The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-09-03
WADE HAMPTON'S SPEECH.
The . PrincipIes ;, the south Is Fight.
Ing For.

From the Chicago Tribunel
There is one point about the contro.
yersy over the Wade Hampton speech
at Staunton, Va, which very pointedly
indicates the true version of the affair.
The report which Senator Hampton
personally Endorsed " for publication
In the New York Herald is identical in
language and sequence with the report
which was originally published in the
Staunton Valley Virgiaian, with the
exception of the very passages which
have excited SO much comment in the
North. The omitted passages are as
follows
We have always looked to her TVirginial to
lead, and we know that she has a right to do
so. We know her history and we know that in
seeking the path of duty she has ever found the
way to glory. | adjure you by your traditions.
by all that you hold sacred, to lead again, Vir--
GINA, as you have done heretofore, not always
to victory, but always to honor.
stood four years by the side of Yirginians
and know the stuff of which they are made.
In those four years never saw them falter. At
this crisis cannot, / will not, think that you
will prove false to your traditions-that you can
prove recreant to the exalted teachings, the en-
nobling inspirations of your glorious past.
Put by everything that can distract your atten-
ton from our one great object Look only to
that; fight for it, and win the fight / have
nothing to say to you about your local differ
ences we have them in our own State. but we
have rcsolutely put them behind us.
Consider what Lee and Jackson would do
were they alive. These are The same principles
for aultich they fought for four gears Remem-
Der the men who poured forth their life-blood
on Virginia's soil and do not abandon them now.
Remember that upon your vote depends the
success of the Democratic ticket.
The significance of the coincidence
which we have noted cannot fail to i'm
press itself upon the intelligent reader.
Ii Senator Hampton had a copy of the
speech which he delivered it is very
strange that the report should tally
with the original in text except as to
the above extracts. This theory would
imply that the editor had made a short
hand report of the speech and then in
corporated bodily the passages which
are now disavowed. 1t must be admit
ted that such action is, at least, highly
improbable, and would be dangerous
performance at the South. Moreover,
III such case, Senator Hampton would
be able to produce the original draft
Of the speech without the obje ctiona-
BILE passages, and to show that it was
written before the speech was delivered
But the fact is that the portions of
the speech which are allowed to stand
in the personally-indorsed version
lead up to the sentiments and express
ions that are omitted in the Herald
version. The most natural conclusion
is that Senator Hampton, or some
body for him, took the report which
appeared in the Staunton paper, crossed
out the passages which were found to
have caused offense and alarm at the
North, and substituted other sentences
to fill their places. Such revision of
a speech will scarcely be accepted as
authoritative.
The principles for which Lee and
Jackson fought, and devotion to which
was invoked by Hampton as the strong
est appeal he could make to the Virgin
ians of to-day, were human slavery, Sc
cession, and disunion. There can be no
question about this. IF the principles
involved i'll the present Southern effort
to obtain control of the Government are
+" the same for which they fought for
four years." then human slavery, Sc
cession, and disunion are still the aims
of Southern political effort. They are
principles" which are accursed of
God and man. They were rejected at
the polls and upon the battlefield by the
American people. Their defeat cost
this country several thousand millions of
dollars and hundreds of thousands of
precious lives. Shall they be allowed to
triumph at this late day? This is the
issue of the Presidential campaign as
Hampton has put it, and Hampton
may be fairly regarded as the
most conspicuous and influential
of all the Southern leaders next to JEFF
Davis. Human slavery, secession and
disunion are still among the human pos
sibilities of this country if the results of
the war are passively surrendered. A
system of peonage may be established
over the negroes of the South which shall
deprive them Of all the rights of citizens
and reduce them to the condition of
serfs indeed, such condition actually
prevails now in some portions of the
South. Notification of the constitutional
amendments and the United States laws
is already practiced at the South, and
that is but one step from actual secession
st finds its warrant in the same doc
trine that is cited to justify secession.
Disunion will be an inevitable result of
the continued and unrestrained exercise
of the other two principles, " unless the
sentiment of nationalism shall again
rally to put down these heresies. The
warning of Wade Hampton's speech must
not be neglected.