The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-04-18
THE pENDLEroH CLUB.

The Pendleton Democratic Club held its
regular monthly meeting on last Saturday.
President ]. B. Sitton called the meeting,
which was large one, to order, and intro
drced as the Speaker for the occasion Col.
r. w. Simpson, Of whose remarks the fol.
lowinc, is O synopsis:
Inppear before you to-day, Mr.. President
and gentlemen, for no selfish purposs--not
expecting 70 again be candidate :2r any
ofiice. i have no motives in what am
about to say, other than to advance the in
tcrest and maintain the Integrity of that
great Democratic party which defeated Rad
.hiSvS back &c their homes, and established
in South Carolina once more O pure and
LoHsss government. The Press and many
individuals have, without stint, criticised
the actions of the lass Legislature, and have
forgotten when 60 criticising - tell of the
real good actions performed. or to explain
those acts which need explanation. Such
course is ruinous to the party, and will
surely work its disruption. Fair and hon.
est criticisms are right and proper, but such
not TO bring repYoach upon the whole DEM
ocratic party, because the Legislature may
have passed acts which you cannot approve.
Rethor visit your wrath upon the Repre-: an
tative3 who were Instrumental in passing
the Objectionable laws. If I have done
wrong, or any other OF your Representa-
tives. have done wrong, blame the party 30
dcins, but for Gods sake blame not that
political party to which we all belong, and
1a-v I.v
one year ago to such glorious victory-a
victory fought with ss;ch momentous results
to every men, woman and child in this our
native State.
We frequently hear it said by men of In
telligencs that they long to see the Legisla-
ture return to the modes in oper1 ion before
the war. ! can ascribs such .emurks to
nothing but lack of thought. Consider
vhate tremendous and overwhelming Ievo-
luton through which we have but recently
passed. When reconstruction was com.
pleted our Constitution and our laws were
overturned, and almost every vestige OF
fundamental law existing before the war
was swept away, and new Constitution
and new laws instituted III thssi stsa5, en-
bodylng the results Of the revolution. Be
sides this the entire cclored population was
adasd to The body polite, rendering neces-
saFy an entirely new code. With such laws,
end with Constitution framed by the bit
Ter and malignant hatred Of our opponents
for the purpose of the perpetual subjugation
OF tho white people, what could we do?
The Constitution we wore sworn to support,
and yet It hung like pail over the paral-
yzed industries Of The State, and turn which
way We might, It stood ever ready to vex
as. The laws ,were purposely in such o
tanBle There vas not o lawyer In the
State who could tell what the law was.
Besides, the debts or the state were in such
confusion 1t seemed hopeless to attempt TO
rectify them. The bonded debt, OF which
we know nothing. tho floating debt, be-
lieved to be millions, the deficiencies of
previous Legislatures. which y the consti.
tuition we were bound tc L.1vide for, the
contingent debt amounting to many mil
lions, and tho bills of the Bank Of the State
amounting to million or moro, ali were
claIroring for recognition, and were 80
bound up with contracts and Supreme
Court decisions, obtained under Radical
riio-Dut which was inv, neverJneiezs-it
seemed impossible 10 adjust them, so as TO
give satisfaction to any one.
Another result Of tho war would call
your especial attention to: The Radical
party is the party Of centralizatio ;, and so
long as it semaiIs in power this State can
not legisiAte independently. and as IL there
was no national government. In fact, our
every net ID closely watched and if We arc
not clrcumspect Radical politicians at the
North viii maks use of our blunders to in
fame the minds Of their people so rs to con-
tinue in power the Rac-a., party; and so
long rs this IL the case wo can never be in
trath free and happy people
Now, with these explanations, let US COM
pare the Legislature recently adjourned with
tho WY they did things In ante-belium
times. II took before tho war from FIVE to
seven hundred thousand dclla.N to run the