Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-06-28
MERRIMOX AND sHIpP AT CLINTON
The Effect of their Speeches -SHnlp
SON Aroused.
CLINTON, n. c., June, 1872.

." CLINTON, n. c., june, 1872.
Dcur JO,rnm Though late, / cannot
resist the temptation to give you some i'm
pressions of the speech OF Judge MerrimOn,
delivered in our village on the 9th of June.
The Judge has been before the public too
short Il time to have Il well defined and
generally understood character rs Il poll
tician, and among us there was little known
of him personally, even rs . speaker;
| while, therefore, there was 4 willingness,
! and even IN anxiety to hear him, there was
| no special enthusiasm in the man-nO
| such rush for ''standin@ ground us If Gov
| ernor Vance had been the speaker. The
people desired to hear him, that they might
form their Judgment of the man who had
! been selected for great emergency. There
was lust sufficient absence Of feeling and
furor to afford splendid occasion for
| witnessing the effect of mind on mind.
VIII he play tie demagogue or the states
man? was the question with many. In
many others was the earnest hope that we
| may find ii him q man equal to the emer-
gences OF the timcS-thc necessities of the
State.
lie began by stating the political aXioms
! in the science of free gOvcrnmcnt-the
principles underlying civil liberty. These
were stated with a clearness and precision
! worthy the prOfoUndeSt student Of political
and all of these principles have been viola
ted by the Government, State and National
and this assumption was established by
facts which Government itself has re-
coIded. 1t was placed beyond the posi-
biiity of question that the people Of North
| Carolina have been denied the right OF trial
by jury denied the privilege Of the acTtt
| OfHabcdS corpus that the government has
claimed, and repeatedly exercised, without
| ~, ,.frrJ+ n
Knocked the idea of the freedom Of the
| press and that it has exercised the right
OF taxation TO perpetuate a party, to en-
| rich corruption and ruin its detenCeleSS cit
zens. 1t was proved by facts (tO which
the bleeding hearts of the people said
amen), that our property, our papers, our
lives, are all at the mercy OF a reckless gov
/ ernnent, which with no higher motive than
greed of gain, with brute force, is driving
heedlessly over the scattering remains Of
! human liberty, blind to justice and deaf to
the feeble ;ries OF fainting patriotism.
When lie speaker reached the climax at
| once of gid thought and lofty patriotism,
! it was no longer asked, who is Judge Mer-
| rimOn? and will he do for Governor? The
! speaker was hardly thought of; so thor
| oughly had he invested his u.ject with its
! true dignity and grandeur, that the public
mind was overwhelmed with its magnitude.
Many a sturdy yeOman, when he saw
the picture of his country under the leel
OF the tyrant, drawn by the hand Of honest
patriotism, though unused to tears, wept
rs n child. Rarely have | seen such an eff
feet Of mind on mind and heart. There
was no explosive applauSc-nO rush for
| revenge-no vindictivenesS-but Il deep,
| quiet, reflective CarneStnGSS, the result of
deeply felt oppression, and Il newly anima-
! ted hope of redemption. ! say newly ami
mated hOp", for in the type Of patriotism
embodied in MerrimOn, we saw more Of
the genial rays Of hope than have beamed
on us for many weary month Under
the leadership of such man ignorance
ill be driven to its hiding places, and po-
| litical corruption Will no longer hold high
| carnival over the sacred rights Of a brave
people.
The speech was Il splendid success, as
! an exposition of truth, lucid and exhaus-
tive, as specimen of pOlimics triumph
! ant, and rs an appeal to the head and
| heart OyerpOWcrinG. 1t cannot be better
! characterized than rs u condensed system
of political education, beginning with A Is
! G. For from that single speech the mass
OF mind learned more of government in
| general, and OlIr own government iii par
ticIar, than from all that Pitt, Burk and
| Webster ever wrote. But the glory Of the
| speech, and the glory of the man are,
| that 1t anu he are DaptlIeu Ill the emo
/ bling, the all-consccrating spirit OF patriot
| ism. The audience felt that they were
| addressed not by Il mere politician-a place
| hunter-an ignOble aspiraut to an unde
| served reputation, but by statesman,
| patriot whose great powers are cOnsecrated
! to their interests and to the redemption of
| our dishonored State.
| | know not what others may do, but the
true men of Sampson county will vote for
Merrimon with IN enthusiasm, 4 hearty
good will, an old-fashioned election day
| feeling, of which they have known but
| little III the last seven years.
Long may he live to expose political dis
honesty and defend the principles of free
| government.
Judge Ship said but little, but his manly
bearing and honest face We're equally as
effective as anything he could have said.
Shipp will command any honest, intelligent
vote in the county; MerrimOn will do 40
more. OPECTATOR'
The brewers in the United States num-
Der over 5000, with capital of O,Ooo,-
600, giving employment to thousands OF
people, and consuming over 2},WoUE1
bushels of bertley nuts and lS,O0O,0O
pounds of hops, requiring for their cnltiTa-