Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/66

 Last Chapter of Reconstruction in South Carolina. 65

following order was sent by Cameron, the Secretary of War to Gen- eral Ruger :

" D. H. Chamberlain is now Governor of South Carolina bey olid controversy, and remains so until a new Governor shall be legally inaugurated. Under the Constitution the Government has been called, to aid with the military forces of the United States, to main- tain a Republican government in the State against resistance too formidable to be overcome by the State authorities. You are directed, therefore, to sustain Governor Chamberlain in his authority against domestic violence until otherwise directed.

U. S. GRANT."

And in forwarding this order General Ruger is directed, in obeying these instructions to advise with Governor Chamberlain and dispose his troops in such manner as may be deemed best to carry out the spirit of the President's order.

It is now sufficient to read this order to see the whole tissue of fraud and of partisan spirit which breathes in every line. But an order from the President deserves at least the respect of an examina- tion. Let us briefly do so.

In the first place, why the gratuitous assertion that Chamberlain was, at that time, the actual Governor of South Carolina ? It was neither doubted nor denied. It was only himself who seemed by his imbecility and his utter dependence upon Federal troops to doubt it. His enemies had elected the man of their choice, and were content to wait patiently for the time when he would lawfully assume his po- sition. In the second place, Chamberlain had ten months before called in the aid of the Federal troops and these troops were still there in pursuance of the call. Whence, then, this new order? In the third place, though not expressed in the order, it was really given in view of the approaching session of the Legislature. If Grant was really desirous of doing his duty under the Constitution, he would have let things remain in statu quo, until the Legislature, which was about to meet, should advise him what he ought to do, but this would not have suited the views of the party. He speaks of the duty of the Government to aid in maintaining a Republican Government in the State. Could the President have meant that inasmuch as one party called itself Republican and the other Democratic, his duty called him to aid the former to the exclusion of the latter? This sup- position is an insult to his understanding, but even so, more favorable to his character than the gross tyranny of the order by which he