Year: 1867

/ But the fact is patent TO all, that the
| negro is utterly untitled to exercise the
| highest functions Of the citizen. The
| government OF the country should not be
| permitted to pass from the hands Of the
I white man into the hands OF the negro.
! The enforcement OF the reconstruction
acts by military power under the guise
Of negro voters aud negro conventions,
cannot lawfully re establish civil govern
ment in South Carolina. 1t may for
| time hold US in subsection to a quasi civil


government, backed by military force,


but it can do no more. AS citizens of the
United States we should not consent TO
live under negro supremacy, nor should


We Gcquiesce in negro equality. Not for
ourselves only, but on behalf Of the
Anglo Saxon race and blood in this
country, do we protest against this sub
version Of the great social law, whereby
an ignorant and depraved race Is placed


in power and influence above the virtuOus,


the educated, and the refined. By these


acts Of Congress intelligence and virtue


are put under foot, while ignorance and


vice are lifted int power.


In South Carolina the negro ma
jOrity, under the reconstruction acts, is
much more than two to one. In most of
the other Southern States the negro ma


j0rities, il not so great, are almost as de-
cided. Ia those States where the white


vote is in the ascendant the election dis
triCts have been so arranged as to take


the political power from the white vote


and cast it in favor of the negro vote.
What, then, is the inevitable result 1t
invests the negro with absolute political


power in each OF the ten Southern States,
and at the same time invests him with


the balance Of power in the United


States. Nor is this all-the recOnstruc-
tiOu scheme closes the ballot-bOx against


the best informed and educated classes
in the community, and opens it to the


negro, of whom not more than one in a


hundred can read q word, and not more


than one in five hundred can write his


name; and nllltittfdes Of JUhOHl are so
profoundly ignorant as to be unable to
remember the name 5y IUbich they hare


been registered. Verify, this seems TO


be converting a popular Government, Of
which we have been justly proud,
into a popular farce and we should
be content to so consider it, if
Il did not involve the issue Of
life and death to the form
Of government established by our fathers
for the benefit of themselves and their
posterity. If the object Of the trainers Of
the reconstruction acts was to degrade
the Southern people, it is time for them
to consider whether the degradation may


not be brought to their own doors
whether the poisoned cup may not be


returned to their own lips. But 1t may
be asked, why DO not the Southern
people accept the situation and control


the negro element? This question is


much more easily asked than answered.
In the first place, it may he said that the
influence Of the cOrrIpt and intriguing
demagogue, who will appeal to the pas
sion snd prejudices, has always been
found to be more powerful with excited


and ignorant mobs than the wisest cCun-


sells OF the best friends Besides, the


foundation stone upon which Republican


government rests is that the elective
franchise Is TO be exercised by free, in


telligent, and unbiased judgment; and


whenever it is admitted that the fran


chise Is to be controlled, or, in other


words, 10 be made the subject of undue
influences and Of bribes, then, too, it


must be admitted that Republican gov


erument is at an end, and must, sooner


or later, give wav to such other govern


ment as may be forced upon depraved


and already corrupted people. But If It's


proposed IN advance TO place the enfrRn-


chised negro under control, why


confer the franchise at all ? Surely


the part Of wise government is 20


prevent the evil, and not open the


door to the mischief which others are


admOnished they must be prepared, by


trick or management to avert. But
why pass the subject further? 1t is


enough for US to know that this wild and


reckless experiment comes home to the


hearth-stOne Of every citizen, and in


wolves family and property, society,


liberty, and even life itself Nor is this


all. The courts of justice are dragged


into the mire from their high position;


our most intelligent white citizens are


excluded from the jury, while the ignO


rant negro is elevated To that responsible
position; the jury lists are made up from


the lists Of registered voters, which, as


we have said, are more than two to one


in favor Of the negro. Not only, be 1t


remembered, is the negro admitted TO the


Jury box, but the white man is excluded


therefrom. Think you that when the
great masters Of the common law Of
England pronounced their encomium
upon the trial by jury, that they con-
templated for q moment such an instru-
ment as Rn ignorant negro panel?
Think you, that when the trainers OF
the Constitution Of the United States in-
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vision that the trial by jury shonld |
always be held inviolste, that they in /
tended to engraft upon it such an enOr- |
nifty as negro juTymen, fresh from the /
cotton and rice fields Of the South2 /
Think YOU that when John Rutledge /
and his illustriOus cOmpeers signed that
instrument on the part of South Caro- /
lima, that they intended to forge a
chain which, in 3 period no longer /
than an ordinary lifetime, would drag /
their grandchildren, (who were then |
playing around their knees, and some of
whom are now living, for trial before a
jury Of their own slaves? Talk Of sddi- |
tiOnsl humiliation, talk Of cOnfiscatoD, /
complain OF clemencytO rebels after this


God forbid The Government OF the /
United States has enforced against the |
Southern people the most stupendOus /
acts Of confiscatiOn that has ever been I
enforced in the history of nations; their |
property in slaves has been contiscated !
to the amount of three thousand million |
Of dollars; other personal property in the |
shape of cotton, provisions, stock, plate !
and money, has been captured or de-
stroyed, to the value of one thousand /
millions Of dollars; and from these !
causes their land has deteriorated to the |
extent of one thousand millions Of dol !
lars, making in the aggregate the enor-
nous sum Of five thousand millions OF
dollars. These overwhelming pecuniary
losses fall exclusively upon the Southern
people. The political evils COM
planned of will, of course, fall chiefly
upon the people Of the South, but not ex-
elusively upon them. Fasten negro su-
premacy upon the South, and it must be
felt through all her relations with the


~ aenN s..n.Nf
or social. Should Northern man-snd
how often must such necessarily be the
case-be brought TO trial in the State or


Federal Courts at the South, his life or
liberty must be passed upon by ignorant


negro jurors. Should the most difficult
and complicated questions Of property
arise in Southern cOurts-and how often


must such be the case arising from in-
termarriage, inheritance, or trade-the
case Of the Northern man must be de-
cided by the same ignorant tribunal.
Nor is this yet all. The highest prerog-
ative Of government is the taxing power,


and the efforts of the wisest statesmen
have been expended to guard this great
power against abuse. No powerihss been
more jeslously watched than this. No


power has given rise to go much strife and
blOodshed in the history of the world.
The contest between the mother cOun-
trv and the colonies originated ia her
assumption OF the right 70 tax without


representation. By the reconstruction
acts Of Congress the taxing power is
placed In the hands Of those who own no
property, and is taken away from those


who hold the property and must pay the
taxes. The war that has always existed


between capital and labor is decided in
| favor Of the latter, and the wealth of the


country is prostrated at the feet Of those
/ who have nothing at stake but their


daily wages and their daily bread.
How will this power be exercised? I? Can
/ it be supposed for a moment that it will
be exercised in any other way than TO
/ Impose such burdens upon the tax
payers ss will amount in the end to prac-
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