The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-06-26
RFPUBL1CAN MEETING AT ABAE'
VILE.

OlSly given, hepu'ie"' ''>
was held in our town, on Monda!
night os the past week, which wa'
etdvcr sad succcs>ivcly by Judge Orr
Judge Hosc, J Scott Maaray, Esq:
and A, Blythe, Esq, and oihors' A
platform had beca erected in front O
the old Courthouse, and i very res
pcctable ardiencc assembled to hca'
the speakers. Tho Abheyi'Ic Bras
Band was in attendance and eoatribu
ted to he,mus;c Of tho occasion. Sen
ator Ho!Iiashead was called to tb'
Char, buS declined in favor OF Ev
eri1se Cain, member Of the nouse
who Introduced the successive speak
ers.
The speech of Judge Orr, came
first in order, and pursued snbs'an
TALLY the same topics as the speech
lately delivered by him in Columbia:
of which pretty full synopsis was
given in onr Columbia cxcha ngo
was devoted almost entirely to de-
fence Of The administration of Gcner'
al Grant, and Of the platform and
principles of tho Republican party
Coming from one who occupies the
standpoint of Judge Orr,lt contained
nothing which VIC might not expect
from an earnest Republican, and
which wo suppose would not be gen
orally endorsed by men of the party
It's error in our view, as indeed Of
most party speeches, consisted in pre-
scnting only halctruths-in ignoring
the mass of facts and circumstances
which mako up the other side Of ev'
cry sfea+ question.
Tnus in defending tho administra
tion of Gen Grant, with reference tc
the execution of the ku Klux Law
he denounced, VIC thought ve"y justly
the Eu KIux oatragcs, but neglected
to state the character Of the class
who were arraiyncd before The Uhltet
States Court, and many Of whom
pleaded guilty to tho indictments
found-a miserable, motley crowd
who joined the order to crafty some
private piqao or local grudso, ane
perverted an organization Wh:cl
was bad enough in itself, to purposes
WHICH were never contemplated by
its founders. The error consists i!
making the mi cradle convlcts who
received thcirpunish mcnt from judge
Bond, the representatives of ihe res
pcciablo white people Of the State
and in attempting to create the i'm
preston that they received aid an
eountenarce from the South Carolins
Democracy, Again, whilst recitins
the inducements which led to ih
passage of the law, and the CALL
which were made upon the Prcsluen
to suspend the Hubeas Corpus, tn
speaker neglected to tell the audienc'
t:ai the law was enforced when tn
outragcs had entirely ceased, and th'
Nabeos Corpus suspended when ther'
was no resistance of legal process
Tue strou arm of the military Wa
empowered TO arrest when there wa
no necessity, jails wero crowded, ant
nine counties paralyzcd, and al tt
enforce sentences which were not de
signed to prevent crime, for th'
crimes had ceased, but to manufacture
party capital for a party campaign.
AS to The nepotism of Gen. GRAFT
his lavish bcstowment Of Office OF
his f,ispds-the speaker defended th'
President On the ground that compe
tency was the only matter to DO en-
auircd into. and that if compctent, i
ma;iercd nothing that the appointee
were relatives. But the very point o
the objection is that the preccden
is bad, since it furnishes strong
temptation to appoint incompeten
men to Office; and General Grant ha'
been very much slandercd if some o
his relatives arc not among the mos
Incompetent officials in the service
The President has de>iated from :
precedert. WHICH was scrppuloaslJ
followed by Washington and JcTerscr
and their successors, and inauguratet
q practice which admits nciiner o
justification nor apology.
Soin refcrcaee to receiving presents
the Judge holds that that the sin con
sists not in receiving the gift but il
being corfuptly Influenced. Yet l'
will reco'lect that when Lord Bacor
was charged with receiving bribcs, j
was not esteemed by tho Parliamen
Of Great Britain, a sufficient answe'
that he had given jadgment egains
tie donor. Tho precedent is bad
the sin consists in taking.
The administration OF Grant wa'
defended, as having givon Is strength
and character abroad, and peace