Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-09-09
SPEECHES BY GEN. TooMDs, JUDICIAL
DRICH. COL, HASKELL, GEN. GARY,
AND HON. G. D. TILLMAN.

had been ,preparing month or more. Andin
no respect were the hopes and expectations of
our people disappointed. 1t was an auspicious
and happy day. The preparations were on
large and liberal scale, and in their consummation
they we'll beftted the occasion. If there was one
regret on this day, it was on account of the ab-
senco of many of our most honered and-popuiar
fellow citizens living in SECTIONS of the District
remote from tho Court House. These, in .consia-
,erablc numbers, were prevented from attending,
by the torrents of rain which foil during the day
and night preceding the meeting, swelling the
water courses until they were impossible. But
the attendance was largo and excellent, both US
to numbers md intelligence, being composed Of
the solid Democracy. of Edgefeld District, full of
hope, fire, and honest enthusiasm, and eager and
anxious 10 hear tho discussion Of the principles
involved in the coming contest
At about 10 o'clock A. M, the immense crowd,
led by the spirited Brass Band Of Mc,srs. PfsuER,
BoHLER, and HErr Of Augusta, departed in pro-
cession from the public square to the scene of
the meeting. This was the large and beautiful
grove of-the Male Academy. There the stand
for the speakers and tho seats for the ladies had
been prepared; and there the tables for the feast
suetched away in long lines beneath the green
shade. From the pits upon the hillside already
camo savory odors from innumerable bafbecued
carcasses, while the floors and piazzas of the
Academy were literally covered with baskets of
luxuries.t frnits and dclicacicss brought by the
hundreds of fair and noble,women who had come
Pto g,aes and gorify the occasion. ~
+ Arriving at the grove, the speakers wore con-
Quoted to the stand, and the seats, and all the
adjacent space, were rapidly filled by the eager
ethrong.
s After the skiilful performance Of several bril-
liant and inspiring martial airs, by the Band Of
Messrs. FISHER and BoHIER, the proceedings
were opened by Gen. M. C. BUTLER, Chairman of
the Committees of Invitation and Arrangement,
I designating Gov. NJ. L. BosBAM as Chairman Of
the Meeting. The announcement of the name Of
this beloved and distinguished son of Edgo6eld
was received with general and joyous acclSma-
tion. 80
On taking the Chair, Gov BoNHAM made very
few, but, as ever With him, very graceful and ap-
propriate remarks, welcoming the people and
congratulating them upon thcir Frightening pros
pects He alluded eloqucntly and truthfully to
tho duty SO binding upon US on all such occasions,
of, in the arst place, invoking the grace and help
Of Almighty God and then introduced that ven-
ernbc and fervent preacher of the gospel, lsov.
J. R. PICKETT, inviting him at the same time
to offer up prayer to God in behalf Of the aims
and objects of the Meeting. This the reverend
gentleman did, in his usual earnest and giftsd
manner amid the most respectful silence and at-
| teption of the large audience. ,,I >
After the prayer, Gen. BuTkER, Chairman Of
the Committee of Invitation, read to the m"ltis
tuds, cheering and patriotic letters from E1. GOV.
SEYMOUR and Hon. VIZ. W. EATON of connecti-
cut Gen. WADE HAMPTON, E1.Goy. PERRY, and
Gen. J. D. KEasHAw. We regret TINT want Of
space prevents US from laying these valuable let
ters before our readers this wook. They shall
appear in our noxt issue. The reading OF these
letters was received with much applause, and the
name of each patriotic writer was received with
three lusty cheers.
Gov. DosHAN then introduced Gen. TooNBs, in
Aatteringi but most we'll deserved terms; and this
noble and gifted son of Georgia was received
with three cheers that made the,welkin ring.
To describe Gen. TooNBs' speech, or to commit
it to paper, were well nigh impossible. It was
perhaps the most complete, eloquent and chafac-
teristic specimen of stump oratory ever heard in
EdgeGeld. Our people were nostunfeignedly de-
lighted both with Gen: TooNBs and his speech !;
and the Inter aroused them to the highest and
happiest pitch of enthusiasm. Below, we give the
substance of Con. TuoMBs' admirable speech; but
the inimitable and characteristic humor, the wit,
thc pathos, and tho many telling and effective
colloquial passages, We have been obliged to omit ;
from the fact that, having had no stenographic
reporter, We now, to our great disappointment,
unable to gather them up.
Mr.. TooaBs said, that ho arose to address an
audience of the fair women and bravo men of
Edgefe;d, with mingled emotions of pain and
pleasure; pain when he thought of their present
condition, and the humiliations now borne by
those who had delighted to honor McDufiie,
Brooks, the Pickenses, the Buffers, and others !;
pleasure when he thought of the bright future
which would coon replace the gloomy present
lie had foreseen and fought againstthe designs
of the Radical party in the National Connects
long years before that gloomy day in November
1861, when the eux went down on tho election Of
Black Republican President. His forebodincs
| IN lhoir rbnntn tod
correct They had written themselves on the
annals Of the nation us robbers and plunderers,
with no principle save devotion to the loaves and
fishes. He sympathized with the gallant State of
South Carolina, where, from The accident of pop
ulation, mon who had been trained by the great
lights of the State Calhoun, Nc Dufie, and others,
were put under temporary subsection to Radical
rule. To the credit of South Carolina, be It 50 ID ;
"you have but few scalnwags.- Send all sucb,
Orr, Muckey, &C., &C., over to US. We know how
to deal with them, as we will with Joe Brown
who came over to us from you long ago." But
tho fates already hasten the rule of the Radicals
TO extinction. The principles for which we con-
tend are invincible; we contend for truth, and
"'rhe eternal years of God are hers"
The fundamental principles of statesmanihip
of the Radical party have been proved by theory
and experience to be false, and their financial
prjet fraud. The great Northern and Western
States, teeming with free white men, have do.
nounced with unqualified dsapprobation their
system of universal negro suffrage; and now
their last and only chance Of success is by rever-
sing the order Of God and Of nature in the South
by making our former slaves our masters. I" Help
me, Cuffce or sinkp' is their rnllying cry But
in vain they say that the Northern statos should