Year: 1874

them from honestly accepting and abiding


by the results Of the war. We have here.


tofore demonstrated this fact 50 plainly as to


defy contradiction. We have shown that


in great measure the petitioners are them


selves responsible for the condition OF affairs


ofwhich they complain. and that this respon-
sibility arises from their voluntary neglect
or refusal to aid honest men in repeated ef-
forts to reform the dominant party In
the State government. We have also
shown that In some mysteriously sus-
picious way three millions of dollars.
assets Of the State bank, have been spirited
away by persons Of the same political
faith as Mr.. Kendall and the petitioners.
In the olden times-before the war-what
was known in Charleston and throughout
the State as the "Broad street clique''-a
body Of men composed of wealthy and In
fiuential clrzens-were accustomed to meet
when occasion required and arrange politi-
cal programmes for the management of the
affairs of the Commonwealth to suit them
selves. They were sristocrats of the first
degree, maintained In the enjoyment of
stolen luxury by tie labor of slaves and
sales Of cotton, turpentine and swamp-seed.
They controlled the affairs of the State with
the iron hand of arrogant and selfish greed;
but when the war closed, and new ele-
ment was forced into the voting population,
they lost their grip. Their power was torn
from them, to be placed in the hands of the
people themselves. Unfortunately for the
State, however, some of the members of the
clique. through technicality of law or by
some other means, retained control of the
assets of the bank. When the Republicans
came into power in the administration
of the State those assets amounted TO the
sum above mentioned. Through the manip
ulations of the Broad-street clique they
have been reduced and squandered, by
loans on insufficient security to personal
and political friends, TO the sum of $500, 900.
Yet the petitioners would have us believe
that the poor. ignorant negroes. whom they
have driven from them, and whom they
have refused to instruct in the rights and
responsibilities of citizenship, are alone
guilty Of the corrupt practices which have
done so much to disgrace the name of the
State of South Carolina.


But there is another view of the case
which suggests the necessity that they
should be saved from themselves. When
the convention from which they are dele
gates was in session, they either overlooked
the possibility that their proceedings would
be made public, or recklessly loosened the
brides Of their tongues to give expression
to their malicious hatred and reasonable
dislike Of the General Government, the ma
tional administration and the dominant
party in Congress. The speeches made by
the leading spirits of that convention were
replete. with illustrations of this hatred and
dislike. They were filed with falsehoods
regarding the character of leading Republi-
can officials, including President Grant and
General Butler. They accused the former
of having prostituted his high office for
purposes Of mercenary gain, and the latter
of every imaginable crime against public
peace and morals. Not satisfied with this,
they charged that the Republican party,
both North and South, is body of thieves,
scoundrels and tyrants. Yet they have the
unblushing efrontery to come to Washing
ton, their lips still warm with the utter
ances of these calumnies, to petition Re-
publican Congress for an investigation
which could only result in public expo
sure of their own infamy.