The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-12-17
Wade Hampton at Home.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT
SOUTHERN LEADER.
The Present Attitude of South Carolina
His Opinion Of Public Men and
Things. ~
Correspondence Bostom Herald :

IUlNSSs SO Ht
Correspondence Boston Herald 80
secretary yesterday, Waiting for n chance to
nee the Governor. when in walked o IMAM OF
commanding figure. with n finely shaped
and handsome iron-gray hair. His tones, rs
he made Il CHEEKY salutation all round, were
deep and fill. He leaned OIL crutchcs, and
his left leg was gone below the knee.
ais that Wade Hampton 2" 1 asked In
stinctively.
"Yes. SIR replied the secretary, and In nm
other moment I was introduced to the Hero
OF South Carolina, the man who defended the
afterward reported $50 tits snitll as have burn
ed the beautiful city OF Columbia, including
his " house, to prevent anything OF Vaiue
from falling into Union hands the man who,
| made the President withdraw the Federal
troops from Columbia and the state, after an
occupancy OF eleven years, In April, 1873 the
man, finally, who Is credited with redeeming
the State In the same year, almost by inc
magic of his name. from n reign OF such out
rageous corruption and barbarism as the
world never witnessed before. Here he was,
Wade Hampton, the planter. n lone gentle
If 1t wasn't so d-dcold." This ctiss-word Is
to be excused rs n newspaper mans emoeI-
llshment, Hampton doesn't curse. EDS. +.
II understand, General" I began, shat the
Republicans intend to secure south Carolina
in the Presidential election of 1880, with less
fuss than attended their efforts last time,
and that they are already atwork on the pre-
"indeed: but don't think 1t will do them
much good. had heard rumOrs 6f that KIND
myself, but I have paid no attention 10
them.
The Result Of the Next Election
VIII depend In this state or hoy the cam
paicn Is managed. If the Democrats pursue
the proper course. I have no doubt they Will
have n majority for their candidates"
"How can you hope for TINT when the negro
voting population exceeds the wnite S,!ooVs'
is 100, 900; the white vote Is 5000, and q few Of
these, perhaps. are Radicals. But q large num-
Der of the negroes in this State are Demo-
Gratis. The negroes are gradually alienating
themselves from the Radicals. These fellows,
YOU know, who came o here at the close
Of tho war, i~nstilled into the negroes mere
md everywhere else n deep political opposi-
while the negroes would never hesitate be-
tween Il Radical and q native, white In Dor
rowing money or ask Ing Il favor, put go direct
ly and every time to the native %hite,. YET as
sure rs election day came round, nc went TO
the polIs and voted with the Radicals. Va
rious causes contributed to produce this obe-
dent. uhchanging direction he TOOK: HIS
first belief, received from Radical teachings,
back toward slavery. Few of them are now
possessed OF this idea. Then the Radicals
we're the dominant party. and could carry
them easily by that influence. Hatred f0r
their old masters has very little room In the
which made them Radicals were various,
but must needs be ever active to produce
permanent results. They have not produc-
gradually recognizing that they made q mis-
take In voting against a government com.
posed of sons OF the sol, and men who have
every right to govern the land OF their birth.
In other words, they see that when tho Dem.
looked after than whenthey were under Rad.
ical rule, because the Democ rats are govern
Ing their own State for the mutual good OF
its citizens. Not to appear oneslded IN my
views, l will say that I have my own state in
mind. Yes, this State, In which, according
TO the popular sentiment OF the North, sed.
ulousIy fostcred by your newspapers, every
white man Is q rifle club and the state a ne.
4 conditiO Of corruption md barbarism from
eight years misrulc and wild and courageous
mlsgOvernment, that the Republican party
denied that they were Republicans; they
recognized them only as thieves and robbers
and scalawags, who were pillaging under
that flag. They had lost the countenance OF
the National purity. l cannot describe the
Awful Despair Of the People
or his State when I was proposed US n candi-
date for Governor against Chamberlain. We
\ luu run unnlIlSG CIdIIlDeTldIN Ill loft, Will
Mr.. Green as n candidate, and also made IN
effort against the Radicals In 1877, with NJ. Z.
Buffers name ut the head OF the ticket. We
were defeated on both occasions. / accepted
the candidnture IN 1876, with the understands
Ing tina | was to conduct the campaign &C.
c0rdlng to my W notion ). There were some
who counscllcd making H. aggressive and bit.
ter, but l utterly refused 10 doany such thing;
and when / told them what my idea was, !
am afraid they had not much faith in my sue.
cess. There was SO much, they thought, In
the way the State had su tered, that ought To
be made clear to the negroes, who were our
strong point, us some would have looked nj
1t. One OF the first things | did, on receiving
my nomination., was to oifer To divide my
time and opportunities With Chamberlain
can wasting tic State togcl her md speaking
alternately TO the same audience. He refused,
and made no personal canvass Mt all. The
Radicals feared that, II Ch ambcrlaln went on
the stump, he would draw the negroes out to
hear us speak. Their gre nt point was to pre-
vent the negroes from attending my meetings
rs l would already catch i'll the white men.
Well, / started on my Canvass, and ! made q
thorough one. There arc 33 counties In South
Curolina, and I spoke In all. The Northern
papers ftIsilled and vilIified that campaign
ouirngeously. They wcr hardly less honest
than the thieves In our own State. Talk about
rifle clubs and barbecue massacres and mid.
night murder of negroes! l suppose l must
have spoken In that can vass 10 ut least three
hundred thousand people, many OF them ne
Sroes. butt never saw Il ( I'm, Il knife or q pls.
tol tcxccpta few l may have seen; OF small
calibrc, such as men carry habituully.) !
never saw q weapon ora fist used IN all my
canvass, and ] took In Beaufort and Charles
tor. and other places VIII ere the be-
lieved / was unsafe and In peril OF my life. ]
and I carried none myself: indeed, l never
do. l never solicited the attendance Of the
negroes, hut ! welcomed them to my meet
fnes. and muny came, for even they, Ignorant
us they were, knew hat the state was In n
dreadful condition. On one occasion, happen.
ing to speak near good sized negro village,
l sent an invitation for them TO come and
large meeting, and all around the outskirts
waS n double row Of mon on horseback, who
had ridden IL long dista nee to hear me. They
parted right md left, and the colored men,
under my direction. marched down to the
front seats and stayed TO hear me out. They
were ut liberty to halloo, and did halloo, for
Chamberlain Mt these. meetings. Does this
look like terrorism and bulldozing? we htu
political clubs, as you have them In the
North, and, In the Isolated parts OF the State,
two thousand or three thousand men would
gather and ride to my meetings. on horseback
but they never molested or quarrelled With
the negroes. 1t was
Against Our Own Interests to do So.
More could be manifestly done by peaceful
standing the situation, than by force. A
any rate, there was no force used In thai
campaign OF 1876, to my knowledge, what
ever you may haye heard to tho contrary IN
the North. I had some claim upon the ne
groes, which knew they would acknowledge
I was the first man to propose n qualified SUI
frage for them after their emancipation. l
did It after Oliver P. Morton had said no to
the subject, and Ibid IL here right among
them. / knew that I was In their favor, and
the result justified my belief. l believe that
there was fraud used In the election OF that
year, but Mr.. Hayes was clearly elected by
the returns. The total vote Of the state was
lS5, 900. Now, the returns as the RADICALS
made them showed that 1873 500 votes had been
cast. It is simply preposterous to suppose
that or any other election, or ever will: Sew.
cnty-fivc per cent. of the whole number OF
voters Is the highest that has ever been heard
OF here, and that has been brought out only
once. Tllden was behind sometwo thousand
votes, although Mr.. Hayes majority was less
than mine, some tive hundred. I think
Chamberlain, according to the returns. had
10000 more votes than he received In 1874. his
vote being about 0l 900. I had calculated on
81 600 and received some twelve hundred more
than Chamberlain Charleston returned a
vote 10000 larger than her voting population,
and Beaufort 1900 moro than hers. They had
all kinds OF men acting rs repeaters; they
imported villains from other States, and even
dressed up women and sent them to vote.
The Republicans In Charleston had 10000 It's
sue ballots printed, and the Democrats, hear,
ing it, printed q large batch themselves and
used them. 1t was a clearly demonstrates
fact that the Republicans printed them first.
and the Democrats followed the lead. There
were 5000 cast by the Republicans in Charles
ton. but they had no effect or the election, as
used, in all, eight counties. and the principal
use to which they were put Is this: When
there Is On excess OF ballots In the box, a man
blind-folded takes out Il handful. BY the nid