Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-09-16
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SPEECH OF SENATOR BAYARD,
DELIVERED IN COLUMBIA, SEPT. z, 1880.

My Friends, my Fellow Countrymsn, Citi
zens of South Carolina This is the first time
that have entered upon the soil OF your
State and taken part in your political coun'
sells, and while am rejoiced to see this great
gathering of men, aye of the women of the
State of South Carolina, because it shows me
that they appreciate the great Importance OF
their duties under Republican form of gov.
ernment, for without earnest devotion and
unselfsh and disinterested attention by hon.
est men and honest women in public affairs,
we shall have little chance Of making this
the safe government of a free people yet l
must beg of you silent attention, for | am
here, need say to you, as the friend of every
man and woman upon the soil Of this State.
Immense applause.
Standing here surrounded by banners that
bear such Inscriptions as meet my eye, the
names of Marion, of Sumter, and OF Laurens,
why they bring back to me the struggles in
which my own people had their part in COM
mon with you. They recall those ancient
traditions Of American valor and of Ameri-
can patriotism, all of which developed them
selves for the common cause of American
freedom and independence. 1t ISL believe,
but matter of thirty miles from the place
where we stand today to the
BATTLE FIELD OF CAMDEN,
where on that day, side by side with your
own people, q regiment from Delaware, led
by Baron DeKalb, laid down their lives
almost to man for the great cause of the
freedom and independence of this country.
would like indeed to visit that field of bat
tie. l would like to pluck from that sacred
spot some poor blade of grass, some pretty
twig or leaf to carry back to my children to
show them that the American feeling is not
bounded by lines or hemmed in by sections,
and that common ties will call US to COM
mon defence whenever it will be necessary
[Applause.]
Fellow citizens, the topics upon which l
desire to treat to day are not local. do not
address you simply as South Carolinians
The issues to which l desire to address your
intelligent attention are national. They be-
long to the whole country. You are here 10
day in my mind and in my eye, but are only
part Of that great army Of thoughtful and in
telligent men enrolled under the banners OF
the National Democracy who are fighting the
same
BATTLE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY
everywhere all over the Union. In 1876
this great National Democracy, which is or
ganized in every State, in every county, in
every city, in every township, in every State
from Oregon to Maine, from Minnesota to
Florida, from Texas to Massachusetts,, all were
moved by the same impulse that move you
to day, and all are marching on to accom-
plish the same great end to which your or"
ganization is dedicated. Immense cheer
ing.]
Fellow citizens, while thank you for
every expression of your approval, still had
rather have your careful attention than your
enthusiastic reception. The matters | have
to speak of are not triAing and are not to be
settled by cheers, but by the strongest intel
lectual endeavor that each one of us can ex.
ert, and we should give to a discussion Of
these questions that gravity which so great
and holy cause demands. Isay that in 1876
this great party, of which you are members,
polled in the Union four and half millions
of votes There was popular majority Of
one quarter of million that was meant to
prevail, and would have prevailed, had not
THE SPIRIT OF REVOLUTION
and of despotism possessed those in charge of
our National Government, and by mixture
of fraud and force perverted the honest re-
suits of great election by the people.
[Cheers That majority is not to be decreased.
The four and a quarter millions of votes
polled for Tilden and Hendricks in 1876 will
grow to five millions of votes in 1880 for
Winfield Scott Hancock and William H.
English. do not say this as All idle boast.
l don't mean this as an excited utterance
from the stump. say that which | believe,
that the current of an honest public senti.
ment-what may term the instinct of self
preservation, will cause such an expression at
the polls in November next, that no one will
be so wicked, so daring or so dishonest as to
attempt to defeat the voice of the great
American people as will then be so positively
expressed. Prolonged cheers
As said, | address you as part of great
whole, as National and not sectional par.
ty. The time has never been in my life when
l was a member of sectional party. The
time has never been when l have asked any
man to accept the unjust domination of an
other. have been all my life not for the
Solid South or for the Solid North, but for
THE SOLID UNION
of the North and of the South on terms OF
peaceful and just equality. What task so
easy as for me to speak here to-day? There
is nothing that | have to conceal. No por.
ton of my heart is or ever has been unfaith-
full to any part of this country, and what |
have to say in this pine grove to-day would
say with equal freedom upon the steps of the
New York Chamber of Commerce or in
Faneuil Hall in Boston. We have no OBJ
jects that need to be hidden from any por-
ton of our countrymen. We design neither
the degradation or the insult of any man who
lives under the flag of our country. We
speak in the same voice everywhere, every
where the same principles, in the sunshine
and in the darkness, always the same.
[Cheers.]
THE SOUTH AND THE UNION.
Now, if speak to-day of the value of the
South to the Union, in the same breath must
l speak of the value of the Union to the
South. The one cannot be separated from
the other. The health of the living body is
dependent upon the health of all the parts
and if there is canker in one part it will
spread to the modification of the whole body
Let me ask you this: What is there in the
Republican party today to give it claim
upon any disinterested voter in America fol
his support What are their claims? Ii
theirs are greater than ours, then in common
justice say that they should be allowed
But let US ask why it is that any fair-minded
man who wishes to be citizen father, hus
band, friend, to fill any relation in life prop
erly and conscientiously, what is there to bind