Birmingham state herald., 1895-10-27
TWO NEGRO SPEAKERS Ably Defend Their Race in the
 Convention. ATTENTIVELY LISTENED TO They Resent the Term of "Ngger" Being FIppantIy Applied to Them by
 White Members.

&pluIlDld, Q. 0.t OCl- wv AAN
 groes who presented the cause of their
 race today were both members of the constitutional convention of 1868, which adopted the present constitution. Whip per argued that there was never 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 advantage of his weakness, got his votes and all the offices and did all the stealing. His speech was powerful one In the 'urse of his argument he said:
 Now to the bill before us, which l am compelled to characterize as snare, subterfuge, delusion. The only thing in connection with it is the fact that Its authors declared six months or more pe- fore the calling of this convention that 1t was necessary to disfranchise the ne gro without disfranchising single Wnlte man. Why should the negro be thus out ragged, wronged, robbed, defrauded or | his franchisee Do not the white people, north and south, owe him debt Of last ing gratitude?
 Now, should the negro be disfran- chised? If so, it ought to be done in an open, frank manner, and not by the sub l terfuge in this article. When suffrage was conferred on the negro he was not | fit to exercise it; but there were many | white men in the same condition It was l mistake. The negroes were led away | by the superior race. l have been nefe thirty-one days, and have heard them | try to prove that you were the superior l race. We admit that We were just out of the bondageS of slavery ana lgno- | rance, You have had culture. You nave | had schools and colleges all open to you. l The doors of these have been closed To | us. We concede 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 It. For z5o years all efforts were directed to train | ing the negros muscles The white man | was equally unfit One class had been | ignorant; the other should be taught to | believe the negro the basis Of property. | The negro was at the bottom or 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 quanhed 10 take the ballot then offered to them. q am not here as a suppliant, nor do put myself and my race in the attitude of beggars. I am here as man and representative, not representing simply the negro, but representing the people The fact that am a negro has nothing to do with my status here, and just here will digress to speak of the hippant way the term 'nigger' has been used in this convention. I am a negro. There are six others here that are negroes. We are proud of it and we hope 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 assemble here with these grave duties and responsibilities resting upon them, can so f1ippantly use the word 'niggers, spelt with two 'g's, 1t is hurtful and I feel 1t keenly. It stingS sharper than serpent'S tooth when it comes from the venerable gen. tleman from Edgeville, MT. G. M.. Till man, whom have learned to respect. We have only six of us here of the inferior race and you have 104. Men upon this floor who are clamoring for white su- premacy come here and assume duty and call us niggers' with the fiippdncy of barroom attendants.
 This trouble is negro rule and white supremacy Was there ever any such thing as negro rule in South Carolina? It was the rule of white men supported by the negroes. Are there not more ne groes than white men on your farms Yet, don't your wife rule? In the conven- tion of 1868 there were less than dozen negroes and less than @ dozen white men engaged in the work done there. I am proud of the work done in that con- vention The way 1t has stood the test has shown that there was nothing dan gerous in it. They had simply taken the best part of the other constitutions. Some men were there to vote as they were
 told. This convention, it is said, is to prevent negro rule and establish white supremacy. Again, as a matter of fact, there never was any negro rule in South
 Carolina. When was there ever a time
 when we had negro governor? We nev- CT had a majority of negro officers at any time in this state. Indeed, there were only four colored officers, and that only for a single term each. There never was county in this state controlled by col
 ored officers. In fact, all of the impor-
 tant officers clerks of the court, sheriff. treasurer, auditor. throughout the whole state, with less than half dozen excep- tions have been filled by white men.
 Does this look like negro rule? Even in the darkest hours of reconstruction, when
 the bad legislation led to the fall of the
 republican party, white men held the of- fees; white men did the robberieS; many
 of them democrats of the deepest dye,
 who reaped the rewards for their pur-
 chase Of negroes. There never was a
 negro lobbyist parading the corridors of
 this house. They were white men. Call
 them carpet baggers, sca1awags, rene
 gades, what you will they were white
 men and are responsible for the bad leg
 iSlat1on. Charge not this up to the ac-
 count of the negro. When you rested in
 apparent security, owing the negro him
 self there was an influence al work em-
 anating from the throne itself-a situa-
 tion was brought about that compelled
 you to do him justice. He was then a
 slave; you meet him now as a man, and
 you would strip him of his manhood. I
 appeal to you to stay that hand and
 avoid the consequences. which will be in
 evitable- The consequences will come
 The negro is here and here to stay for
 ever. The negro babies born every day
 could not be carried off in all the ships
 that you could bring to our shores.
 his speech, said:
 MT. President this convention has been
 called for no other purpose than the dis
 franchisement of the negro Be careful
 and bear in mind that the elections. which
 are to take place early next month in