The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-08-04
MR.. TlLLMAN'S REALIZATION.
From the chicago Inter ocean.l

Mr.. Tillman was indignant the other
Ray, when he was thrown out of his
position as a Representative OF South
Carolina and the negro Robert Smalls
seated i'll his place. The aristOcratic
Caucasian blood of the old gentleman
fairly boiled. He perhaps realized for
the first time the full force of the great
reform movement that eliminated with
the surrender at Appomattox. 1t is
surprising how men can live through
events, read their recital, and even take
part in them, without realizing the
effect or importance until it is brought
home to them in some vital personal
way: then it comes with concentrated
force. So it seems to have been with
Mr.. TilIman, and Wednesday was the
elimination of his realization. It had
evidently been working slowly through
his mind ever since the contest for his
seat began. but there was no full reali-
cation until the final day.
It is not very strange that the realiza-
ton should come so slowly. tits true
that he knew he and his friends sought
to establish the Southern Confederacy,
with slavery as its cornerstone, and that
after the wasting of much blood and
treasure they disastrously failed. 1t is
true that he knew that by the proclama-
ton of Abraham Lincoln every slave
had b en- guaranteed in the constitution
not only his freedom, but all the politi-
cal and personal rights enjoyed. by his
white fellow citizens. All these things
Mr.. Tillman knew-knew them as q
school-boy knows his lesson, without
even dreaming of making any practical
application of them, to his own life and
actions. He comes from the State of
South Carolina and when was there a
time among the blue bloods of that State
that it was not greater to be South
Carolinian than to be an American? He
knew those things, but he knew also
that In his darling South Carolina they
had been ignored and UNDECIDED. Heknew
that though he was not held responsible
for the board and care of the negroes,
he had their mental services at less
cost, and under local laws and customs
controlled them almost as absolutely.
He knew that they were permitted to
vote when their white brethren with red
shirts so desired it. He knew, too, that
only 30 many of their votes were counted
rs were necessary to make an outside
show for the benefit of their Northern
brethren. He knew that, so far as
South Carolina was concerned, it was
as absolutely under the control of its
white citizens as in the days before the
war; The idea that Congress of white
men would give niger " the seat he
claimed, even though his entire claim
was founded on fraud, did not seem to
have had Judgment in his mind. II was
not according to South Carolina Gus
toms.
Fortunately ell Congressman do not
go from South Carolina constituencies,
but the majority from political fields
where fraud is held in aborrence, where
the right to vote is held sacred. and
where the right to vote carries with it
the right to have that vote counted.
When Mr.. Tillman's claims were ex-
amined by such men they failed to stand
the test, and Robert Smalls was seated
in his place. Then it was that Mr..
Tillnan's tongue was lOosed and his
mouth opened" and out of "the bitter
ness of his heart his words came.
There were some things In his words
which indicated that at last he realized
and accepted the "results OF the war"
He denounced the Democrats, who had
given him only a lukewarm support, and,
turning to the Republicans, said he
should return to Congress, and that he
would be sent back by negro votes. In
giving utterance to these words, Mr..
Tillman came over to the Republican
side of his case. It was because he and
his friends ostracised the negro voters OF
his district, because they were driven
away from the polls, e their votes
thrown out and uncounted, that Mr..
Tillman was thrown ont. If, however,
he has made up his mind that the negro
has right to vote and to have his
vote counted, and that as q can
didate he will try to secure that vote,
Mr.. Tillman has made long step toward
the settlement of what is talked of as
sectional differences. If by securing
the confidence of the colored people he
secures their votes, or sufficient num-
Der of them to make with other votes
an honest majority of the voters of his
district, then he will be welcomed to
Congress by the same people who now
hail with delight his return to South
Carolina. 1t is not the Tillmans of the
South that the fight is against, but their
methods. When these methods are
changed, when they so far forget the
days when they bought and sold men,
women and children, and lived lordly
and riotously on the blood-money, and
come to full realization that these men
are their fellow citizens, whose rights
and privileges are as precious as those
Of the Tillmans, and court him for his
influence, and because he is part OF the
body polite aud of common interest
with them, then the contest is ended.