Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1868-09-04


ton next week, and 1 am compelled
to forego tho acceptance of your invi-
| tation., r.
There are personal reasons to make
an opportunity to meet tho people of
Abbcvillc especially agreeable to mo.
Their representatives, .on more than
one occasion-indecd, Itllinlt upon .ey-s
cry opportunity-havc given mo their
consideration and confidence far in
advance Of my merits. I shall never
BIO unmindiul of this, and Isregrct to
! miss the chance to say so.
never attempt to write or speak
in the great contest now pcnding,
that l do not feel oppressed by cau-
ton and anxiety like that of ono who
watches the trembling of the balance
when tho turn Of it tells tho issue of
life or death.
Tho work of the campaign, which
falls upon lis at tho South, is restrict
cd to u worry narrow scope, but it is
OF the Sravcst Importance to us and
our character, that it shall be POP
formed manli'ly, fearlcssly and truth
fully, leaving us nothing to regret or
be ashamed of in victory, and with
out self rcproachcs to take from us
tho consolation Of q part we'll and
honorably acted if defeat should be-
fall us.
Our platform is national in all it's
parts, sectional in none of them, and
for that reason doubly satisfactory to
tho South. Every respectable white
man Of our own State, who is not
controlled by somo special or personal
reason, is with us; and tho others
would not depart from their wicked
ness, if like tho sinner Of Tarsus they
wcro arrested on their way by divine
light, unless divine po,oer wcro also
applied to their case.
VIC arc therefore discharged from
all vain efforts to convince item. But
wo have a great and responsible duty
to perform TO another class Of our
population-to the colorcd voters. 1t
is our duty-and the chief duty Of
the canvaSs-tO omit no honorable
and truthful effort to convince them
of their error in following the men
who arc now leading them. II is
desirable and essential to our success
in this State to convince them Of this,
but it IS Of oven greater Importance
than present SUCCESS that this shall be
done by nothing that is not truthful
either in representations or in prom
iscs. The long future, which is sure,
Is not to be forgotten or neglected un-
der the pressure and cxigcnccs Of
the brief present. In our Jealous Of
forts for the present and the approx
innate future, wc must not damage
the hopes Of that long future which
Is to follow tomorrow and Tho days
and months and years that arc to
como after. In political affairs as
we'll as in the higher purposes Of life
tho anxictic>; and struggles of tho
present must not bctray us from the
contemplation Of the future life of
our State and our Nation. It will
teach us above all things to stand
Stcadtast by principles, and to prac-
tlcc Justice and truth to all persons.
This is especially due from us to the
colorcd people, because they arc weak
and for the most part uncducatcd.
We arc strong and have all the adj
vantage which education gives. We
arc their natural friends, bound to
them by the strong bonds of habit
and scli-intercst. We arc not to be
separated from them unless they do
il. That crcdulity which naturally
follows Ignorance and want Of cduca-
ton subjects them to be imposed up
on and lod astray by tho Designing
men who arc using them to their ulti-
mate ruin. They arc told that we
would return them to slavcry-to unc-
4"ai !aws-uncqual legal riShts-:lnd
all the hardships and wrongs that un-
equal laws might inflict upon them II!
From the days when lying donna
gogucs taught tho people whom God
had delivered from tho Egyptians to
discard him and sct mp gravon images
and q golden calf and to accept them
selves in the place of their faithful
frionds, thcro never has been q moro
abominablo falschood taught TO tho
crcdulous and ignorant. .,
|. would have this proved to the, col
!orcd people. This can bo safely dono
because it can bo proved that, we
wore a willing and necessary party to
making them free. The Radicals. and
their Con gross have declared that the
abohtionaof ;sslavery.awas. eincgally"
done: Tney insistiponit. We deny