Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-09-09
Brilliant and Inspiring Music'y
CROWDS OF PEOPLE!
SPEECHES BY GEN. TooMDs, JUDICIAL.
DRICH. COL, HASKELL, GEN. GARY,
AND HON. G. D.. TILLMAN.

AND HON. G. D. TILLMAN.
1ei:5 ---o-T-l.s. y -K;
On Wednesday lzst, End inst.,ecamesoff the
great Ratification Meeting, for which. Edgeasld
had been preparing q month or more. Andin
no respect were the hopes and expectations of
our people disappointed. It was an auspicious
and happy day. The preparations were on o
Large and liberal scale, and in their contamination
they well beftted the occasion. If there waso one
regret on this day, itw on account of the .ab-
sencc of many of our most honored and popular
fellow citizens living in sections of tho District
remote from tho Court House. These, in ;consid-
erablc numbers, were prevented from attending,
by the torrents of rain which fell during the day
and night preceding tho meeting, swelling ths
water courses until they were impassible. But
the ateendance.wa large and excellent, both as.
to numbers and intelligence, being composed of
the solid Democracy.of Edgcfeld District, full of
hope, fire., and honest enthusiasm, and eager and
anxious TO hear the discussion of the principles
involved in the coming contest
At about 10 o'clock A. NJ, the immense crowd,
led by the spirited BrassB Band Of Mcssrs. PisHER,
BoRLER, and HErT of Augusta, departed in pro-,
cession from the public square to the scene of
the meeting. This-was the large and beautiful
grove of-tho Male Academy. There the stand
for the speakers and tho seats for tho ladies had
been prepared; and there tho tables for the feast
stretched away in long lines beneath tho green
shade. From the pits upon the hillside already
camo savory odors from innumerable bafbecucd
carcassss, while the floors aud piaszas of the
Academy were literally covered with baskets of
luxuries: fruits and delicacics, brought by the
hundreds of fair and noble women who had come
TO g,acs and glorify the occasion.
Arriving Mt the grove, the speakers wore con-
Quoted to the stand, and the seats, and all the
adjacent space; were rapidly filed by the eager
sihrong.
!, After The ski,lful performance Of several bril-
liant and inspiring martial airs, by the Band Of
Messrs. FISHER and BOILER, the proceedings
were opened by Gen. NJ. c. BUTLER, Chairman of
the Committees of Invitation and Arrangement,
designating Gov. NJ. L. BoSHAM as Chairman of
the Meeting. Tho announcement of the name of
this beloved and distinguished son of Edgofeld
was received with general and joyous acclama-
tion. 49,
On ntaking the Chair, Gov. 'BosHAM made very
few, but; as ever With him, very graceful and ap-
propriate remarks, welcoming the people and
congratulating them upon their Frightening pros
poets. He alluded eloquontly and truthfully to
tho duty SO binding upon all such occasions,
Of, in the arst place, invoking the grace and help
Of Almighty God; and then introduced that ven-
erable and fervent preacher of the gospel, Rev.
]. 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 bis usual earnest and giftsd
manner, amid the most respectful silence and at
tention of the large audience. Ia, -.
After the prayer, Gen. BuTkER, Chairman Of
the Committee of Invitation, read to the multis
tuds, cheering and patriotic letters from E1 Gov.
SEYMOUR and Hon. WN W. EATON of connecti-
cut Gen. WADE HAMPTON, EI!Gov. PERRY, and
Gen. ). B. KEasHAw. We regret that wnnt f
space prevents US from laying these valuable let
tcrs before our readers this week. They shall
appear in our ncxt 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. TooMBs, in
Hattering 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
lit to paper, were well nigh impossible. It was
perhaps the most complete, eloquent and chafac-
teristic specimen of stump orntory ever heard in
%Edgeaeld. Our people were mostun siguedly de-
lighted both with Gen. TooNss and his speech
and the inter aroused them to the highest and
happiest pitch of enthusiasm. below, we give the
substance, of Con. TooNBs admirable speech; but
the inimitable and characteristic humor, the wit,
the pathos, and tho many telling and effective
colloquial passages, have been obliged To omit
from the fact that, having had no stenographic
reporter, VIC now, to our great disappointment,
unable to gather them up.
Mr.. TooMDs said, that ho arose to address nm
audience of the fair women and brave men of
Edgefed, with mingled emotions of pain and
pleasure; pain whom ho thought of their present
condition, and the humiliations nov 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 soon replace the gloomy present.
lie had foresesn and fought againe...to designs
Of the Radical party in the National Council,
long years before that gloomy day Ia November
1850, when the suS went down on tho election Of
u Black Republican President. His forobodpps
as to their conduct when in power had proved
correct They had written themselves on the
annals of the nation US robbers and pundcrers.
with no principle save devotion to the loayea and
fishes He sympathized with the gallant State of
South Carolina where, from the accident of Don.
ulatiou, men who had been trained by the great
lights Of the State, Calhoun, McDufRs, and Others,
weru put under temporary subsection to Radical
rule. To the credit of South Carolina, be il snid
"you have but few scalnwags.4 Send all .ucb.
Orr, mickey, &c, &C., over to US. We know how
to deal With .hom, aswe 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 .nvincible; we contend for truth, and
"'The eternal years of God are hers"
The fundamental principles of statesman;hip
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 disapprobatiou their
system of universal negro suffrage; and now