desk, a measure to
disarm the whites and equip with modern rifles a negro militia of 80,000
men; to make the uniform of Confederate gray the garb of convicts in South
Carolina, with a sign of the rank to signify the degree of crime; to
prevent any person calling another a "nigger"; to require men to remove
their hats in the presence of all officers, civil or military, and all
disfranchised men to remove their hats in the presence of voters; to force
black and whites to attend the same schools and open the State University
to negroes; to permit the intermarriage of whites and blacks; and to
inforce social equality.

Whipper made a brief speech on the last measure:

"Before I am through, I mean that it shall be known that Napoleon Whipper
is as good as any man in South Carolina. Don't tell me that I am not on an
equality with any man God ever made."

Dr. Cameron turned pale, and trembling with excitement, asked his friend:

"Can that man pass such measures, and the Governor sign them?"

"He can pass anything he wishes. The Governor is his creature--a dirty
little scallawag who tore the Union flag from Fort Sumter, trampled it in
the dust, and helped raise the flag of Confederacy over it. Now he is
backed by the Government at Washington. He won his election by dancing at
negro balls and the purchase of delegates. His salary as Governor is
$3,500 a year, and he spends over $40,000. Comment is unnecessary. This
Legislature has stolen millions of dollars, and already bankrupted the
treasury. The day Howle was elected to the Senate of the United States
every negro on the floor had his roll of bills and some of them counted it
out on their desks. In your day the annual cost of the State government
was $400,000. This year it is $2,000,000. These thieves steal daily. They
don't deny it. They simply dare you to prove it. The writing paper on the
desks cost $16,000. These clocks on the wall $600 each, and every little
Radical newspaper in the State has been subsidized in sums varying from
$1,000 to $7,000. Each member is allowed to draw for mileage, per diem,
and 'sundries.' God only knows what the bill for 'sundries' will aggregate
by the end of the session."

"I couldn't conceive of this!" exclaimed the doctor.

"I've only given you a hint. We are a conquered race. The iron hand of
Fate is on us. We can only wait for the shadows to deepen into night.
President Grant appears to be a babe in the woods. Schuyler Colfax, the
V