Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-08-26

No. 8, I. 0. o. F., in an official capacity.
Mr.. ]. Lyles Glenn left last week for Van.
derbilt University Law School, to tocomplete his
studies. DR.. G. B. White returned last week
from his trip to the Dental Association in
New York. Prof. w. H. Witherow, of the
graded school, has returned from the springs
in North Carolina. Mr.. Sidney B. Nail and
sisters have also returned from a pleasant
trip through the same State. Mr.. David
Rothrock has also returned from visit to
North Carolina. Sheriff Walker left last
week for the purpose of making short pleas
ure trip to the mountains and springs of
North Carolina.
Miss Susan Worthy, of West Chester, aged
7S years, died of cancer on the 18th instant.
Mrs. Susan G.. Wright, of Halsellville, died
suddenly of heart disease on the 18th instant.
On the same day Mr. Thos C. Clifton, aged %
years, son Of J. q. Clifton, of Cedar Shoals,
died of dropsy.
Business is beginning to improve. and q
good fall trade is anticipated. CHESTER.
THE STATE CAMPAIGN.
ADDRESS OF THE STATE DEMOCRATIC COM.
To the People Of South Carolina:
The Democratic party has again presented
to the country its platform of principles and
its candidates for Office. The records attest
the good faith and honesty of both.
The platform is Il plain and simple asser.
tion Of the principles Of the Constitution as
it i:,.snl tile officials of the government sc.
ected from and by the Democratic party are
guided by it in the conduct of their officers.
The duties of each officer are prescribed by law,
written law, aud when they are faithfully
performed, it is the law that rules and not the
individual who happens to personate it. In
deed, the faithful discharge of official duty is
necessary to this rule Of law on which de-
pends the peaceful enjoyment by the people
of all the liberty, justice and regulated order
that their system of Government is capable
of affording.
The honest observance of official obliga.
tions is necessary to the maintenance and
perpetuity of this Government of the people
by the people. Should our Government of
law, faithfully administered, fail to meet the
demands of the people, the mode is plainly
prescribed by law for such alteration and
amendment as may, from time to time, be-
come necessary. Any stretch of official pow.
er, to meet any supposed demand, is, to that
extent, the exercise of unlawful or arbitrary
power, and to that extent destructive to our
Government system-is, in fact, substitution
of personal for official power, which is antag.
onistic to both the letter and spirit of our in.
stitutions.
How worthy the motive or urgent the
emergency may be, the exercise of personal
power by even the most patriotic officer should
be watched and checked, as it opens the way
for faithless and designing officials to use the
machinery of Government for its subver.
sion.
1t is to maintain these principles in the
conduct of the Government that the Democ.
racy is arraying its strength for the coming
conflict. Whatever may have been the origi'
nal object and purpose Of our great antagon-
ist, the Republican party, however honest
and patriotic its platforms and candidates
may once have been, it would seem that their
organization was captured in the hour OF
triumph by faithless, selcseeking officials,
whose construction of the Constitution as to
their powers would have made the misguided
but pathetic old Federalists, against whom
Jefferson waged war and raised the people
in their might, stand aghast with horror. The
old ship that was steered through the stormy
sea of rebellion without the loss of spar had
barely reached smooth water when she was
boarded by these pirates and used to plunder
and destroy what che was built to protect.
Its flag, which was borne with such enduring
pluck through the bloody battles of a pro-
tracted war, was seized by treacherous t'"ds
and made the standard of arbitrary power
infinitely more dangerous to American insti-
tutions of liberty than the armed array Of
the world. Under the shadow of its folds
the old fortress of the, Constitution was dis
mantled and its armament moved to "camp
outside" Governmental organization was sub.
ordinated to party organization. Constitution.
al power was snpplanted by extra-constitati.
onal force, and the mandates Of party were
substituted for the law of the land.
1t is strange that this mode of conducting
constitutional government should render
necessary the expedients of fraud and force ?
The employment of both is prime necessity
to it. 1t is an ilnpossibility, without infa-
NOUS betrayal of trust on the part of officials,
sustained by the force Of extra constitutional
organizations. The practical result of all
this is a de facto centralized government, the
powers of which are limited only by the dis.
erection of its officials. Thanks to the wis
dom of the fathers of the Republic, the exer-
else of this discretionary power is curbed by
obstacles inherent in the mstchless system
itself which they framed. The officials
through whom the powers of government are
operated, are all, from the President to the
humblest municipal officer, sworn to support
the Constitution and laws of the country, and
the extent to which arbitrary rule is practica.
BILE, is in proportion to the faithessness of
these officials. Where all are true to their
trusts, it is impossible Where all are faith.
less, arbitrary government is fully equipped
with the machinery necessary for its complete
administration. When, in the recent past,
our State government, under the control OF
the Republican party, was converted into an
engine of oppression, degradation and ruin,
we were experiencing the full operation Of
this centralized government. The sworn Of
6cials furnished by the Republican party, 80
far from interposing the natural obstacles OF
our governmental system to the admnistra.
ton Of unlawful government, themselves de:
stroyed the barriers of the law, and added
their share of arbitrary power to the tide of
tyranny that engulfed US all. This method
Of conducting government is the only one
known to the Republicans Of South Carolina.
Driven we'll nigh to despair, the freeborn
citizens of the State resolved to unite their
strength in a supreme effort for relief. They
succeeded in restoring the power and authority
of law in the State, and thereby placed her