William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 2

“ [153] they are true. The law has given our negroes votes, and under a republic votes are all in all. Why strain against the rock? In 1868 we tried. What came of all our efforts to be free? Beaten at every point; routed in shame from every field! Not one Conservative Member was returned for Charleston. A third of the Assembly was white trash-strangers, bankrupts, scalawags; not a man in whom our citizens had confidence got a seat. Two-thirds were Negroes and Mulattoes, hardly any of whom could read and write. Acting with Chamberlain, these rascals robbed and scourged us; but we bore our injuries — under the muzzles of their shotted guns-until the time for a new election came. Taught by events, we tried another course; not readily and with unity, for it is hard to bind the old Adam in our spirits; yet with a promise that invites us to go on. Though we are far from having got a Conservative Government yet in Columbia, we have secured a White majority in the Senate, and a powerful White minority in the Lower House. In Charleston county, though the Negroes count two to one, we have conquered by our new tactics half the seats.”

“ How is the conquest made?”