Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

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[205] were not to their liking, yet it seemed that, all things considered, the prospect of reform was better with him than with any one else; and his conduct in the matter of the judges had won their unqualified approbation. He had acted manfully in a case which made the blood of every Carolinian tingle with indignation, and very many thought that the wisest and best thing that the people could do was to give him their support at the next election. But the Governor excited no enthusiasm. We could lavish praises upon him for good service, but no one had implicit faith in him. His words never went to our hearts. It was uneasily felt that he was not a true man. Judge Carpenter had shown that his word was not to be depended upon. He was too anxious to stand well with Morton, and he too evidently stood in awe of Grant. He was a man of culture—knew what the world held highest, and perhaps in his better moments would have gladly been the minister of that highest good, but he lacked courage to embrace it, if he was in danger of forfeiting the Radical support. He might set at defiance Whipper and Elliott, negroes whom he despised, but he could not bear the frown of Morton, nor brook the rude displeasure of Grant. All this was known even to those who were willing to stand by him, but what hope was there that the incubus of radicalism could be shaken off? Again and again had efforts been made to do so, but they were met by a solid and stolid majority of twenty thousand black votes. The negro would go to his white neighbor for aid and counsel (in all his troubles), which were freely given, but when an election was to be held he went to the polls and obediently voted the ticket given him by the stranger who stood between him and his friends. A secret power, called the Union League, attended every negro to the polls, and the free suffrage was only the proof of the despotic rule which was exercised over him by the ambitious and designing stranger.