those who have been
invested with the franchise are not qualified
for its proper exercise, it is not less true that
the minority of our citizens possess the char
acter, virtue, intelligence and property, which
not only fit them to exercise the franchise,
but entitle them to control and govern the
State. We have this claim of the right, un-
der the condition in which we are, of the
minority to govern, upon the principle that
virtue, intelligence and property have, in some
way or other, always governed, will always
govern and should always govern. If the
government of South Carolina is based upon
the assertion of white supremacy, it is because,
as a class, the whites possess the qualifications
which alone Are entitled to supremacy, and
the possession of which will, unless kept down
by extraneous contending physical force, al
ways maintain supremacy.
recognize, then, our paramount obligation
to maintain in South Carolina government
in which those who possess virtue, intelligence
and property shall control, and yet the govern
ment be 80 administered as that all shall re-
ceye the protection afforded by the honest
and impartial administration of just laws, and
avoWing our determination to fulfill this Obli-
cation by maintaining such government, it
is incumbent upon us so to do it as to secure the
confidence and good will of all within the
State and the respect of those outside whose
good opinion we value. But this problem, in
the speedy solution Of which we have the most
pressing interest, we must solve for ourselves.
Let it be remembered that our difficulties
are due to the debasement of the franchise,
which was placed upon us by external force,
and that the franchise given to the negroes
was intended not so much as a benefit to them
as a punishment to the whites, and to main-
tain the rule of the Republican party. The
real spirit which actuated the abettors was not
love for the negroes but hatred of the white
masters. A solution of these difficulties,
which shall be permanent, we must, for our
own well-being, find. But repeat, we must
work it out for ourselves. Attempts to con-
troll us from without will, in the future, rs in
the past, be productive only of mischief. I'm
just judgments and hostile criticisms will only
rritate, and will retard peaceful solution,
which we, if let alone, must and will find.
Perhaps 1 have dwelt too long upon what
may be regarded by many as abstract political
theories but have thought it right, as can
ddate for election by the people, tostate frank
ly what believe to be the true issues which
we have to meet.
The voters of South Carolina have now to
elect those who are to administer the eXecu-
tive and legislative departments Of the gov
ernmeMt for the next two years. The first OBJ
ject to be secured is government which will
not only deserve but secure the confidence OF
the people. The first and most obvious means
to secure this object is to propose to the voters
candidates whom they know and in whom they
can confide men whose careers, private and
public, are familiar, and whose conduct in the
past is the best guarantee OF what 1T will be IN
the future. "PrncipleS-not men" IS an old
party cry. Principles without men are dead.
The Democratic party asks the votes of the
citizens of South Carolina for Governor for
one who is known throughout the State, by
what he has done for the whole people OF the
State. Having been found faithful in such
things as have been committed to him, we
propose that he shall ''be maderuler over many
things.n To the Superintendent of Educa-
ton of South Carolina the people say, ''Friend,
20 up higher" 1t is said that good face is
a letter of recommendation. You know what
our friend has done for you, in the last six
years, in the office of Superintendent of Edu-
cation. Look at him and say whether you will
trust him to do for you what he promises to do
if you elect him to the Office for which he has been
nominated by the Convention OF the State.
When the election is over, we will say to all,
within and without the State, the administra-
ton of which HughS Thompson, Superinten-
dent of Education of South Carolina, from
1876 to 1882, is the head bespeaks your entire
confidence, and by it's acts will justify that
confidence.
What the candidates nominated by the
Democratic party have to say to the the voters
of South Carolina is embodied in the platform
and declaration of principles put forth by the
Convention, and the Address of the Execu-
tive Committee. The speaker then discussed
the merits of the platform, which he contend
ed was comprehensive, and broad enough for
every good citizen of the State. He then con-
tinued To secure peaceable, well ordered and
society, as well as good and stable
government, it is necessary that the relations
between the two races, whose destlnles are
identically bound together within our State,
shall be those of general good will. we also
claim the right, by reason of superior virtue,
and property, to control the gov
ernment of the State; but we must satisfy
our colored fellow citizens not only OF our
ability to control the government which we
have redeemed, and our determination to 90
so. but we must also convince them that they
too are to be benefited by our control 10
do this, we must win their confidence, which
we can do not by mere words and empty prom
ises, but by deeds-nOt by professions, but
by acts.
We should make them realize that while we
will not stoop to latter them by false preten-
sions of equality we will not degrade our
selves by deluding and deceiving them. We
must satisfy them from experience that from
the government for which we are responsible,
they will always be sure Of justice {; that the
law. as administered in the courts of South
Carolina, is no respecter OF persons. They
must experience the advantage of living under
a government which raises by taxation no
more than is necessary for the honest dis
charge of all obligations, and the economic
and efficient administration of it's several de-
partments where taxes are levied equally up
on all, and collected impartially from all.
Above all, not only must the colored people
not only be provided with the means of educa-