Year: 1876

Inc PRESIDENTS proclamation.


A DOCUMENT BASED ON FALsEHooD-


STATUS OF THE RIFLE CLUBS.


address of the Democratic Elecutire


Committee of South Carolina.


His excellency the President of the
United States did, on the 18th day of this
month, issue a proclamation, whereby he
commanded all persons engagedin unlaw-
full and insurrectionary proceedings to
disperse and return peaceably to their re-
spectiye abodes within three days from
this date, and hereafter abandon said
combinations and submit themselves to
the laws and constituted authorities of
said state. This proclamation is based
upon the statements made by Daniel III,
Chamberlain, the governor of this state
which statements are aimed exclusively
against his political opponents and are
proven to be untrue by the testimony of
every judge in the state and every trial
Justice or other officer of the law from
whom response has been obtained; every
resident Of the state knows them to be
untrue; every republican of character or
Intelligence, or who is not in cffice or
seeking Office any many who are in office
in the state, have expressed horror and
disgust at the course which the governor
has pursued.


We say this much for our vindicaton
Never has people suffered more by dis
honor of office and dishonesty of officers;
never has such bold untruth been used
for the support of movement which
shakes the pillars upon which rests the
constitutional temple of mighty people.
Our state is but petty portion of the
union, but we call upon our sister states
of the North to remember that the ex-
pertinent now being made for the domi-
nation of our elections by the bayonet and
soldiers as the irresistible instrument of a
revolving despotism, if successful, will
become the precedent before which the
whole fabric of American liberty will
fall, and which will be applied to other
states just as soon as party exigencies re-
quire it. We make this declaration OF
our innocence, not in disrespect of the
President Of the United States, but as an
act of justice to ourselves as American
cord for an impartial trial before the
great national tribunal. We bow in per-
feet submission to the proclamation of
his excellency the President, and exhoIt
our fellow-citizens, whom we represent


in the present canvass, to yield full and
entire obedience to every command in the
said proclamation.
We know that the clubs called rife
clubs are associations formed for home
protection; that they are not combinations
as charged by the governor Of this State;
that there are but few that have arms or


ammunition; that those which have been
equipped were so done with the sanction


and sometimes with the aid ofthe govern
or and have been recognized by him as
useful and appropriate bodies, and moi
one of them has been accused of disorder
We know that their necessity was occasion
ed by the reckless distribution of arms
and ammunition among the colored people
by the state officials, and we furthC.


know that our white citizens were, on the


10Th day of this month, massacred at a
peaceful political assemblage, when by
agreement with G. G. Bowen, republican


chairman of Charleston county, and sher-
iff of said county, and first presidential
elector for the state at large on the rapub-
lican ticket, who was present, they went
without arms to meet the colored race


the voters of the so-called Republican par
ty in this state, who were likewise, by
Mr.. Bowen's agreement, boundto be with
out arms; and we know that the politici-
ans, who are the authors of all our evils,
are teaching among the colored race the
use of the rifle and the torch. We know
that our homes are in peril, and that ou1
women and children are exposed to the
horrors of ruthless butchery and barbar.
ity, but nevertheless we advise and com.
mand, so far as our authority goes, that
every such rifle club against which the
Misrepresentation of the government oi
the state are aimed to be fol oiShwithdisban-
ded, and that the members thereofbe held
in future only by those ties of humanity
which bind all good men together; that
the name of the club be abandoned, and
the officers cease to exercise their powers.
This is said with the express declaration
that these clubs are not associated with OF
subject to our political control. We re-
peat that we speak without disrespect to
the President of the United States. He
acts upon the statements made by the


governor of this state, but we say it thai
we may show our willingness to obey
without committing an untruth against


ourselves by seeming to acknowledgment
Of which we are not guilty. We are nc,
engaged in unlawful and insurrectiona-
proceedings; we cannot disperse because


we are not gathered together; we canno


retire peaceably to our abodes because We


are in our homes in peace, disturbed alone


by the political agitatlons created by thu
governor and his minions. But we re
signedly and cheerfully, in the perform
ance of our duty, suspend the exercise o
our individual and private rights to pre-
vent evil to the whole people, relying up


on the universal sense ofright and appeal


ing to the Almighty to sustain us.


We exhort our people to the continu


apce of submission to the authorities Q


the government, feeling assured that tim


and patience will work our deliverance


Remember that the campaign is now


short one, and all signs hopeful that th'


7th day of November next will witnes
Al q. Ia