The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-10-12
which has for It's object the harmony and pros:
perity Of South Carolina. loud and prolong-
ed cheering
REMARKS OF GENERAL BUTLER.

Ile clalTnau uOW introduced General ID.
G. Butler, the announcement OF whose name,
and whose appearance on the stand, evoked
applause that made the welkin ring. 1t was
evident, however, that there was crowd Of
Union Leaguers around the platform who
were determined OF every hazard to interrupt
the speakers and disturb the meeting. Gene
raj Butler evidently understood this, for he
began his speech with the following remarks:
FstloD- Cnizens-I hope, for the nonor @ OF tnis
engaged, that there will be no further disposi-
tion manifested to disturb these p -oceedings.
AS far as am concerned, Ihave come long
way to make o speech, and / intend to be
heard. Tremendous cheers have no anil
mostly against any man. ! am here IN the dis
charge of what conceive to be public duty,
be closed by idle brawlers who have
been sent here to disturb our meeting.
[Cheers.1 1t has been charged that have or
gnnized faction for the purpose OF opposing
that party which has present charge of the
affairs in South Carolina. 1t Is due to myself
to say that my opposition to Governor
Republican, or from any personal considera-
tiOns, but because he Is proved unfalthful TO
the trusts reposed-in him by the people OF the
State. On this ground alone do | propose to
arraign him. !.
j have Invited Governor Scott to meet me,
from the mountains to where old ocean lashes
your shores; but again and again the response
Is, that Governor Scott .scan't speak" Laugh
teri Can't speak? Then his friends have
done him great injustice; for, after having
sworn to execute the laws in mercy, did he
not go to Washington and there publicly de-
clare that South Carolina was "a nest OF aSsas-
sins,n and that 'sWinchester Rifle Law Was the
best law for South Carolina. Interruptions
I.haye spent four years on the, picket line
lighting for freedom Well felloW.cltlZens,
! expect heis on that same pieket M nne Mto-n,gnt;
pect to relieve him from duty and send him to
the rear. [Greatiapplause on the part OF the
Reformers, and dissent by the Leaguers.l !
On the 22d of July last, had occasion to
make certain charges against Governor Scott,
as The Executive of the State, and have been
called upon by your Radical paper here for the
proofs. Right here, In the City OF Charleston,
propose to produce them.
list. / charge that he has violated that well
established and acknowledged principle OF law
which prohibits a trustee from specializing for
his own benefit in the funds of the cestaa que
trust
This charge is admitted as to specializing In
State bonds, but 1t Is claimed that this specula-
tlon was made by the Governor to give them
''a much needed guarantee 70 capitalists, ana
to s!Improve the credit OF the State" De7ot-
ed and patriotic son Of our beloUed State -.
The purchase by his Excellency OF large
numbers OF the bills of the Bank of the State
at for 10 to 20 cents In the dollar, anu tne re-
commendation by him that said bills be fund
ed by the issue of bonds for their redemption,
and their subsequent redemption, was likewise
intended, no doubt, as "much needed guar
antee" by his E1cellency.
The interest which his Excellency had IN the
purchase OF 81, ,000 600 State bonds, tsshort, by
his financial agent In New York, and his .bull-
tnsn operation, in recommending that the In
rerest of the bonds of the State be paid IN
coin, and the subsequent passage OF an act, by
che influence of his Ring, to that effect, and
the handsome profits made 6y the Governor
In the sale, was another or Ills 1tnSeylsh acts OF
devotion to "our beloved State"
ills novel principle In the science OF gov
ernment that the Executive, by availing him
self of knowledge which he has OFFICIALLY.
should enhance the credit Of the government
by specializing, (not inuesting,) In her stocks
and bonds. 1t Is something new, at least IN
should be converted Into q broker's,shop, with
the Executive as chief broker.
No, fellOw-citizens, this subterfuge is toe
transparent. The credit Of the State has beer
kept up by the promptness with which oul
people have paid the enormous taxation
wrung from them by this Governor and hii
Ring. He has kept up the credit OF the State
also by conceallng the truth from the world,
and 1t rests to-day upon an artificial, unnatu
raj basis, and will collapse as soon as the true
condition of affairs Is known. It Is the credit
of gambler, which has been bolstered up by
false pretences, and ceases as soon as his funds
are exhausted, no one having any confidence
in his integrity.
I'd. charge that he has infested this State
with paid spies from abroad, reeking with ha-
tired of our people, and established system oi
espionage dangerous to public liberty and free
institutions. That he pays these spies with
your money, under the pretence that they are
peace officers, when they are simply his politi-
Cal partisans, and engaged In stirring up strife
among the people.
Specification: This charge is not denied, but
Wer pss ars saa s peeSss dsc shcs
means, in this State, political partisans and
detectives for Governor Scott, employed by
HIN at the public expense to perpetuate his
power, and to look after his interests. 1t is
claimed that they are appointed and paid
strictly according to law" Ot course. History
Is crowded with Instances Of the direst oppres-
slOns and wrongs inflicted under the forms ol
law. Is there any provision In the law au-
lency to appoint and pay this band Of faction.
lists s3l, ,492 81; to impose this unnecessary ex.
pense upon people already burdened with
poverty, debt and taxation? Could not the
shpriffS and their deputies and constabes, the
regularly constituted officers to execute the
law, have made every arrest claimed to have
been made by these detectives, and have dis
charged every duty, except perhaps, that O
eaves-dropping and hanging about the premi
ses of honest men at night TO catch up some
preteXt for the exercise of their detcstable
| calling?
Where and when has there been an instance
| of resistance to the regular processes OF the
law? Where and when has there been thai
violation of law or disturbance OF the peace
which the slerlfs and their posse could not have
overcome, or which justi6es this pretended con
sta6ulary force i? Where and when has q single
Ku-Klux (for whose special benefit this force
pretends to have been organized) been arrest
ed. tried or convicted? Either the Ku-KluS
have not existed except in the guilty imagina'
ton OF his EXcellency, or the constabularI
have not done their duty. Why have they mol
arrested them? Why have they not appre-
hended the incendiaries who night after nigh,
have made the heavens bright with the flames
OF their unholv torches-wlth the destruction
of clubhouse after clubhouse Not one effort
did these projectors of the citizens and their
property make to arrest or punish the cr,mi
nails. The reason is obvious. The ma
Iority of this force was and Is COM
posed of SheCman's bummers, who had
reyelled in incendiarism, and 1t rejoiced
their vllanous souls to witness the destruc-
tion of the property OF our people, hoping to
excite our animosity to the colored people and
bring on war of races, and thereby afford an
excuse for their continuance. can point to
O half dozen gin-houses, some Of them filed
with cotton, destroyed oy incendiaries in the
County of Edgehel1 alone, the property OF ouI
no0t Opaepahp and cnncarvot I've citiZpnS. and