defeat there was; but I, with all the lights before me, look upon it as an uprising of the people, the whole people to crush out corrupt rings and men from power. Mississippi is to-day as much republican as it ever was, and in November, 1876, we will roll up a rousing majority for the republican candidate for President. . The The great masses of the white people have abandoned their hostility to the General Government and republican principles, and to-day accept as a fact that all men are born free and equal, and I believe are ready to guarantee to my people every right and privilege guaranteed to an American citizen. bitterness and hate created by the late civil strife has, in my opinion, been obliterated in this State, except, perhaps, in some localities, and would have long since been entirely obliterated were it not for some unprincipled men who would keep alive the bitterness of the past and inculcate a hatred between the races, in order that they may aggrandize themselves by office and its emoluments to control my people, the effect of which is to degrade them. As an evidence that party-lines in this State. have been obliterated, men were supported without regard to their party affiliations, their birth, or their color by those who heretofore have acted with the democratic party, by this course giving an evidence of their sincerity that they have abandoned the political issues of the past, and were only desirous of inaugurating an honest State government and restoring a mutual confidence between the races. . . Had our State administration adhered to republican principles and stood by the platform upon which it was elected, the State to-day would have been on the highway of prosperity. Peace would have prevailed within her borders, and the republican party would have, embraced within its folds thousands of the best and purest citizens of which Mississippi can boast, and the election just passed would have been a republican victory of not less than eighty to a hundred thousand majority; but the dishonest course which has been pursued has forced into silence and retirement nearly all of the leading republicans who organized and have heretofore led the party to victory. A few who have been bold enough to stand by republican principles and condemn dishonesty, corruption and incompetency, have been supported and elected by overwhelming majorities. If the State administra tion had adhered to republican principles, advanced patriotic measures, appointed only honest and competent men to office, and sought to restore confidence between the races, blood-shed would have been unknown, peace would have prevailed, Federal interference been unthought of; harmony, friendship, and mutual confidence would have taken the place of the bayonet. In conclusion, let me say to you, and through you, to the great republican party of the North, that I deemed it my duty, in behalf of my people, that I present these facts in order that they and the white people (their former owners) should not suffer the misrepresentations which certain demagogues seemed desirous of encouraging. 3. THE SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPAIGN, 1876 "A Horrible Disaster" Allen, Chamberlain's Administration, p. 220. Statement of Gov- I LOOK upon their election [Whipper and Moses as judges] as a horrible disaster a disaster equally great to the State and to the Republican party. The gravest consequences of all kinds will follow. One immediate effect will obviously be the reorganization of the Democratic party within the State as the only means left, in the judgment of its members, for opposing a solid and reliable front to this terrible crevasse of misgovernment and public debauchery. I could have wished, as a Republican, to have kept off such an issue. How to Escape Moses and Whipper Allen, Chamberlain's Administration, p. 221. Letter of H. V. Redfield, correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial. Used by per mission of G. P. Putnam's Sons. Moses had been governor of the state, 1872-1874. [December, 1875] A RUMPUS has begun in South Carolina which will end in the white people getting control of the State, as they now have control of Mississippi. The means to be adopted to overthrow negro rule in the Palmetto State may not be precisely the same as that which proved successful in Mississippi, but the result will be similar. . . Pick out two of the most notorious ward bummers in Cincinnati - men as ignorant of the science of law as a boy is of astronomy, men of no standing in the community, and no character save that of idleness, and elevate them to the bench in two of the most important Ohio circuits, Cincinnati and Cleveland, for instance. How would you feel about it? .. The whites are aroused; the color line is drawn; and before long you will hear of a "great Democratic victory" in South Carolina like unto that in Mississippi. The Governor has refused to sign the commissions of Moses and Whipper upon merely technical grounds-something that he would not have thought of doing, . . had these judgeselect been decent men. But how he is to carry out his point I fail to see. There seems no escape from Moses and Whipper on the bench but the complete overthrow of the so-called party which elected them. And that is what is coming. I say to the reader, and hope he will remember it hereafter, Look out for Democratic gains in South Carolina! For a long time the whites have wanted a sufficient excuse to rise up and overthrow the African government under which they live; and now they have it. Not a white Republican in the State, from the Governor down, nor a Republican journal, pretends to justify the election of these notorious men to the bench. The campaign in South Carolina next year will be very bitter, if not bloody. The whites will now draw the "color line," and at the same time throw all the blame upon the blacks. We know what the color line means. If any there are who don't comprehend the term, they can have light by spending a few days in Mississippi. The President's Attitude McPherson, Handbook, 1876, p. 207. President Grant to Governor Chamberlain of South Carolina. [July 26, 1876] DEAR SIR: I am in receipt of your letter of the 22d of July, and all the enclosures enumerated therein, giving an account of the late barbarous massacre of innocent men at the town of Hamburg, S. C. The views which you express as to the duty you owe to your oath of office and the citizens to secure to all their civil rights, including their right to vote according to the dictates of their own consciences, and the further duty of the Executive of the nation to give all needful aid, when properly called on to do so, to enable you to secure this inalienable right, I fully concur in. The scene at Hamburg, as cruel, as blood-thirsty, wanton, unprovoked, and as uncalled for as it was, is only a repetition of the course that has been pursued in other States within the last few years, notably in Mississippi and Louisiana. Mississippi is governed to-day by officials chosen through fraud and violence, such as would scarcely be accredited to savages, much less to a civilized and Christian people. How long these things are to continue, or what is to be the final remedy, the great Ruler of the Universe only knows. But I have an abiding faith that the remedy will come, and come speedily, and I earnestly hope that it will come peacefully. There has never been a desire on the part of the North to humiliate the South; nothing is claimed for one State that is not freely accorded to all others, unless it may be the right to kill negroes and Republicans without fear of punishment and without loss of caste or reputation. This has seemed to be a privilege claimed by a few States. . . Go on, and let every Governor, where the same dangers threaten the peace of his State, go on in the conscientious discharge of his duties to the humblest as well as the proudest citizen, and I will give every aid for which I can find law or constitutional power. A government that cannot give protec tion to the life, property, and all guaranteed civil rights (in this country the greatest is an untrammeled ballot) to the citi zens is, in so far, a failure, and every energy of the oppressed should be exerted (always within the law and by constitutional means) to regain lost privileges or protection. Too long denial of guaranteed rights is sure to lead to revolution, bloody revolution, where suffering must fall upon the innocent as well as the guilty.. U. S. GRANT. Rifle Clubs and Artillery Companies Allen, Chamberlain's Administration, pp. 350, 385. (1) H. V. Redfield in Cincinnati Commercial; (2) Letter of Governor D. H, Chamberlain. Used by permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons. [1876] [1] THE outsider is apt to be puzzled by accounts of affairs here. He may not understand the formation of "rifle clubs," "rifle teams," "artillery companies," among the whites. What are they afraid of? They are not afraid of any thing. Why, |