Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-10
rrF GOVERNORS SPEECH.

State being present. including many leading
men.
TIE GOVERNORS SPEECH.
The governor being loudly called for, adj
dressed the assemblage with reference to the
political future. He said:
would tell you that the dangers are still
impending; l would assure you that the VIC
tory is not yet won; | would tell you that
upon your conduct in the next two years de-
ponds whethet the frnits of that victory shall
be enjoyed by our children and chllareh's
children for generations to come, or whether
you will allow it to pass from you like worth
less bauble. 1t is for you to choose. If you
listen to detnageguesI if you listen to men
who subordinate everything to Office, to
wealth, to place and to power; if you will
hearken to extreme men, who will tell you
that the glorious platform Of 1876 was merely
a promise to be kept only to the ear and
broken to the hearth you listen to those men,
then say you might as well at once relinquish
the fight, for South Carolina will soon pass
again under the rule and to the ruin from
which she has just emerged, and in the great
Presidential contest of 1880 we shall not only
lose our own election, but we, the people of
South Carolina, will be the cause of breaking
down the national Democracy. A voice
1--WE will never do it, You have it all in
your own hands. You claim to be the ban
ner county of the State, and your claim is
not without right. You carried your election
by an overwhelming maj nrlty, because you
come before the people, white and black.
recognizing the rights of every citizen and
saying, "You shall all be equal under the
law" You went to the colored people and
told them that their rights would be protect
ed; you told them that we had pledged our
selves that the constitution and laws of South
Carolina should give equal protection to all;
you appealed to them to come and help you
work out the redemption of the State. They
came by hundreds and did help you; and
now, would you turn your back upon them,
and, after trying for ten years to convince
the colored man that his true interests lay
with the Democratic party, would you say,
"Now we have no use for you; you shall not
vote even at the primary elections?' If this
be the policy of South Carolina, then am
sadly mistaken in the people of South Caro-
lima, and the people are mistaken in me, be-
cause | can carry out no such policy as that.
| stand where you put me IN 1876. l have
not deviated one iota, and, despite the crlti-
clsms against me, defy any man to place
his finger upon one single act of mine that is
not in strict accord with of the policy of the
Democratic party IN convention assembled In
1876. They gave me chart and compass by
which | was to conduct this campaign.
Taking it as my guide, went before the peo-
pie, black and white, and in the name OF the
people held up that platform, and | said to
them; Here is what the white people of
! Tta.CtaFalina have said To the world, We
| form, which recognizes the equality OF every
citizen before the law; we have adopted our
| own platform of 1876, which indorses the
national platform and guarantees equality
before the law" From where the blue
| capped mountains kiss the sky to where
| old ocean rolls upon the coast, from north to
south, from east to west, | went before the
people, white and black, and told them that
if they elected US they would put men into
office who would recognize all the pledges
| and would carry them out In good faith, and
| tell YOU the men who have placed In power
| Hagood and his colleagues In the State offices
would cut off their right arms before they
would violate their pledges. 1t Is thought that
we can be successful IN THIS eiectlon py Irauu
land have heard rumors floating throughout
the State occasionally, lntmating that we
had the machinery of the election In our own
hands, and that we could count IN anybody
we pleased); | tell you, people OF BarnWell
and people of South Carolina, that II you
once countenance fraud, before many years
pass over your heads, you will not be worth
saving, and will not be worthy of the State
) YOU live in. Fraud cannot be successful,
, because the chosen sons of South Carolina
, form the returping-board now. The men thai
you have placed there as representing the
: truth and honor of South Carolina would die
: before they would per- ure themselves by
placing men wrongfully in office. You can carry
J the election by standing squarely on the plat
form of 1876. Display that banner again
Call upon all the citizens of South Caroline
} who want an honest government to rally t
the standard, and, my word for it, you vii
carry the State, and you will carry 1T over
whelmingly. Is it not better to fail In doinl
right than to succeed in doing wrong
t [''Yes! yesr'] You can succeed by carrying
e out the principles you have solemnly initiated
4 and in no other way. Do that and
s | can aid you again, will d
s it. But l can only assist you, b.
e standing upon that platform of 1876. IT yo
s are to inject into it any new and abhorren
s principles; if you are to 90 back upon al
pledges that l have made to the people;
you are to say that the colored men that hav
sustain I'd us are no longer to be citizens Q
s South Carolina; if you require me to go u
=, and give my allegiance to platform OF tbs
Y sort, then, my friends much as L would q
r for you and for South Carolina, earnestly as
/, would desire to spend or be spent in her ser'
= ice, willing as | am to give my lite Tor m
d State, should have to decline. l would CIV
b my life for South Carolina, but | cannot sa'
= rifce my honor, no not even for her. hay
d no fears for old Barnwel. l know she WI
" do her whole duty. Already the keynote hs
8 gone forth, announced from your convention
e Already have you placed yourselves rigl
e upon the record, and am sure that you WI
i find sister counties enough coming up should.
If TO shoulder in the convention soon to be be-
IT to declare that the faith, honor and pledgt
made in 1876 are to be held inviolate In lof
If this be done, then shall you soon see Pc
pie prosperous and free and dlsenthralle