"Doggers' Springs, September 17, 1880.
"To Hon. John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury.
"Sir:—Some days ago I saw a report of your speech at a conference held by the national Republican committee, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, and you were quoted as having used the following language: 'And now you are asked to surrender all you have done into the hands of Wade Hampton and the Ku-Klux, and the little segment in the north that is called the Democratic party.' May I ask if you used these words, and, if you did so, did you mean to connect me, directly or indirectly, with what was known as the Ku- Klux Klan?
"Requesting an early reply, addressed to me, care of Augustus Schell, Esq., New York, I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"Wade Hampton."
"Washington, D. C., September 21, 1880.
"Hon. Wade Hampton, care of Augustus Schell, Esq., New York.
"Sir:—Your note of the 17th inst. is received, in which you inquire whether, at the conference held by the national Republican committee, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, I used the language attributed to me as follows: 'And now you are asked to surrender all you have done into the hands of Wade Hampton and the Ku-Klux, and the little segment in the north that is called the Democratic party.' In reply, I have to advise you, that while I do not remember the precise language, I presume the reporter correctly stated, in a condensed way, his idea of what I said. I no doubt spoke of you as the leading representative of the Democratic party in the south, and referred to the Ku-Klux Klan as the representative of the barbarous agencies by which the Democrats have subverted the civil and political rights of the Republicans of the south.
"I did not connect you personally with the Ku-Klux Klan. Indeed, I knew that you had, in one or two important instances, resisted and defeated its worst impulses. I appreciate the sense of honor which makes you shrink from being named in connection with it. Still, you and your associates, leading men in the south, now enjoy benefits of political power derived from the atrocities of the Ku- Klux Klan, in which phrase I include all the numerous aliases by which it has, from time to time, been known in the south. Your power in the southern states rests upon the actual crimes of every grade in the code of crimes—from murder to the meanest form of ballot-box stuffing committed by the Ku-Klux Klan and its kindred associates, and, as you know, some of the worst of them were committed since 1877, when you and your associates gave the most solemn assurance of protection to the freedmen of the south.
"These crimes are all aimed at the civil political rights of Republicans in the south, and, as I believe, but for these agencies, the very state that you represent, as well as many other states in the south, would be represented, both in the Senate and House, by Republicans. But for these crimes the boast attributed to you, that one hundred and thirty-eight solid southern votes would be cast for the Democratic ticket, would be but idle vaporing; but now we feel that it is a sober truth.
"While I have no reason to believe that you or your northern associates personally participated in the offenses I have named, yet, while you and they enjoy the fruits of these crimes, you may, in logic and morals be classed as I classed you, as joint copartners with the Ku-Klux Klan in the policy which thus far has been successful in seizing political power in the south, and which it is hoped, by the aid of the small segment of the Democratic party in the north, may be extended to all the departments of the government. It is in this sense that I spoke of you, the Ku-Klux Klan and the northern Democratic party.
"Permit me, in conclusion, while frankly answering your question, to say the most fatal policy for the south would be by such agencies as I have mentioned to secure again political ascendency in this country, for I assure you that the manhood and independence of the north will certainly continue the struggle until every Republican in the south shall have free and unrestricted enjoyment of equal civil and political privileges, including a fair vote, a fair count, free speech and free press, and agitation made necessary to secure such results may greatly affect injuriously the interests of the people of the south.