Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/328

 318 Southern Historical Society Papers.

design of the supreme directors that a few negroes should be killed, not in self-defence, but to punish insults. These men could have extricated themselves from their confinement, but it might be at the the loss of some lives, and they determined to forbear, and not do the thing which they believed their enemies wished them to do.

And here let me deign to say a few words to account for the con- duct of the white men during all the stormy scenes that were enacted until the contest was closed by the triumph of the Democratic party.

Many persons were grieved and astonished that the people should so tamely submit to outrageous insults which were often offered by the negroes. When just before the election Governor Hampton was escorted through the streets of Charleston by his enthusiastic friends, the streets were thronged with negroes, both men and women, who saluted him as he passed with the most filthy and abusive language, and the thousands of friends who made the escort bore it all with patience. Nay, when one negro, more audacious than the rest, ran up to the General's carriage and used such foul language that a policeman on duty (the policemen were all radicals) felt himself com- pelled, for decency's sake, to arrest the foul-mouthed rioter, the Gen- eral begged forgiveness for him because he knew not what he did. The spirit manifested by the great leader on this occasion was the same spirit felt by all of his friends. It was universally believed that what the Republicans most wanted was an outrage on the blacks by the whites. A batch of such, even if well imagined, would have been greedily received by Chamberlain and his associates and pub- lished throughout the North in the interest of the Republican party. It was a wise policy, therefore, to refuse to do that which their enemies anxiously desired them to do. Hence a spirit of forbearance, manifested on all occasions, which was harder to ex- ercise because the negroes mistook its meaning, construed it as timidity, and became the more aggressive in consequence. As I have said, the Rifle Club, in duress in Bissell's store, forbore to re- lease themselves, lest it might occasion the killing of some negroes, and sent for Gleaves to come to their assistance. During tbe day Gleaves did come, but he had pressing business of his own which called him to Charleston. Aid, however, did come in the person of Lowells, the member of Congress, who dispersed the mob. Mean-- while it was proposed in Charleston to send efficient aid to the authorities, and application was made to the Governor, who, as usual, sent his chief constable, Laws, to visit the disturbed districts and report on their situation. Laws reported that, since the appear-