Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-03-05
ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE.

Oel. heTSHaW, lTOlu Ine CoululItee oH 1au-
dress to the People, submitted the following,
which was unanimously adopted:
The committee to prepare an address to the
people of the State respectfully report the fol-
lowing address to the people of South Caro-.
lima:
FcNo,p- Citizens The representatives of the
taxpayers to whom has been entrusted the
high and solemn duty of recommending
measures of protection against the corruption
and rapacity that rules the organized band Of
wicked and INSCRIPTIONS adventures who,
under the guise of government and in the
name of party, have persistently despoiled
you of your property and outraged your most
sacred rights, deem it becoming and proper
to lay before you in this form certain consid-
erations in connection with their action and
deliberations, which they suppose worthy Of
your earnest and thoughtful attention.
1t would be unnecessary and painful to re.
cite your wrongs the sense Of these is not the
least poignant of the suferings YOU have been
called on to endure during these five years Of
unparalleled outrage upon a refined and
Christian people. We would have our words
speak of courage, of hope, of patience, of faith,
of work and of duty. He who has rightfully
pondered the dealings of an all-wise and be.
nefcent Providence with the affairs Of men,
cannot fail to have discovered an unvarying
and inevitable social law, that all great wrongs
tend to their own correction, and work out in
the end a sure compensation for the ills they
infct. Thus the ebb and flow of human
ideas, obeying the divinely implanted princi-
pie of perpetual gravitation toward the right,
always returns from the widest deviation,
and recoils most violently and with accelera-
ted velocity from the greatest errors This
truth has impressed itself upon the thoughts
of the world with the force of an axiom upon
which may be based the soundest propositions
of the statesman. 1t has been aptly styled
"the fanaticism of justice, which the stars, in
their courses, sustain, and against which no
attribute of the Almighty takes any part"
1t is vain to suppose that the enlightened
American people are exempt from the appli-
cation of this universal social law. We feel
justified in stating our conviction, that, break
ing through all the barriers of prejudice, po-
litical strife and the resentments Of interni-
cine war, the refux Of the great tide of opin-
ion and sympathy is already moving with
overwhelming force, bearing with it the prom
ise of restored nationality, based upon the
broad and enduring principles of liberty, jus.
tice and truth. We would not be understood
as encouraging the thought that what has been
swept away in the past can ever be restored.
This great country has taken a new depart
ure has engrafted upon her system Of gov
ernment new principles and deals with new
elements. The returning sense ofjustice will
find its task in the adjustment of these new
factors of power into harmonious accord with
the true principles of republicanism, and in
providing ample protection for the rights and
liberties of the people. 1t will probably not
deal with organic laws, but with faithless,
corrupt and oppressive administrations.
While we present these cheerful anticipa-
tions which we feel justified in doing by many
and great changes in sentiment and opinion,
manifested among even the most extreme Of
the great political leaders and high officials Of
the country, and still more in recent popular
movements, it is intended to invite to earnest
and hopeful effort and action, rather than to
lull into false security. No help can ever
reach a people who suffer themselves to fall
into apathy or despair. The energies of men
seeking relief from wrong and oppression must
be vitalized organized and united. Every
accessible position Of power must be seized,
held and utilized, and the fight carefully, Wig
ilantly and faithfully fought from place to
place, until the citadel be won and the right
restored. The convention looks to your &C.
tion as the most prominent and essential ele-
ment Of the success to be achieved. In order
to procure restoration Of an honest admins
tration of affairs, the rens Of government must
pass into the hands of honest men. Hitherto,
political issues have controlled all elections,
and the great interests Of the State have been
subordinated to the schemes of corrupt and
evil men, whose insatiate avarice and rapaclty
have brought US more Of ruin and desolation,
of wrongs and suderings, than the hercest raw
ages of war. The coming ideas will sweep
away party lines and destroy the trade of
hungry political adventures. Government
will be made once more the agent of the peo.
pie, not their master, and the great industrial
interests of the country, commerce and agri-
culture, become the prime objects Of its pro-
lection, rather than its prey. To participate
in these benefits, we must be placed in con-
dition to receive them. There must be an Or
ganization upon basis wholly independent of
political parties and issues, based upon the
fundamental principle, that the rights and in
terests of the people require an honest, faith
FIJI ond ooononioo1 o1mistrotion Of nlh)ic af-