Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-12-08

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HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
On Tuesday of last week the constitu-
tional oath of Office and the anti-dueling
oath were administered to Governor-elect
Richardson, in the Columbia Opera House,
by Chief-Justice Simpson, in the presence
of the members of both Houses of the
Legislature and large number of specta-
tors. After the formal ceremonies of ad-
ministering the oath had been concluded,
Governor Richardson delivered the fol-
lowing
ADDRESS.
1t is with deep sense of the RESPONSE
bility and obligation l assume that have
just taken, in this solemn presence, the
Constitutional oath of Office as Governor
of South Carolina.
With no ordinary emotion, and with
heart full of gratitude to the people of this
State, through whose partial kindness l
am the recipient of this exalted honor, l
this day enter upon the discharge of its
high duties, to the faithful, honest, vigi-
liant and patriotic execution of which |
pledge the honor of a devoted son Of Caro-
lima.
Sincerely distrustful ofmy own abilities,
confidently rely upon you, their chosen
representatives, for such wise, liberal and
conservative action as will render the pro-
gress of the State in material prosperity
rapid, and the executive administration
of her affairs easy.
To the most unobservant and Indifferent
it must be apparent that these are times
fruitful of vast and pressing problems, So
cial, industrial and economic, both in State
and National affairs, which demand for
their solution the ablest talent and the
most unselfish patriotism. NOtWithstand-
ing the dual nature of our institutions and
government, investing the citizen as it
does with varied duties and interests, the
peculiar condition of our State socially and
politically, during the dark days of Re-
construction, rigidly confined the attention
of our people to the seemingly hopeless
and herculean task of wrestling, from q
chaos of corruption and venality, in all
their hideous forms, and of universal NAL
feasance in official life, such as had never
before disgraced the annals of civilized
community, order and good government.
How successfully, how marvelOusly, this
has been accomplished need attempt to
describe? Surely it can never be possible
that the deep, soul burning humiliations,
the crushing tyranny, the ruinous taxa
tion we so long endured, the bold efront-
ry Of loathsome vice in high places that
stalked in open daylight through the
streets of this beautiful Capital, have so
soon passed out of mind and been forgot
ten like the idle terrOrs of dream,
amidst the quieting restful surroundings
of the renewed peace, order and good
government we now so fully enjoy. TO
the people of South Carolina, verify be-
lieve, one of the greatest misfortunes that
gard of a former experience that, upon the
might and would almost surely again be-
ements of evil are here, the same forces
are present, though latent; but to this
generation, who are the witnesses and
lous condition of political and social life
under which people ever lived, do not
think there can ever come any deluge OF
Lethean waters so overwhelming as to
sink into Oblivion the bitter memories Of
the past. Sad indeed would be the sure
results of criminal fOrgetfulness of les
son 50 roughly taught, so herOically learn
cd. No, this can never be. Weare again
in the house of our fathers as masters and
rulers, and we are here to stay as such for
all time but to stay, inspired by the true
instincts of liberty, and animated solely
by a high and patriotic purpose, to dis
pense even-handed justice, to MAINTAIN tn
purity of our institutions and to secure to
all classes and conditions of our citizens
every legal, constitutional and inherent
right of man.
With the inestimable advantages Of
good and honest government once more
surrounding us like a life-giving atmos-
phere, how bright the prospect for rapid
advance in all the arts of peace, and in
the accumulation of the wealth to which
our wonderful resources of soil and eli
mate so justly entitle US. True, We are
Just at this time in a condition of great
business depression, common to every in
terest of the whole world, and in no way
peculiar to ourselves save, perhaps, in
complications arising from the transition
phase through which our agricultural in
dustry is now passing. TO this great in
terest we should certainly give, and
give promptly, that attention which its
Importance to the general welfare so i'm
peratively demands. We should ap-
proach its consideration with that calm
ness of Judgment and freedom from pas
sion so essential to reaching wise conclu-
sions. The department of agriculture, to
whose charge its interests have been en-
trusted, and whose development has been
the object of such earnest, faithful and
successful efforts, should be sustained and
fostered. All laws upon our statute books
tending to the retardatiOn of its develop
ment, or calculated to direct its energies
into Improbable channels, should be at
once repealed, and such measures only as
are absolutely needed for its proper en-
couragement should be enacted.
Perfect freedom of action and Judgment
is the most efficient incentive to successful
exertion in all the occupations OF life.
This it is the duty of any government TO
insure to any citizen, whether walking in
the paths of commerce, following the pro-
fessions or gathering the wealth OF nature
from our teeming forests and causing our
fruitful fields to yield their abundant in
crease. / speak as a farmer who loves his
calling with an ardor inherited from an
cestors devoted solely to the tillage of the
soil, and whose instincts, atfinities and
sympathies are, therefore, naturally and
warmly enlisted in the successful further
ance of that first, grandest and noblest of
pursuits. A fair field, untrammeled Op-
pOrtunltleS, eAaCG justice, leeuoih lloil
discriminating legislation, and such en-
couragement as is entirely within the le-
gitimate sphere of government, is all the
American citizen asks or needs, and con-
stitute the very fundamental principles of
the liberty for which Washington fought
and conquered, and in defence of which
our heroes crimsoned the countless hills
and valleys of the sunny South. May the
genius of liberty preside forever over our
destiny and direct all our efforts to the ac-
complishment of SO glorious triumph in
governmental science.
Amidst the abundant causes for congrat-
ulation, we certainly possess one in the re-