Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-06-27
Mass Meeting of Edgedeld and Le1ing-


zcns Of Edgefield aud Lexington Districts, was
,eld ut Bethel Church, in EdseGeld District, on
he Columbia Road, near the Lexington line.
This meeting was attended by not less than one
thousand persons It's object, as had been adrer-
Used two weeks previous to its gathering, wa, to
consider the Debt Question"
Rev. ABNER ". AsBELL, prominent citizen of
the Ridge was called TO the Chair; and Mcssrs:
ROBERT w. CI:.SoN and JAMES T. BACON were
to act US Secretaries.
Committee Of Twenty-Ono was, on motion,
appointed TO prepare business for the meeting, ind
retired for consultation. The Chairman of this
Committee was Col Joux HuIEr of our town;
prominent member was Gen. PAUL QUATTLEDAuM
of Lexington.
After couple of hours consultation and dis
cussion, the Committee of Twenty One reported
the following Preamble and Resolutions; which
were read TO the meeting at large, and then unan-
imnusly adopted:
WHEREAS, The Courts have been thrown open
to creditors and the debtors Of the State sudden
ly placed in n condition Of imminent peril; AND
WHEREAS, The prospective widespread ruin and
desolation which must surely apd inevitably r.
suit therefrom, so terrific and alarming to the
people. call most loudly for them to rise up and
speak in their own behalf, as tho only means left
them of ayerting the 'direst calamity that ever
bcfv!l any portion of the human race; AND
WHEREAS, The debtor classes about to bc
,,irst tly slv fnr
which within itself is no Observation-Disclosures
Be it therefore,
Rcsolred, That it is unwise, impoltic, unrea-
sonabc aud grossly suhvcrsiye Of the best inter
ests of the country, to maintain that the great
uph heaving Of property and revulsion of iinances
which the country has experienced, should not be
a most powerful argument in favor of the rights
cf debtors against claims that were predicated on
slave property, now swept sway as by the besoni
of eStruction event which could neither be fore.
seen nor avoided.
Res.lred, That debtors have rights as well ns
creditors, and that while the former are not dis
posed to deprive the latter Of reasonable salts
faction for their favors in the pasr, they most
earnestly and urgently protest against having
their rights ignored. and justice tramplcd upon
which must inevitably bo the result, unless the
impending evil be avcrtcd by an organic law o.
the land.
Resolred, That the Chairman Of this meeting
be requested to appoint Commission Of three oi
our citizens, to wait upon his Excelency the Gov.
ernor at m early day, and urge upon him to as
semble the Legislature as soon as possible, to thS
end that measures may be adopted to avert ths
ruin and distress now threatening to fall upon US
Rtsolrcd, That our fellow-citizens throughout
the State be requested to cooperate with Us II
| urging the justice of our cause.
Resolrcd That the thanks Of this meeting arc
eriineutly due, and are hereby rendered, to tht
Hon. a. p. ALpRIcH, for his able manly and in
dependent effort on the Bench to stay the disas
ters of which we have spoken in the preceding
Preamble and Revolutions.
Resolrcd That these Resolutions be published
in the EDGErIELD ADVERTISER, and in the Co
lumbia and Charleston papers; aud that n copy
of them be sent to the Hon. A. P. ALDEIcn.
The Committee appointed under the third Res
olution consists of Major JOSEPH AByEY, Col
JOHN HUEr and JAMES T. BACON, Esq.
Having been formally requested to do so BY
the Committee of Arrangements, Major JosErr
ApxEY now addressed the meeting. The follow
ing is the substance of the remarks made by
Maj. AEyEY.
FELLOW CITIZENS I have never felt more sensi
bly, when attending the obsequies Of my deares
friend the truth ofthe solemn expression weso offer
hear at the grave Of all that is mortal of man
:" In the midst Of life, are IN DEATH" We art
dead civilly and politically, and VIC financially
dead. No one knows what rights he has under
the law, or what power he has to vindicatc them
Our citizens are arrested in cur midst frequently
without crime, and hurried off, by squadrons .:
foreign Cavalry, either to be tried by Military
Commissions, tribunals repugnant to our sonso o.
Justice, or to languish, for indefinite periods, in
lonthsome prisons, without trial. Those who
would come to our relief are powerlcss to save
There appears to be a doubt yet whether we are
in the American Union, and even whether we are
actually State. The Radicals in Congress would
treat US as conquered province, and the whole
South as conquered provinces. They would con.
fiscate our little remaining property, deprive us
of all participation in the government, out law
us, e1pa.riate IL. md descending to the last re-
sort of malice would "rob us Of our good Names
And though shorn Of our might as completely
as Sampson in the lap Of Delilah, and deprived
of the means and the material Of making the
lenst shadow of resistance, every man feels thai
this is still his country, and holds on, with unre.
lenting grasp, to the spot of earth for which he
she'd his blood, and his children offered up their
lives on the field of Carnage.
"And as child, when soaring sounds molest,
Clinps close aud closer to the mothers breast,
So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's ronr,
But bind him to his native mountains more"
It is needless to state the causes of our ruin
The results of gigantic war have oeen unfavor.
able, and the doom of " woe to the conquered" ID
upon us. We put forth such efforts to achieve
our independence, as were never displayed by
any other people. We fought battles scarcely
paraleled in the wars of the older Napoleon
We lsvished our lives, we lavished our wealth
like water, and we utterly exhausted our strength
in cause upon which ali hearts were set. The
consequence is depression, prosration, and entire
and universal dcsttution. We nre so poor, that
one cannot help another To sustain the great
and unequal struggle, our citizens converted their
good property and money into Confederate Bonds
and Confederate Treasury Notes. When the Gov
crnment was unable to equip and maintain their
sons in the field, they equipped and maintained
them. During four or.fve dreadful years, they
cheerfully received all thoir earnings, and all
their collection, on n6tes, bonds, and judgments,
in Confederate money. All this expenditure Of
means, by the termination of the contest proved o
total loss. Moreover, the best portions Of our
population, for the period mentioned, were abb
stracted from their farms and plantations, and
the only producers in the State wore old men,
women, very small children, snd negroes. While
the strife was in progress our coasts were raw
aged, our cities laid in ashes, our fields desolated,
md The ahndc1 of NIL classes indiscriminately