Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1892-03-17

yet they need not be surprised that
their course has laid them liable
to such imputations. I grant they
are honorable men, patriots and
Democrats, and actuated by the
best motives; but I do think they
have blundered And a blunder
is as fatal in politics % in love
or war,
They, have blundefed in not
learningsthe lessons of history as
fonnd in the books and on the liv-
ing pages of recent and passing
events.
The campaign of 1890 marked a
revolution in the history of a peo-
pie, and not mere passing incl
dent in the history of party.
1t was q permanent change and
not q t1eetlng chance.
| It was the success of a Move
ment and not of a Man.
1t was the uprising of the peo-
pie; and not the elevation of Capt.
Tillman.
Tillman's leadership and success
in that memorable campaign
were only incidents in the pro-
|gress Of popular revolution.
Able though he is-and his bit
terest enemies confess his ability
had he died in midsummer of
1890, the cause he represented
would haye5triumphed. Were he
to die -mofroW,shis successor in
Office wouldsbe chosen next No.
vember Bysthose who elected him
Governor iT1S9o.
Call itby what name you please,
the farmers Movement, or the
Peoples Movement, a distinct
movement it was which culmina-
ted in the revolution of 1890, and
placed Tillman in the Governors
chair. Then for the first time in tie
history of this state did the indi-
vidual voter feel and exercise the
power which the suffrage had
placed in his hands to select
those who should be entrusted
with the reins of government.
THE OLD WAY, AND THE NEW WAY
Before that time, with a docility
which often amounted to apathy,
the voter voted for those who had
been chosen for him bycounty and
State. conventions. in whose selec1
ton he had had no voice.
We all remember how it was
done. A few influential men,
good men, too, in each county did
the thinking and selecting for
their county, politically speaking;
and State Conventions, similarly
constituted, did the thinking and
selecting for the State. Then the
voter was told what to do, and he
did it.
I have never been able to dis
cover a "ring" in South Carolina,
in the odious sense of that word (;
but it cannot be denied that from
1875 to 1890, class of able, in
fuential, ohice-holding men in
this State and in each county in
the State had the refusal and dis
posal OF the State and county
Offices. By a system of mutual
and semi-military promotion, linn
tied to themselves and to the ac-
ceptable recruits who were year by
year permitted to join their num-
Der, they without intending it and
perhaps without knowing it had
practically assumed control of the
State and created by force of cir
cumstances an ohce-holding caste.
EARLE AND HAMPTON.
Let his antagonists emulate the
manly conduct of Joseph H.iEarle,
whose magnanimity 1 admire
and treat Tillman justly and fairly.
I wish Gen. Hampton had done
as Earle has done. The hero of
'76 made fatal mistake in 1890
when he declined to lift his little
finger against the Independent
movement, and instead wrote a
letter which Judge Haskell used
as a campaign document in his
own behalf. Had he done as
much-one half as much-then
against the Haskell movement as
he is doing now against Tillman,
this State, 1 believe, would now
have been enjoying political peace,
and Hampton would have been
still in his seat in the Senate.
His abdication in 1890 has de-
prived him of much of the great