Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-05-29
An Effective Speech.

sSenator " Wilsonshas found lion in his path
At Montgomery Ala, he challenged any
Southern man to reply to him. The gage o
battle was accepted BY Gen. Jas. H. Clanton
who, though taken by surprise, delivered {
telling and eloquent speech. To the exclu
sion Of other;matter, we reproduce the sub
stance of5his remarks, for which we are in
debted to the Montgomery Mail: @
Friends end sFelloao Citizens:
I returned fromithe country few minute.
siace, and was informed that some colored
men had called at my Office, to inrite me te
attend this meeting. I appreciate this ect o
Kindness, confidence and friendship On theil
part. My8colored friends, we are Southern
men, born upon the same soil, live in the
sa.ae country. and will sleep in the same
graveyard when life's troubles are yer; and
our destiny is the same. If you p4 .sper, the
white race Of the South will prosper; ana il
the white race prospers, you must prosper;
and Whatever misfortune is visited upon the
South, must tbe borne alike by both races. II
is alike your duty and interest to cultivate
friendly relations with your neighbors and
former owners, who are to-day, and ever have
been, your best friends. For one, car
proudly say that no one in this assembly car
assert that Fever oppressed him when he was
a slave. On one occasion fought for one Of
YOU in these streets. On another, when q
white man had been waylaid and murdered
and his neighbors mad assembled, and taken
the law in their hands with the avowed pur-
pose of executing the two supposed leaders
who were colored men, interposed, with 9th
ers and succeeded in having them placed in
iaii, and q fair trial given them. One was
convicted and hung the other acquitted, and
still Hives
The Senator from Massachusetts, who has
lust addressed you, and who lives several thou
sand miles distant, has explained to you the
object Of hispolitical pilgrimage South. He
Fhas challenged any one present to meet him
in discussion tonight, and has offered to d.
vide time with any one who would accept.
was born and raised in the South, and hope
to be buried in her soil. have met the
brave men of the North on many fields; they
outnumbered and overcame us; and | Ger
tainly have no fear of their politicians. But
for my family, life would have but few charms
for me. Neither the fear of the galloWs, the
gib6et, or the!bayonet, will ever cause me to
desert my people, forsake this bright southern
land which gave me birth, or deter me from
the expression of my honest sentiments under
any circumstances. Some young Southern
Radicals, who have recently addressed you,
say that the Sherman bill, which they are ad-
vocating, wouh disfranchise them, and, hence
their efforts were purely unselfsh, whilst at
the time their applications to be relieved from
the disabilities of that measure are pending
at Washington and they are doubtless ex-
pecting to call on you for your votes at the
next election for this State.
will here state my own position briefly on
this point:
l believe that bill is unconstitutional-Ibe-
lieve it is oppressive to u certain class OF our
AS soon as that bill passed Congress, q
high Federal official with tue kindest feelings
for me personally, said to me: You were
not an original secessionist. Congress will
remove your disabilities under the Sherman
bill. You must send on an application, and
will approveit, and help you toget it through y
replied thaLthe Republican party-ha no
right under the Constitution to disiranchise
me, and would never ask for relief at their
hands, and that s my position to night.
The honorable Senator from Massachusetts
has said some things which evince good feel
ings on his part, and which | approve. He
has also said many things from which l must
dissent, ald made many assertions which the
political history, and particularly that Of our
recent unfortunate war, proves to be untrue.
He commen ces with tie history of slavery in
the South since he came upon the stage Of
action, and endeavors to fix the responsibility
of the existence of that institution upon the
Southern people, with all Of its horrors as de.
picted by his vivid Imagination. will carry
the gentleman back to the starting point of
the institution on THE continent, and before
take my scat will prove 70 you that the
North is responsible for the existence of sla-
very with whatever evils attached to it; and
am fri lk to say that there were features in
slavery which were wrong.
Many years ago, my friends, before the
United States had an existence as nation,
your foreiathers inhabited the homes Of your
race-Airica. The Northern people, who
were then as now commercial people, own
ing many ships, went the coast of Africa
and bought some, anu stole or kidnapped
your grandfathers and mothers, placed them
in the hold of their vessels in great numbers,
and in chains took some few to their North.
ern homes, and sent most Of. them to be sold
to the Southern people for slaves. In this
work they had valuable co laborers in the
English and Spanish. BY this traffic in hu-
ma1 flesh they made large sums of money.
The Southern people, as general rule,
we,e opposed to the slave trade, and when
the Colonies threw off the yoke of Great
Britain, the Southern Colonies amongst them,
and one Of the principle reasons which they
published to the world in justification of their
cause, wss that the Mother Country had i'm
posed slavery and the slave trade upon them
against their wishes.
When our independence was acknowledged
and we formed Union of the Colonies, the
South WIS still opposed to the slave trade, and
it would have then been declared piracy, and
half of your race in the United States would
not have been here now, but in Africa out
tn, Nortaern men engaged in the trade found
it to be 10 profitable, and SO entirely free from
any conscientious scruples were they, that
they INSISTED that their pious operations should
continue twenty years longer, and the South
Welded. These slave traders invested their
money II lands, houses and other property
North, rhich made many of their grand chill
dren orgreat grand children rich; and some
Of whom are now leading Republicans.
The laveholders of the Northern States
did the,ame thing in most instances by send.
ing thei slaves to Virginia and other Southern
States md selling them when their slave
labor bcame less profitable in o cold climate
than White labor, and have since amused
themselves by abusing the Southern people as
slave divers-and the Senator, the descen-
dant ofthese men, is here tonight reminding,
you of he wrongs you have received at the
hands your former owners, and advising
,,ou IN avoid nolitical alliances with YOUR