SOUTH CAROLINA. 



721 



Chamberlain to President Grant for military 

 aid to preserve the public peace, the following 

 proclamation was issued : 



y the President of the United State* of America a 



HVj.rM, It has been satisfactorily shown to ma 

 that insurrection and domestic violence exist in sev- 

 eral counties of the State of South Carolina, and that 

 certain combinations of men against the law exist in 

 many counties of said State, Known as rifle clubs, 

 who ride up and down by day and night in arms, 

 murdering some peaceable citizens and intimidating 

 others, wnich combinations, though forbidden by 

 the laws of the State, cannot be controlled or sup- 

 pressed by the ordinary course of justice ; and, where- 

 as, it ia provided in the Constitution of the United 

 States that the United States shall protect every 

 State in this Union on application of the Legislature, 

 or of the Executive when the Legislature cannot be 

 convened, against domestic violence ; and, whereat, 

 by laws in pursuance of the above, it is provided in 

 the laws of the United States that in all cases of in- 

 surrection in any State, or of obstruction to the laws 

 thereof, it shall be lawful for the President of the 

 United States, on application of the Legislature of 

 such State, or of the Executive when the Legislature 

 cannot be convened, to call for the militia of any 

 other State or States, or to employ such part of the 

 land and naval forces as shall be judged necessary 

 for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection, or 

 causing the laws to be duly executed ; and, whereas, 

 the Legislature of said State is not now in session, 

 and ottnnot be convened in time to meet the present 

 emergency, and the Executive of said State, under 

 section 4 of Article II. of the Constitution and the 

 laws passed in pursuance thereof, has, therefore, 

 made due application to me in the premises for such 

 part of the military force of the United States as may 

 be necessary and adequate to protect said State and 

 the citizens thereof against domestic violence, and 

 to enforce the due execution of the laws ; and, where- 

 as, it is required that whenever it may be necessary 

 in the judgment of the President to use the military 

 force for the purpose aforesaid, he shall forthwith by 

 proclamation command such insurgents to disperse 

 and retire peaceably to their respective homes with- 

 in a limited time : now, therefore 



I. Ulysses 8. Grant, President of the United States, 

 do hereby make proclamation and command all per- 

 sons engaged in said unlawful and insurrectionary 

 proceedings to disperse and retire peaceably to their 

 respective abodes within three days from this date, 

 and hereafter abandon said combinations, and sub- 

 mit themselves to the laws and constituted authori- 

 ties of said State, and I invoke the aid and coopera- 

 tion of all good citizens thereof to uphold the laws 

 and preserve the public peace. In witness whereof. 

 I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal or 

 the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of 

 Washington, this 17th of October, in the year or our 

 Lord eighteen hundred and seventy-six, 

 [SEAL.] and of the Independence of the United 

 States one hundred and one. 



U. 8. GRANT. 

 By the President : 



JOHN L. CADWALLADKR, 



Acting Secretary of State. 



On the same day the following order was 

 issued : 



WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHIKOTON, ) 



October 17, 1878. 



General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding United 

 State* Army SIR: In view of the existing condition 

 of affairs in South Carolina, there is a possibility 

 that the proclamation of the President or this date 

 may be disregarded. To provide airainst such a con- 

 tingency, you will immediately order all the avail- 

 able force in the military division of the Atlantic to 

 VOL. xvi. 46 A 



report to General Ruger, commanding at Columbia, 

 South Carolina, and instruct that officer to station 

 his troops in such localities that they may bo moat 

 speedily and effectually used in caae of resistance to 

 the authority of the United States. It is hoped that 

 a collision may thus be avoided, but you will instruct 

 General Ruger to let it be known that it is the fixed 

 purpose of the Government to carry out fully the 

 spirit of the proclamation, and to sustain it by the 

 military force of the General Government, supple- 

 mented, if necessary, by the militia of the various 

 States. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

 J. D. CAMERON, Secretary of War. 



This proclamation of the President was fol- 

 lowed by an appeal to the people of the State 

 by the Democratic Executive Committee, of 

 which the following are extracts : 



This proclamation is based upon the statements 

 made by Daniel II. Chamberlain, the Governor of 

 this State, which statements are aimed politically 

 against his political opponents, and are proved to be 

 untrue by the testimony of every judge in the State, 

 and every trial-justice or other officer of the law from 

 whom response has been obtained. Every resident 

 of the State knows them to be untrue. Every Re- 

 publican of character or intelligence, or who is not 

 in office or seeking office, and many who are in of- 

 fice in the State, have expressed horror and disgust 

 at the course which the Governor has pursued. We 

 saythis much for our vindication. 



We make the declaration of our innocence not in 

 disrespect to the President of the United States, but 

 as an act of justice to ourselves as American citi- 

 zens, and to put our case upon the record for an im- 

 partial trial before the great national tribunal. We 

 bow in perfect submission to the proclamation of his 

 Excellency the President, and exhort our fellow-citi- 

 zens, whom we represent in the present canvass, to 

 yield free and entire obedience to every command of 

 the said proclamation. 



We know that the clubs called " Rifle Clubs " are 

 associations formed for home protection : that they 

 are not combinations, as charged by the Governor of 

 this State ; that there are but few that have arms or 

 ammunition ; that those which have been equipped 

 were so done with the sanction, and sometimes with 

 the aid, of the Governor, and have been recognized 

 by him as useful and appropriate bodies, and not 

 one of them has been accusea of disorder. We know 

 that this necessity was occasioned by the reckless 

 distribution of arms and ammunition among the col- 

 ored people by the State officials. 



The Democratic State Convention assembled 

 in Columbia, and nominated the following can- 

 didates : For Governor, Wade Hampton ; for 

 Lieutenant-Governor, "W". D. Simpson ; for 

 State Treasurer, S. L. Leaphart ; for Attor- 

 ney-General, James Conner; for Controller, 

 General Johnson Hagood ; for Secretary of 

 State, R. M. Sims ; for Inspector-General, E. 

 "W. Moise ; for Superintendent of Education, 

 H. S. Thompson. The following platform was 

 adopted : 



The Democratic party of South Carolina, in con- 

 vention assembled, announces the following as its 

 platform of principles : 



We declare our acceptance, in perfect good faith, 

 of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amend- 

 ments to the Federal Constitution ; accepting and 

 standing upon them, we turn from the settled and 

 final past to the irrent living and momentous issues 

 of the present and future. 



We adopt the platform of principles announced by 

 the national Democratic party recently assembled 

 at St. Louis, and pledge ourselves to full and heart/ 



