Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-08-26
THE HAMPTON SPEECH.
An Explanation from the Speaker n
Reporter.

THE HAMPTON SPEECH.
An Explanation from the Speaker and
Reporter.
The following from the Staunton Valley
Trginian places the facts in this vexed
matter clearly before the public:
For the last four or five days the follow
ing extract has been going the rounds Of
the Democratic papers
SIS my whole record since the close Of the
war, and all my efforts for better under
standing between the sections, broad and
down-reachius for the union, to be frit-
tered away by the forgeries Of an obscure
newspaper writer? l neither used the
words attributed to me, nor anything ap-
preaching them in meaning"
1t purportcd to have been taken from
letter written by Senator Wade Hampton
to the editor of tho Washington Post. AS
soon as it appeared tho editor of tho pir-
ginian inclOsed it in letter to Senator
Hampton as follows
SIR: The inclOsed slip purpOrts to be =
literal extract from private letter written
by you to the editor of tho Washington
Post. The substanccof the letter is stated
to be a denial of the language attributed
to you by tho TiryinIn in its report of your
speech in StauntOn, July &c. A copy OF
that report herewith send. In it you arc
quoted rs having used these words in sub
stance "COnsidcr what Lee and Jackson
would do if they were alive. These arc
the same principles for which they fought
for four years. Remember tho men who
poured forth their lifc-blOOd Oh Virginia S
SOIL and do not abandon them now"
~, II, Anvk nc "a
alleged letter to tho editor OF the lost,
and write to ask if it is true that such a
letter was written by you, and il SO, is tho
inclosed slip 4 literal extract therefrOm.
A response 1T your earliest convenience will
greatly obligc, Yours respectfully,
J. YOsT.
In reply to tho above the following let
ter was received latc yesterday evening.
SIR: Your letter has just reached mo,
and in reply to you question in reference
to the Washington Post answer that L
have addressed no communication of any
character to the paper. have never seen
the extract purpOrting to be taken from it
until this moment, and there must be
mistake in suppOsing that the Post has
made any statement such rs the extract
represents it as making.
had not seen, until you sent 1t, the re-
port Of my remarks in StauntOn contained
in the the Tdlley Kirginian, the only re-
port which had met my cyo being that in
the Baltimore Gazette, republished in tho
New York Herald of the 10th inst. l have
not tho slightest recollection of having
used the language attributed to me in the
closing sentences of your report, and cer-
tainly never intended to convoy the idea
embodied in them. Your reporter mis-
conceived my language.
I appealed to the Virginians present to
consider before they voted how Lee and
Jackson would vote were they alive, and
l asked if any one present could for mo-
ment suppose that those devoted Virgin
ians could have done anything which would
create dissentions in the state they loved
so we'll. My soul object at Staunton was
to appeal to tho Democrats of Virginia to
forget their local differences and to unite
for tho success of tho Democratic party.
The principle involved in the war was the
claim made by the South of the
right of pcaccable secession. This right
was denied by tho North, Democrats ~
we'll rs Republicans joining in the denial.
On this issue battle was joined. Tho
North triumphcd, and the results of her
success were embodied in the amendments
to the constitution, settling beyond all
question and forever the right of peace
able secession, by tho adverse decision of
tho highest earthly tribunal recognized
among mankind. Tho war had nothing
to do with the principles of the national
Democratic party, and I was peculiarly
unfortunate if any expression Of mine in
Staunton could be so misconstrued rs to
give the impression that supposed the
principles involved in the presidential
contest were those for which VIC
fought for four years. l have made
no charge against your paper or
any other of wilful Misrepresentation, but
must diclaim emphatically the construc-
ton placed upon my speech. rs we'll as the
language attributed to mo in the few last
sentences of your report. AS your letter
was courteous one have replied to it
frankly and hope you will do me the JUS
ticc to print my letter in full should you
desire to make any portion of it public.
While the maxim that all is fair in politics
as in war unfortunately obtains too general
ly, hope no Southern paper will ever re-
fuse to do justice to it's political opponents.
l am respectfully,
Your Obedient servant,
WADE HAMPTON.
What the Reporter Says.
AS soon as it was announced that Cover