Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-06-15
From the Laurensville Herald, 10th inst.
Gen. Bonham's Speech.

On last Monday, according to previous ap-
pointnent, Gen. Bunham addressed very
respectable number Of his constituents OF
,his District, met together to hear him in
Gsrlington's Hall. Tse General made an
able ind impressive speech Of about all hours
length, and all his views boing concurrent
with the general sentiments Of our citizens,
his remarks were we'll received.
We will not attempt report OF the speech,
although it would have pleased us to have
been able to lay the whole Of the well-timed
remarks of our Representative before our
readers, but will only mention some Of the
heads upon which he touched.
He said that the South was in great dan
ger, greater perhaps than ever bef,re, that
he was not foreboding breakers ahead with
out reason, and showed upon what he based
his opinion. The passage Of the Agricultural
College Bill wsS as great swindle as was
ever attempted upon the South, and we were
only saved from It's drcful effects by the veto
Of Tie President This bill was passed, too,
by 8 Democratic Congress 50 We had little
to hope from that party
TIE vote Upon tue Homestead Bill, which
was only lost in the Senate by the deciding
vote Of Vice President Breckenridge, and
which was measure Of the same stamp,
iuinical and hostile to the rights of the
South, had portentous meaning, which in
no wise could we interpret faVorably to our
selves.
The agitation of the Pacific Railroad Bill,
which was but another measure to defraud
US by squandering the public money, and
thus open the way for higher tariff, the
greater portion of which will fall upon lis,
indicates that we have little to hope, upon
SUCH measure as this, of the unshaken union
of national democratic party, standing on
the Constitution as its platform. With Dou-
gla,s and his squatter sovereignty doctrines
which are 80 unjust to the interests of the
South. we should have nothing to do. We
should support no man with Douglas princi-
ples, that would exclude Southern citizens
and their property from the territories.
As to our hope in the next Presidential
election, he had none. We will have neither
Douglas or Seward, or any of their stamp,
So we may expect that the Democrats at the
North will break off from us. Let them 60.
We feel able to protect ourselves, and will
sacrifice them for our interests and honor.
There is calm before storm, but the low,
muttering thunders can now occasionally be
heard by close observer. And when the
worst comes, shall South Carolina be overrnn,
and trodden down in the struggle? If she
prove recreant to her high trust-to the sa-
cred privileges which have been handed down
to her-,f she fail to preserve her honor and
her rights, tue hoary heads Of our indignant
forefathers will rise from their feverish graves
to rcproach her degenerate sons.
Should the next Presidential election leave
us only the choice of the two, our hope lies
in Southern Confederacy; for the South,
South Carolina will not allow herself to be
insulted, her interests sacrificed, her rights
disregarded, nor her honor stained, in ma
tional union. He was proud to say be could
speak for the chivslric " Old Ninety-Six Dis
trict," the deeds of whose great SONS have
place on every page of our history, that she,
for one, would not.
The hearty cheers which greeted the speak
er at the close and several stages of his re-
marks, gave note Of their being appreciated,
and Of Their coincidence with tie feelings OF
those whom he was addressing.