The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1854-02-15

"ocu ieouhe, inc speech itself was
lauded and complimcnted by the press
of the State. 1t is true, in some in
stances, there was an in,imation that
the views expressed by the orator. on
the subject of popular education, were
not in accordance with the notions of
the editor on that subject!
We knew full we'll that, by the
criticism which we made Of Mr.. Ia
hers Address in the Southern Patriot,
we should incur his dsplcasure, and
the displcasure Of his friends, and
bring down upon our head the penalty
Of indignant vengeance. But such con
siderations have never yet caused us to
swerve from the line of duty, howev-
er much we may regret their conse-
quences. We believed, too, ut the
time we penncd that criticism, that
there were. many in South Carolina
who secretly entertained the same
views with Mr.. Taber in regard to the
inutlity Of Common Schools, the i'm.
practicability of the States educating
the masscs Of the people, and the
high necessity Of her educating class
thoroughly, on whom the others are
to be dependent for instruction and
teachings in politics, religion and NOR
ais, as was the case in the Alhcnian
aristocratic oligarchy. These gen
tiemen believe, too, that "a pure dem
ocracy is the worst form oftyranny."
AS to the truthfulncss Of our version
of MIR. Taber's Address, we have the
testimony Of Judge O'Ncall and DR..
Liebcr. Professor Reynolds and Dr..
Thornwell assign good reasons for
theirs not being SO pointed and
clear. These four gentlemen only,
were written to by us before the pub
lication Of Mr.. Tabcr's Address, and
for the purpose of having their renem-
brance oft. Each one Of them shall
speak for himself
1t will be remembered that Mr.. Ia.
ber, in rcsenling our remarks on his
Address, made no ssnu with us in re.
gard to their truth. He published cur
correspondence with the offensive crit.
icisn, but said nothing rs to the cor
cisrn. We DO not recognize tic pub.
iished Address, in all respects, rs the
speech we heard in the College Chap
ci. Some expressions are added, in
explanation, as Mr.. Tabcr states in
his card. Some arc left out which we
remember, and others are modified
and sottened i'll their language. For in
stance, i'll the Address as spoken, the
orator stated, in ailusion to the ingrnt-
itude Of ancient republics, that the
State of South Carolina had covered
herself i'll black disgrace or ingraiitude,
but that he would not say what it was!
We tind no such expression or al!usiuu
in the published Address.
Knowing that Mr. Tabor had had
five years to prepare this Address, and
seeing huge manuscript before him.
the pages Of which he turned over ns
he spoke, we took it for granted that
every word uttered WAS written down.
There was s,ncth;!g, too, il the man
ncr ot delivery, which induced us to
snppos. the Address WAS mctnorizcd.
But Mr.. Ta5cr says, in one of his
cards, he ''couId no: bring iu,o ques-
lion the truth or justice Of our cri,i
cism." Upon s'ch an issue We NIGH;
have demanded the publication Of his
Address precisely as it was delivered.
q requI.itiom which he could not com.
ply with for the reason stated in III
card OF the 18Th ult., that it was haSti-
ly prepared in the midst Of nu.:ierous
pressing engagements-tha crude
manuscript was his only guide on the
occasion, and that in some parts lie
spoke entirely a0iMout notssU
But we now take the Address. as it
been corrected and written out by Mr..
Taber, as the basis Of discussion, in
the language of DR.. Lieber We will
see how far the correctness Of our re-
port of the address is sustained by it's
language rs published in all the news
papers of the State. Our purpose is
to analyzc the speech and give extracts
from it. We would gladly publish
the whole, but it would take too much
ofour space, and has been already
seen by almost every one. AS we
proceed we will analyze our own crlti-
cism, and apply it to the extracts we
give from Mr.. Taber's Address.
First in order, as we shall notice our
charges, is the following, in reference
to the Common Schools. We say
He opposed the common school system,
and denounced them as miscellaneous.
Did Mr.. Taber do this2 We give
the following extracts from his Address
rs published and revised by himself.
1t they do not sustain the truth Of our
assertion, We are incapable of under.
standing the English language:
Assuming that u republic depends
for pcrmanency upon the morality of
the people, and that intellectual cult
vation is u means to that end, there
has been established, in some ofthe
States Of this Union, what is termed a
Common School system, the range OF
which is reading and writing, with a
few rudiments.
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