The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-14

Il 1 =
| Shortly aftsEt tie nominatio sels
made ;for che Presid dsney yan, al, Yics-|
Presidency aby' the Convention Dos.
ters were issued nhonnha nnhaSinng I'M that a Il
ratification meeting of Seymour and;
Blair would be held iifis iin font fts of tie
Club Room Of the Democratic Asso.
citation. at Union Square, in the even,
ing, which would be addressed. bv
Gen. Wade Hampton and ,otl1e. dis
tinguished Southern delegates. AT
tS o'clock, very large assemblage was
gathered in front Of The building.
which was illuminated with paper
lamps. M, - r : =
Gen. Wade Hampton having ar.
rived, came out upon the balcony and
was loudly applauded. He spoke as
follows: -.
FELLOW CITIZENS OF New YORK: I
am violating rule that I imposed on
myself, when I came on here, in nd
dressing you; in speaking at all: but
that 1 do violate it is due solely to the
people of New York, who have met
us of the South with such Kindness
aud such cordiality. lat this juno
ture some Of the paper lamps caught
hre and efforts were made to extin-
guish them. Gen. Hampton, ICON
tinuing,) / do not like to have n fire
IN my rear. Gentlemen, T came.
then, solely that I might thank YOU
for the courtesy that you have ex-
tended to us and to oil the Southern
States, and that I might explain to
you why it was that we were here and
what good we hope may be effected
by our presence. It was determined
by US when we came on, that we
would take no part-in this Conven-
tlon-no prominent part-not be-
cause we felt that we were not the
equals of any other delegates, but
solely because we were afraid that we
of the South-cut off as we have
been for the last few years from the
political world-if we should indicate
our preferences we might accidentally
select men who would bring defeat
upon the great Democratic party.
We determined. then, that we would
let the Democracy of the United
States, In Convention assembled, in
dicate who was to be their standard
bearer, and then that we would come
up in solid phalanx and pledge our
firm support to. the nominations.
Acting upon that, we cast our vote
for President of the United States,
Andrew Johnson, who had stood be-
tween us and rnin. We wished to
show him that we appreciated that
kindness, and to pay him the COM
pliment that was due to him. Itwas
then, seemingly, the wish of the De-
mocracy to take the great young
statesman of Ohio, ;and when that
appeared to be the case, South Caro-.
lima rendered him her support. Then
that distinguished soldier, that son of
Pennsylvania, whom I have met on
many a bloody field-(applause) land
who, ! take pleasure in saying. was
one of the most gallant of your SOL
diers. Gen. Hancock cloud cheers)-
when his name was presented, we took
him up and we voted steadily to the
last for him. And when the name of
Horatio Seymour, of New York
(applause)-was presented, and State
after State rolled on to swell the
grand acclaim, our little State came
next to your own and declared that
he was their choice, emphatically and
fully. These, gentlemen, were the
reasons which induced us to take the
course we did; and, if we have been
mistaken, am sure of one thing; at
least, that you will believe we have
been inspired but by one single mo-
tive, and that was to promote the sue
cess OF, the Democratic party. It
has been the earnest desire. of the
South, since the war closed, to ioin
with the Democratic party, and I
want yon all to know that if we had
been willing to go to the radical
party, we could have mode any terms
that we choose; but we determined
to take defeat with the Democracy
rather than by sacrificing our princi-
pies to gain success with the radicals.
We believed that if we were true to
those principles. if We were true to
ourselves, that God would not for
sake us, and that those great princi-.
pies of American liberty, the great
underlying principles Of the Demo
cratic party, would triumph, and
that we would at last be free and de-
livered from the ruin which has been
impending over us. And now, gen
tlemen, you of the North do not
know, you cannot conceive, the con-
QItIOn of tha Soutbarp Ctotoc "a