Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-07-30
TO JOSEPH GRIFFITH, ESQ.

trict-meant, no doubt, to effect an object deemed,
by yourself and many good men, praiseworthy-as
TO have met with check at all, or even an inn
pres,ive admoniton. Your favortes have been
promoted by you, in some instances, over their su-
periors, with marked exclusivencss, which hus
not failed. at length, 10 arrest the attention of the
thoughtful, and true everywhere. In word, and
in sportsman's phrase, your Bostons," and I" Bas-
cons," and "Argylcs," have walked the track for
want of competitors to dispute the race with them.
Their success, however, is destined to be short-lv-
ed. Their arrogance and presumption, and the
proscriptivc character Of your party have evoked
spirit which has dccreed that the wd-career ofyour
swfty-aying coursers shall be brought to speedy,
if not disastrous termination. If they strain upon
and let them fly. You will soon have to apply the
lsh and then the spur, and then to retire inglori
Gus from the field.
The citizens have been constrained, by you, to act
in self Defense and in vndication Of the rights and
interests Of the community; and the conduct Of
yourself and proselytes, and confederates, has now
to be tried by the touchsone of truth and arguments
and if you be found wanting, all your trumphs and
glories, and your vctors CROWNS shall be laid in
the dust.
proceed, at once, to criticism of your policy
in one aspect only. would rather be condemned
to dig in the coal.mines, than made to follow end
analize, in detail, all the absurdi!y that has been
written and spoken on Division in EdgeGcld Dis
trct, for the last three years. Neither will con-
tend that there are no circumstances under which
u Division of Edge6eld Distrie. might not become
convenient, expedent, and proper. 1t is not your
abstract cause that propose to assal; but it is
your unheard Of, and wretchcd manner Of vindicat-
ing it. And if word Of derision should fall from
me, do consider it as not aimed at you but at the
peculiar diplomacy Of your party, which genius could
not treat Of with gravity, and which the neekness
Of Moses would laugh at in scorn.
The great argument which your friends have
been spouting and scrbbling and tearing their hair
so long to deveope is, that your special nerest-the
interest Of yuu who live so far from the Court House,
demands that another and smaller district should
be made on Saluda as matter Of shcre justice.
And, to sustain their view, they have counted your
additional expenses in riding to the village in tarry-
ing there, in returning home, and perhaps, in taking
your extra meals, and extra drinks the way.
| All this has been summed up, with the arithmsti-
cal exactncss that an oli.feld school-mastcr would
employ in telling his wondering and hopeful pupils
how many minutes had interviewed from the birth Of
his daughter SAL You have also been well.infnrm-
ed as to the amount Of hard cash the proud and
<cornful vi layers and pctIi(ogging lawyers, and
Court cf1iccrs are deriving annually from your per-
spring brows; and you are, consequently, warned
against their opposition ard honesty. and exhortcd
and entrcatrd to turn your hands, at once, against
such pcriidious creatures. Your admiring senses
are re galed with thousand other delcaeies like
these; and you arc completely transported when
you arc told what beautiful little town is destined
to spring up on Red Bank, or on the banks Of Big
Creek, or Terap;n Greek how academies are to
flourish there how intelligence is to be difused
thence, as from grand central sun Of light and
Neutrality-suspicious. the lands in the vicinity are to be
enhanced in value, and how YOU are all to become
wise, rich, and magnificent
| 1t is clear that your whole claim is based upon
interest, and YOU extmPlify this by employing
scarcely any one in your public busiztss, but the
men who can say they go for Division.
Since then the burden Of your argument is in
tercst. let US examine the question when the prin-
ciplc is applied 10 the whole District. You must
no, forget that you are still in Edgefeld. Saluda is
not yet separate District, and your reasoning must
have relation to Edgcfeld District as whole. For
declare to you, that, politically, the people near
the Court House have as loud voice, and as much
right to speak, in regard 10 Diyision as the people
a bout C"lcmans and Perry's Cross Roads, or the
people residing near "Barnwell District Aiken
Town." Adopting, therefore, your own mode Of
augmentation, those who live within about twenty
miles Of the Court House are perfectly contented
with the District as it IS, and are interested to be
so. They have moved towards the village, from
various quarters, and settled down upon the lands,
and improved them, and augmented their value
three or four fod and it would be highly detrimen'
tai 10 them to have Division Lands within few
miles Of where now write, that once could be pur-
chased for one dollar per acre, average, at this time,
from ten to fifteen dollars The inhabitants, in and
around and near the village, have expended much
to procure for themselves suitable and permanent
locations, and if Edgcfed were divided their rights
and interests would be seriously infrnsed Because
they settled where they live with the expectation
that the District would remain one and indivsibe.
So have The people Of Saluda settled where they
live They bought land with knowledge Of the
disadvantages, if any, under which they labor, and
on that very account they obtained excellent plan
ta,ions much under their real value. What right
have they, then, 10 complain 1t is true, ba, every
man has the priv' sc of btering his own condition;
but not, dare say, at the expense Of his neiehbor
1t is evident, from what we all know, that about
three ourths of Edgefed are satisfied with the Dis
trict rs it is, and are perfectly justfyabc in making
objection to any change Of it. Many Of them Mould
make objections, for they have bought up apd clear
ed poor lands, within ten or twelve miles Of the
town Of Edgefeld, as in the Dutch settlement, prn-
cipally on account Of the ready and convenient
market the town affords them, for all the extra pro-
duce Of their farms, and whilst they are now thrv-
ing and happy, they would be made poor if they
we're deprived Of their present facilities, by reck-
less division Of Edgeteld, which should materially
injure the village. Besides, the P' ope cwn large
public property in Eag.feld, which they care 10, TO
have injured or endangered by any husty and Wis.