Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-07-16


to every patriot, including all the Conservative
element, and all who desire to support the Consh
tuition and restore the Union, forgetting all past
differences of opinion, to unite with us in the pres
ent great struggle for the liberties of the people
and that to all such, to whatever party they may
have heretofore belonged, we extend the right
hand of fellowship, and hail all such cooperating
with us as friends and brethren. .u:o@' ,:'ia'E
GovERN6R sEYMoUR's ADDRESS. !.
Gentlemen of the Conusation:-I thank you fol
the honor you have done me in making me your
presiding officer This Convention is made up oi
a large number of delegates from all parts Of oni
broad land. To great degree we are strangers
to each other, and view the subjects which agitate
our country from different stand d-points ,We'can-
not at once learn each others mode of thought, ot
grasp all the facts which bear upon the minds oi
others; yet our session must be brief, and we are
forced to act without delay upon questions Of an
exciting character and of deep import to our coun-
try. To maintain order, to restrain all exhibition
of passion, to drive out of our minds unkind sus-
picions, is at this time great duty. l rely upon
your sense of this duty, and not upon my owp
ability, to sustain me in the station in which am
placed by your kind partially. Men never met
under greater responsibilities than those which
now weigh upon us. 1t is not mere party tn
umph we seek. We are trying to save our coun-
try from the dangers which oyerhang it. We wish
to lift off the perplexties and the shackles which,
in the shape of bad laws and of crushing taxation
now paralyze the business and labor of our land.
We hone, too that we can give order, prosperity
and happiness to those sections of our country
which suffer so deeply to-day in their homes and
in all the fields Of their industry, from the unhap-
by events of the last eight years trust that ac-
tions will show that we are governed by earnest
purposes to help all classes of our citizens. Avoid
ing harsh invective against men, we should keep
the public mind fixed upon the questions which
must now be met and solved. Let US leave the
past to the calm judgment Of the future, and con-
front the perils ofthe day. Weare forced TO meet
the assertions in the resolutions put forth by the
late Republican Convention. l aver there is not
in this body one man who has it 10 his heart to
excite so much ofangry feeling against the Repub-
lican party, as must be stirred up in the minds of
those who read these declarations in the light Of
recent events and in view of the condition Of our
country.
In the first place, they congratulate the perplex-
ed man of business, the burdened taxpayer, the
laborer, whose hours Of toll are heightened out by
the growing costs of the necessities of life upon
brought all these evils upon them by the costs of
its military despotism and the corruption of its
Bureau agencies. In one resolution they denounce
all forms ofrepudiation as national crime. Then
why did they put upon the statute books of the
nation, the laws which invite the citizens to bor
row coin to force their creditors to take debased
paper, and thus wrong him out Of large share Of
his claim in violation of the most solemn compact
If reputation is national crime, it is crime to
invite all the citizens of this country thus to repu
diate their individual promises Was it not crime
to force the creditors Of this and other States to
take currency, at times worth no more than fifty
cents on the dollar in repayment for the sterling
coin they gave to build roads and canals, which
yield such ample returns of wealth and prosperity
Again, they say, it is due to the laborers of the
nation that taxation should be equalized. then why
did they make taxation unequal? Beyond the In
justice of making one class Of citizens pay for an
other the shares of the costs of schools of roads
and of the local laws which protected their lives
and property, it was an unwise and hurtful thing.
It sunk the credit of the country as unusual terms
always hurtful to the credit of the borrower do
They also declare the best policy to diminish our
burden of debt is so to improve our credit that
capitalists will seek to loan US money at lowerrates
of interest than We now pay, and must continue to
pay so long as reputation total, open or
covert-is threatened or suspected. Then, why
drawn from the people of this country, to uphold
adespotic military authority, and to crush out the
life of the States, when if this money had been
used to pay our debts, capitalists would now seek
to lend us money at lower rates Of interest. But
for thiscovert repudaton, our national credit would
not be tainted in the markets of the world. Again
they declare of all who were faithful in the trials
Of the late war, there were none entitled to more
especial honor than the brave soldiers and seamen
who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise,
and imperiled their lives in The service of their
country. The bounties and pensions provided by
the laws are obligations never to be forgotten The
widows and orphans Of the gallant dead are the
wards of the people-a sacred trust bequeathed to
the nations care. How have these been performed?
They pay to manned men, to the widow, or to the
orphan currency which they have sunk one.
quarter below its rightful value by their policy Of
hate, of waste, and of military despotism, the pit
tances paid to the wounded soldiers, and pinched
down twenty-five per cent. below the value of that
coin which he had right to expect. Is there no
covert reputation in this? Again they say, for
eign immigration, which, in the past has added
so much to the wealth, development and resour-
ces, and increase of power to this repubhc-the
asylum of the oppressed of all nations-should be
foStered and encouraged by a liberal and just poll
cy. Is this foreign immigration fostered by poll
cy which, in cruel mockery of laws just passed, de-
claring eight hours to be legal day labor. But
the cost of Government and OF swaEms OF officials
to swell the cost Of living, that men must toll on
to meet these exactions. The time was when We
could not only invite Europeans to share with us
the material blessings Of our great country; but
more than that, we could tell those who fed from
oppression, that we lived under Government of
laws, administered by the judiciary, which kept
the bayonet and the sword in due subordination.
We could point to written Constitution, which
not only marked out the powers Of Government,
but with anxious care secured to the humblest man
the rights of property of person and Of conscience.
Is immigration encouraged by trampling that Con-
stitution in the dust-treatng it with contempt
shackling the judiciary insulting the Executive
and giving all the world to understand that the
great guarantees of political and social rights are
destroyed? But the crowning Indictment against
the foles and crimes Of those in power is in these
words: 'That we recognize the great principles
laid down in the immortal Declaration of indie
pendence as the true foundation Of Democratic
Government, and we hail with gladness every eff:
fort toward making these principles living reality
on every inch of American soil. If within the
limits of ten States of this Union an American cit
zen, stung by a sense of his wrongs, should pub
lely and truthfuly denounce the men in power, be-,
cause in the very language of this Declaration OF
Independence, they have erected multitude OF
new officers and sent hither swarm OF otflcers to
harass our people and eat out their substance, he
would, in all human probability, be dragged to a
prison, or it, in the indignant language Of our faith
ers, he should exclaim: ''They have affected to
render the military independent of and superior to
the civil power they have abolished the free sys-
tenn of English laws and established here an arbi-
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