The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-10-30
The Negroes Side.

Beaufort, took the floor in behalf of his
race and spoke for two hours and half,
dealing with the entire situation in per-
baps even more forcible manner than did
Miller last night. He was particularly
severe on the proposed plan. lie was
listened to with marked attention. He
recounted many things bearing on the
dark days of the reconstruction period.
Bob Smalls then took the floor and
spoke fos an hour, raking the scheme fore
and aft.
Then Senator Tillman had the further
consideration Of the matter postponed
until 7.3O o'clock Monday evening.
Senator Irby proposes to recommI to
the committee to have the article con-
strued as to its constitutionality.
The two negroes who presented the
cause of their race today we're both MEM
bers Of the Constitutional Convention OF
1868 which adopted the present Constitu-
ton. Whipper argued that there never
was such thing as negro rule in South
Carolina. He maintained that when the
negro was given the ballot he was unfit
to receive it; that white men took advan-
tage Of his weakness, got his votes and
ali the offices and did all the stealing. His
speech was powerful one. In the course
of his argument he said:
ssNow to the bill before US, which am
compelled to characterize as snare, q
subterfuge, 8 delusion. The only thing
in connection with 1t is the fact that
its authors declared six months or more
before the calling of this Convention
that It was necessary in order to disfran-
chise the negro without disfranchising g
single white man. Why should the negro
be thus outraged, wronged, robbed, de-
frauded of his franchise? Do not the white
people, North and South, owe him debt
Of lasting gratitude3
"Now, should the negro be disfran-
chised7 Ifso it ought to be done In an
open, frank manner and not by su bterfuge
in this article. When suffrage was con-
ferred on the negro he was not ht to ex-
ercise it. But there were many white
men in the same condition. 1t was
mistake. The negroes were led away by
the superior race. have been here
thirty-one days and have heard them try
to prove that you were the superior race.
We admit that. We were just out Of the
bondages of slavery and ignorance. You
have had culture. You have had schools
and colleges-all open to you. The doors
of these have been closed to US. We con-
cede your superiority, but it is little to
boast Of. Wait thirty years and see how
the negro advances. We concede that
the negro was unprepared for the ballot
when he got 1t. For 235 years all efforts
were directed to training the negro's
muscles. The white man was equally
unfit. One class had been ignorant. The
other had been taught to believe the negro
was the basis Of property. The negro
was at the bottom Of the bloody war.
Their bitterness make them unfit for
doing justice to the negro. You will find
all this here in the black code passed by
the whites in 1868. Time has proven that
they were not qualified to take the ballot
when offered to them.
ST am not here as supplicant, nor do
put myself and my race in the attitude
of beggar. I am here as man and
representative, not representing simply
the negro, but representing the people.
The fact that I am negro has nothing to
do with my status here, and just here l
will digress to speak Of the fippant way
the term 'nigger' has been used in this
Convention. am q negro. There are
six others here that are negroes. We are
proud of it, and we hope to be able to do
something, In and out Of this Convention,
that the negroes will be proud Of and
white men compelled to recognize. But
when men selected from their various
counties, as it is fair to suppose, with
view to their intelligence and their good
standing at their various homes, assem-
BILE here with these grave duties and res
possibilities resting upon them can 30
flippantly use the word 'nigger.' spelt
with two 'gs,' 1t is hurtful, and feel it
keenly. It stings sharper than SER
pent's tooth when it comes from tho VEN
erable gentleman from Edgefeld, Mr.. e..
D, Tillman, whom I had learned to res-
pect. We have only six Of us here of the
inferior race and you lave 1O4. Men
upon this floor are clamoring for white
supremacy; come here and assume dig
nifty and call us 'niggers' with the flip
pancy of barroom attendants. This trou-
bic is negro rule and white supremacy
Was there ever any such thing as negro
rule in South Carolina? It was the rule
ofwhite men, supported by the negroes.
Amt there more negroes than white
men on your farms Yet, don't your
wife rule? In the Convention Of 1868,
there were less than dozen negroes and
less than dozen white men engaged in
tine work done there. I am proud of the
work done in that Convention. The way
it has stood the test has shown that there
was nothing dangerous In it. They had
simply taken the best parts of other Con-
stitutions. Most of the men were there
to vote as they were told.
The consequence will come. The negro
is here and here to stay forever. The
negro babies born every day could not
be carried off in all the ships you could
bring to our shores.
General Robert Smalls, the negro ex-
Congressman from Beaufort, among
other things in his speech said:
"Mr. President-This Convention has
been called for no other purpose than the
disfranchisement of the negro. Be care
full, and bear in mind that the elections
which are to take place early next month
in very many of the States are watching
the action Of this Convention, especially
on the suffrage question. Remember
that the negro was not brought here Of
his own accord. found by reference to
history in the congressional library In
Washington, written by Neil, that he
says that in 1919 in the month OF June q
Dutch man.of- war landed at jamestown,
Va, with fifteen sons Of Africa aboard.
At the time Miles Kendall was deputy
Governor of Virginia. He refused to
allow the vessel to be anchored in any of
her harbors. But he found out after his
order had been sent out that the vessel
was without provisions and the crew was
in q starving condition. He counter
manded his order and supplied the vessel
with the needed provisions in exchange
for fourteen negroes. It was then that
the seed of slavery was planted In the
land,-SpeciaL to atlanta Constitution.