New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-11-02
Eno1riRe, Tenn, Oct. 80, 1876.
LETTER FROM U. S. SENATOR GORDON

LETTER FROM u. 5. SENATOR GOhDON'
rxTp1,g REPORTS SENT NORTH-THE POLITICAL
MEETINGS. PEACEFUL--wADE HAMPTON's PACIFIC
sPEECHRs-AN ATTEMPT To OBTAIN GOOD GOV
FRNuFNT-THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GEORGIA
AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
70 the razor Of The Trfbune
SIR: This morning read for the first time in your
issue of Oct. II letter, Purporting to be from
native of South Carolina, which is filled with the
prosscst msreprcscntatons The ability and adroit-
ness With winch it is written; the poison, thlnly
supar-coated with moderation, with which this
writer seeks 70 prejudice the Northern mind the i'm
measurable interest which the whole South
has in the publication Of truth, and my own
acquaintance, from personal observation, Win
affairs in South Carolina, WILL hope Justify letter
over my own signature in reply TO this writer who
secs fit 10 Withhold his name from the pubhc.
Tn. people of South Carolina, III their efforts to
throw of a corrupt and irresponsible state Govern
lnent. have the sympathy of all oar people II,
therefore, they guilty Of the urproVoAoo anu
atrocious tarbarities receptions, ana peiJufes ol
which your correspondent accuses them, tAey ana
the whole white people of the Southern States merit
not only exclusion from the synpathies OF 'helr
own countryncn at the North but inc eAeci"'ioHs
OF all honest men in Christendom
In view of considerations which seem to make 1t
incxpedient for Southern men 70 participate IN
public political discussions at the North, trust
YOU will afford me the opportunity through Your
columns Of inviting the attention OF thinking men
Of both parties in that section to the strange ms
representations OF your correspondent. lie may be-,
as is claimed a South Carolmian, but he certainly
exhibits with reference to notorious facts an igno-
rance totally Inconsistent with his claim OF
nativity or an indifference 10 truth utterly irrecon-
cilable with honest intentions. Let ne notice il
Il. ltTg1 4
SAMPLES of the whole. Perhaps few places are
better known TO South Carohans, as well as to
Georgians, than the home OF the Hon. AleXan-
der II. Stephens. 1t has long been Wis
tied by his cOlntrymen, North and South,
who have been attracted by the high at
taiuments and social virtues of its proprietor.
Liberty Hall" is as well known in Georgia and
South Carolina as Monticello in Virginia Yet this
native South Carolinian N makes Augusta the
home Of this distinguished Georgian, whereas III
truth he never lived III that city in hiS life.
This correspondent also asserts, for purpose which
is perfectly transparent, that the political move
meut" in which the people of South Carolina are
engaged aud at the head of which is Gen. Hamp-
ton is led by the same men who carried that State
into seccssion;" that Hampton is the frcea;er OF
fre-eaters." II these statements were true they
would not be very significant IN a state which was
40 nearly unanimous for secession; bat Your CORE
spondent in his delirum of eXaggcraicn, las fallen
into Misrepresentation of facts particularly no
toTious. Wade Hampton is at the head OF a
movement" 20 elect Governor a citizen identi-
fed with the welfare of the State. Thus far your
correspondent is correct, but Wade Hampton is not
a"fre-eater of ire-eaers," nor was he among those
"who led that State into secession On the contrary,
he was one of the few men in South Carolina who
opposed to the very last committing the destinies
of bis State to that grave and most perilous expert
ment He was VIGOROUSLY an antagonist of that
moyement spoke and voted in the South Carolina
Senate against the ordinance of secession, and has
been universally recognized since the war as one OF
the most moderate men in any Southern State. SO
far from being the "freeater of freeaters, he has
been in very truth the conservative of conserya-
tives He was the first man, believe in all the
South if not in the whole country, TO advocate the
citizenship Of the colOred race, and nothing could