Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1890-09-18

interests and &glOryIOf South Caro-
lima, and that in the future, what
ever May come, / snail do my ant,
as j see 1t, and hope that you ant
tho people will never be ashamed O
having gone into the field and take,
a new, green and inexperienced man
and In some respects with regard tt
government, an ignorant man, ant
put him at the head Of your affairs
fCheers.,,
1 feel, my friends, that l have beer
educated in a large degree by tho
canvass / have made. Few Nor il
South Carolina have possessed ths
advantage of such a ] have
in the last ninety days canvassed
among 10000 of tho white Demo.
Gratis of this State. l have talked
to them face to face and felt Their
pulse, and 1 believe | know some OF
their inspirations and aspirations.
We have a good, grand country:
it has glorious possibilities, and ii
we, as brethren, will unite, lay aside
our contentious, and put away things
which are of no moment, press on
ward and try to bring about new
feeling and progress and enterprise
i'll tho State, quit trying to rebuild
on it's old pedestal, r%ccollccting that
we are in tho Nineteenth century
and must keep up with the process
sion, and Old South Carolina with
her varied products, her climate, her
geographical position, should, and
soon will, occupy q place second to
no State in the Union. rChccrs.
l feel that it will be necessary
briefly in vindication Of myself,
although, as l have said, the people
have vindicatcd me, but for outside
consumption, away from South Caro-
lima, to say a few words about the
canvass and it's results.
Possessing as they did the press of
South Carolina almost solidly, wiz
dispatches to tho Associated Pres .,
Northern people and tho world, with
columns of editorials in the leading
newspapers tccming with assertions
that | was a slandcrcr, a demagoguc,
dynamiter, a rcd Republican and
other things, the United States TO-
night stand aghast, feeling somehow
that you have gone into a French
revolution, n Sa~nsculottc, who is
going in the Governors chair backed
by a horde of ignorant people. You
know it's Il lie. The intelligence of
this Statc-a large majority of the
intelligent men of tho State are ut
my back. CChcors. If we haven't
got the polish and the brains, we
have at least got virtue and simple
citizenship that only wants good gov
eminent.
l began this campaign on a high
plane. l wanted to conduct it upon
that plane and discuss the issues on
their merits. What did I have to
contend with? You all know it was
forced almost to a personal issue,
forced to tho point of my having to
defend myself against the accusa-
tions of having slandcrcd South
Carolina, when | would have cut my
throat rather than state anything to
bring her good name into discrcdit.
Because | criticised and dared to
criticisc non who were in power,
exercising my right as a freeman to
criticisc public officers, it was con-
sidcrcd that | had invaded an in
alicnable and divine right to rule,
which seemed among some men to
have been an Inheritance. | was
compelled to discuss the issues upon
q different status to what | had
intended, but the jury of last resort,
the people, sustained me. Having
as ! said awhile ago a very distin-
guishcd gentleman from Sumter,
who was my opponent, and one of
the best lawyers in the Statc-and
you know he fought me ably, he
made the best of it he could-thc
people have heard my answer, and
you know the result. That would
be v%indication enough here at home,
but how am | to get the news abroad,
how is the good name Of the State to
be reclaimed?
1t has been said, and is now said
all over the United States, that my
election mcans that the Democratic
party Of South Carolina have been
dcrclict, and that it is rotten. Be
fore the Democratic party, the rank
and file represented here tonight,
deny it. GC!iccrs
because we neglected our duties,
our citizenship, and allowed certain
clements to get possession of tho
government and run it in a certain
way, and because We chose to cone
forward and take possession of our
blrthright and run it in n different
way, does that mean that South
Carolina has proven herself to be
corrupt, low and d~cspicablc I do
not think so. 1t is the first time |
ever heard that ever tho Legislature
constituted tho State, or that tho
State officers constituted the State,
or that the whole government con-
stitutcd the State. do not consider
it so. The people constitute the
State. The people neglected their
duty, and, as / said, when they
choose to find fault and come for
ward and state we want to straightcn
this matter, they refuse with an ar
rogancc ncvcr before witnessed.
| said in this hall two years ago,
you arc damming back the water,
and whom 1SQ0 ron,ou With eli