The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-12-12
REp[IRT.TCAIS
PROTEST.
WHAT TIRE STATE CUNai!TTE
SAYS OF TIE CoNEENi!nS.
/. VIII Be Resisted by "-sli Legitimate
aIeeEs;>-An Address 70 lie Pee.
ple Of the S:;.tc--&onio zscs-
o!ntio:is Adopted.

Ata meeting Of the Republican ez'
ecut;7e committee, held II CoiH1tia
on the Pad inst, the following address
and resolutions wcre adopted and or
dcred published. at the discretion o:
he chairman, Cops. L. D. Melton:
TO tire Peor!E Of South Carolina:
It has been we'll sad Ihat 70 oass'
ton can be regarded as definitely set
tied until i has been settled Alright,
thas is, On the basis 81 right ard JUS
3ice. # this saying is trre, certainly
the sufSrag s. Questioi. cacrot be regard
ed as definitely settled by the recent
enactment OF cnr 5o-ca!ied Co2st.tG-
tional convention, FOR 40 tair-mlAdet'
man can pretend tia: this enact!nen
is based either OF right OF justice. On
the contrary, It IS the very essence oi
Injustice a2d wrong. being nothing
less than an attempt to pe7peta2Ie
cheating and fraud IN elections by en-
acting it into the fundamental! law o.
the State, as vas fully admitted II
the discussion By its author and chlel
advocate, 3. r. I:!lman. Tals, IL
deed, was the openly avowed purpose
Coz calling the convention, and tbG'
purpose, i can hardly be denied, has
been faithfully carried cut, and that
too in cle4r and paip23:e violation o.
+hs Constitution arG lsvs Of the Unit
Ell States.
n announcing our purpose IS Re
puoi;cacs TO resist the enforcement OF
this nefarions enactment in every pro
per and legitimate way, b:!ei retro.
spect Of our 7e.y anomalous polt,csi
situation here in South Carolina may
rot be aniss.
= little ovec year ego ferce and
bitter contest MAS forced upon the 2eo-
pie Of the Stale by the dominant TIL
nan faction. That contest was not
simply for governor and other -Szale
officers and q Legislature fcI another
\ tern: bat what was Of vastly more in
bectance, 1t vas ts. decide as to the call
ola Constitutional convention. Again: t
such contention were, OF course, FL
Republicans, chiefly lesroes, the. very
purpose Of is cali being their perma-
oe2t d;sfranehiseme2t. Besides these
cesrly a!t the :ECorse-vative-Demo.
Gratis -cal!ed-anti = Large portion
OF the ::Refo-mers, or ;;Ailmsaites, "
even were opposed to i as inorGor-
tune, necessary and dangerous IN
Ger the circumstances. But the he
publicans Lad, We may say, no organ
;zation u all, and vast majority or
them were already disfranchised by
existing registration and election laws.
Nor were the Conservatives at all Or
garize2 for action, or united as to the
proper course to pursue, though, as
the result proved, they had g large
majority Of the white vote, as well as
tas negroes, On their side. The TIL
nantes, on the contrary, followed
bifndly the dictates Of 9 bold and de-
termired leadvr, Lad possession of the
entire machinery OF elections, anG had
90 scruples whatever about using 1t foc
the accomplishment Of their purposes
for ''connting il friends and
counting ont'' opponents Bat, not
withst&nding al these advantages, they
were a5le TO count for the head Of
their ticket for governor cnly 59,5O7
votes out Of white voting population
Of over 1O2, 900, and an entire voting
population, Including negroes, Of over
$4,000 That is to say, the head Of
their ticket, on their own count, re-
ceived less than tvo-Gftas OF the white
vote Of the State. and only about one
sixth Of the entire vote. The vote il
favor oE calling the convention was
still less By several thousands, being
only 81, ,402. BIT, Of course, Evans
was ':counted IN as governor, and the
convention vas s'counted in IS car
ried. And this is the :'majoritC rule
OF which the Tilimanites never tire Of
prsting.
As stated above, the Republicans had
20 organization worthy o. the name.
The mere shadow cE such an organize
ton had long since fallen into "inno-
cuous desuetude," aad vas nsver heard
Of except Just prior 10 Presidential
nominations, when it would venture to
make feeble display With view to
controlling Federal patronage n case
Of 3 national Republican adna;nistra-
3 ton. But it never had word Of pro-
3 test against the grossest oUtraees on
the rights o. Ec3ab!ican citizenship
pe1petrated By the Democratic State
governments. Hence, i was tbat our
notorious and sca1dulous!y fraudulent
registration and election laws have not
been long since tested Il and set aside
by the Federal courts. Such being
orr disorganized situation, We coald
not, OF course, 30 anything as party
to hinder the elimination Of the TIL
mantle plans atthe electionsa year ego.
Some of rs did what We could through
the press and on the stump as iadivid-
rsls to encourage TIE Conservatives,
or a2ti-Tillmsn Democrats, to organ
ize end make the fight, especially
seainst tie convention, pieIoin them,
as far as we could, Republican support
But after snndry efforts tha.r failed to
combine, and thus LETT the Iili,naIites
clear road to complete success. ex-
cept IN very few counties. Iheresnlt
Of the election rs given above shows
how easily the Conservatives could
have whipped Ont notooIy the co1veu-
ton, but also the entire Iillman State
ticket, had they Only organized and
made determined fight. Some Of the
Republicans seeing tie absolute neces-
s;ty OF live ard energetic organiza-
ticn of their party issued coiI soon