The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-07-17

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to such government, and under it
our State will! continue to sink from
bad to worse, until it becomes such
hell that no one can live in it
Man naturally given to error, is
impelled to right action from only
two causes the hope of reward or
fear of punishment /; and the law ante
dating the Mosaic age, that he that
taketh mans life must forfeit his own
as penalty, has been abrogated,
and the rule is that white man
taking the life of coored man does
not pay the penalty with his own,
which has spread to others, and is
no longer confined to the oppressed
class.
Upon the slightest provocation
members of the privileged class,
without fear of punishment, murder
or play the part of prowling savages
or cannibals, and dignity it by call
ing it lynching, as the conscience
of the State has been SO scared that
it is regarded as virtue rather than
crime to lynch a fellow.being.
Murders and lyncbings are noxious
plants hourishing only under privi-
legged class government, and will
surely die when the sheriff and court
are made to depend for future favors
upon the suffrage of every man
We believe in universal suffrage,
because we believe in that right Of
all, which, under our form o. gov
ernment, cannot be secured without
making the political power Of each
man equal in the creation of the ad-
mlnistrators of the law
The most illiterate aud humblest
citizen, possessing nothing but his
life and muscles, has as much right
to the means of protecting his prop
erty, though invisible. as the nil
iionaire
When deprived of our ballot, our
influence with the administrators of
the law is gone and we are absolutely
without protection
While all members of the privi-
legged class do not take advantage Of
our helpless condition, many do, and
it is cruel and hope-destroying to
deprive us of the power to aid hu-
name and liberal men in the election
of such honest men as will. in the
dispensa:ion of justice, hold the
scales equally balanced, whether the
subject weighed is black or white.
The rule adopted by the Democratic
Executive Committee, debarring all
colored men, regardless of past po
litical affiliations, from participation
in the approaching primaries of said
party, and allowing all white men, re-
gardless of past political afiliation,
to participate in the same, with the
declared purpose Of counting in in
the general election the ones named
in the primaries, is violative Of every
principle of justice and honesty, re-
pugnant to the doctrines Of civilized
government, and a practical repudi.
alton of the Federal constitution
We view with alarm the action of
Conservatives, whom we are inclined
to regard as broad and liberal men,
when they, to our exclusion and in re-
pudiation of our rights, accept an
equal division with the administration
faction and submit that it is most un-
reasonable to expect our support
when failing to secure such conces
sions We submit that the only
honorable thing for them to do, if
they mean justice, is to make fair
fight from principle in every county
in the State for the rights of all, in
which they would get the support Of
every honest man in the State,
regardless of race or politics.
We further submit that we stand
ready to join with any number of the
liberal white men of the State, and to
aid them in making constitution
broad enough to cover the rights of
every man, however rich or poor,
and vii! only vote exclusively for
delegates Of our own race and party,
when such members fail or refuse to
CO operate
To the men of our race, we an
nounce that no legal constitution can
be made with our united opposition
We must organize to continue to
raise the means to prosecute the fight
now pending in the Federal courts
for the preservation Of constitutional
liberty to final termination. and to
make such showing in the approach
ing election as will enable us to move
Congress to action through petitions.
Before final determination Of the
litigation the proposed convention
,,,oy bo I,.>l.3oD III tho xCiCl< eH