The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1877-01-06
Wade Hampton's Grandfather.


Enthusiastically not in his OWE
eyes-without some reference to his
ancestors" Wade Hampton is only
a part, and, as we have seen, u nOt
very creditable part, of the s. Hamp-
ton family" Next to himself there is
nothing that so excites his admiration
and that of his friends, as the :" family
He even based his claim to the Gov
ernship in his speeches during the
campaign, on the fact that " the bones
of his ancestors lay buried in the soil
of South Carolina" which he doubtless
thought would offset the fact of his
being a n-resident. Now, a man
who lives on the reputation of his an
cestors, is said to be like beet, the
better part of him is under ground.
But in Wade Hampton's case it may
be questioned whether the under
ground portion could honestly boast
over the surviving part of the surface.
Let us see. The readers of the Times
have doubtless heard of the great
Yazoo fraud" of three quarters of a
century ago. If they have not, they
can consult George Bancroft, the his
toriaa. 1t was briefly thus: Ia the
year 1895 the Legislature of Georgia
was brlbed to pass an act making IL
grant of 35, 900, 900 acres of land (com-
prlsing nearly all of what are now
the States of Alabama and Mississippi,
to Wade Hampton's grandfather, (who
also bore the name of Wade), and
Others associated with him, for the
paltry sum of $500,000, or less than
one and a half cents per acre. This
WAS probably the first case of the
wholesale bribery of a Legislature on
this continent, and Georgia can boast
of the first " corrupt carpet bag Leg
islature. The grandfather of Wade
Hampton was the '' Boss Tweed - of
the early days of the republic. The
| following extracts from IL book enti-
tied g Memories of Fifty Years." writ
ten by w. IL. Sparks, a native of Geor-
gla, wlll give All idea of the transaction
known i'll history as the "Yazoo
fraud, and nf the action of the peo-
pie of Georgia relative to it:
" General Wade Hampton, Grnrg.
Walker, Zaciiariah Cox aud Matthew
MrAlllster were the parties most ac-
tive III procuring the passage of the
Gazoo act. That bribery was extern
sively practiced there is no doubt,
and the suspicion that it even ex-
tended to the executive gained cre-
dence AS u fact, aud was the cause of
preventing his name ever being given
To county in the State it is IA sig
niticant fact of this suspicion, and
also of the great unpopuIarity of the.
act, that to- this day every effot to
that end has failed
s. Before the passage of this measure
the will of the people had been sutfi-
cienty expressed iii the indignant
outburst of public feeling, as tn leave
no doubt upon the minds of the corrupt
Representatives that they had not
only forfeited the public confidence,
bnt had actually imperiled safety.
Upon their return to their homes,
after the adjournment, they were not
only met with universal scorn, hGt
with inappeasable rage. Some of the
most guilty we're slain some had
their houses burned over their heads,
and others fled the State one was
pursued and killed in Virginia, aud
all not only entailed upon themselves
infamy, but also upon their innocent
posterity; and to day to he known
as the descendant of Yazoo man is a
badge of disgrace"
The next Legislature of Georgia re-
pealed the Yazoo grant and made
bonfire of it in the public square.
The conspirators then sought relief
from Congress where they presented
a claim Of $5,0O0,0OO for losses sus-
tanned by the people of Georgia in
upsetting their fraudulent grant. In
order to aid in pushing this claim
through Congress, grandfather Hamp-
ton got himself elected to the House
of Representatives, and it was during
the discussion of the claim in that
House that the famous old John Ran
doiph of Roanoke put on record his
estimate of Wade Hampton's ancestor.
+" Shaking his long, lank finger at Mr..
Hampton" says the historian, he
exclaimed at the top of his voice, Mr..
Speaker, | hope, sir, to see the day
when Yazoo claimant and villain
will be Synonymous terms
Comparatively few Americans are
able to go behind their grandfathers
in tracing theirK ancestry, and it is
not known that the present Wade
Hampton claims to be an exception.
1t will suffice, therefore, for the pres
ent to drop the question of ancestry
with the solemn and deliberate dec
laration of old John Randolph on the
floor of Congress, that the head ances-
tor of the Hampton family of South
Carolina was 8: villain"
The Yazoo job was nearest ap-
preached before the days of carpet-bag
Senators. when those precious speci-
mems of Democratic integrity, BeDja-
min and Slidell, g snaked through
Congress a law to enable them to steal
the hoinesteads of three or four hun
dreds of their constituents.
F~ horrihia oaaidaut Oocurrad