The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-11-05
/, TILLMAN's ANSWER TO IRBY.
THE GREAT SPEECH OF HIS
LIFE.

LIFE.
He Reviews the History of Republi-
can Rule in South Carolina and
Shows the Necessity for White
Supremacy.
upon the report OF the suffrage COM
mittee, Senator Tillman made the
greatest effort OF his public career.
He took up the first paft of his
speech with an exhaustive review of
Radical corruption and p%rofigacy, and
used this data of fraud and corruption
as a justification of the suppression
policy towards the negro ever since.
His exposition of the committees plan
OF suffrage was a strong argument, and
in substance was as follows:
Now, Mr.. President, | have already
alluded to the fact that it was through
the negroes. in the exercise of their
right of suffrage hat all this %villainy,
corruption, misrule and robbery came
about, and cannot find words in which
to paint it.. No man on this floor ever
dared to leave his tireside without
dread that when he returned he would
find some harm to his family and he
dared not to go forth without being
armed.
1t is this negro government which
furnished the ballot that we are deal
ing with. The negro put his little
piece OF paper In TIE box and gave the
commissions to those white scoundrels
who were their leaders and who de-
bauched them, and this must be our
justification and our vindication and
our excuse to the world that we are
met y convention openly, boldly, with
put e~Gy'pretense to secrecy to
Gnat 1t 1s our purpose, as far as we may
without coming In conflict with the
United States Constitution, to put such
safeguards around the ballot in future
as to restrict the suffrage and circum-
scribe 1t that this infamy can never
come about again. The negroes we're
the tools, l acknowledge, tools and
participators, the willing tools, the
poor, ignorant cotton field hands, who
never saw anything except a pistol.
land we had to use them) blindly fol-
lowed like sheep wherever their white
and black leaders told them to go;
voted unanimously every time for the
Republican ticket and these results
were achieved solely and wholly by
reason OF the ballot being in hands OF
such cattle. Is the danger gone? No.
How did we our liberty BY
fraud and violence. We tried to over
come 10000 majority by honest me-
ShONot "o o OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Hi
possibility. After we had borne the
i%ndignities for eight years life became
worthless and under the leadership
and inspiration of Mart Gary, because
he planned and brought about the
straightout movement of rs in spite
OF h low country, fighting on this
floor against those who we're DESTROYS /
Of putting Chamberlain forward as a
compromise candidate. Under his
leadership and through his magnif-
cent courage WEI Edgefield alone
gave us the excuse to claim we had q
legal right by her majority. Grants
bayoDets here to prop Chamber
lain in his chair, and we were in sus-
pense from the meeting of the General
Assembly until Hayes's title had been
settled by the electoral commission In
sderch. The whole State swore to
havejts liberties or die. How did we
bring 1T about? Every white mar sank
his personal feelings and his ambition.
The white people of the State came
together as one. We had to resort to
more fraud and violence in 1880. Then
the registration law and eight box
system was evolved from the superior
Intelligence of the white man TO con-
troll this muddy surging stream Of
ignorance and TO tell it to go back.
aS NJ WoH h6NOC dTTlGu our eleG-
lions without resort to any illegal me-
thode, simply because the whites were
united. III we we're to remain united
1T would still be desirable that we
should guard against the possibility of
this Hood that Is now damming up, or
the serpent that Is asleep only to
be warmed into life again, whenever
some sore white ~rascals, native or
foreign, come here and mobilize them
Therefore the only thing we can do as
patriots and as statesmen Is to take
from them every ballot that We can
under the laws OF this national govern
ment. read a moment ago from the
report of the committee that good gov
eminent a only rest on intelligence
and good morals.
| will go further and say, that good
government and republics rests ON
patriotism and intelligence.
The chief amongst the three Is intelli.
gence. 1t has been said and IL must
appear apparent, even IL we restrict
the suffrage as we propose, that with
10000 Conservatives and 10000 Refor-
and $4,000 white men disfran. {
,hised that the negroes are still here /,
"a s%ufficient numbers to control us. /
Are we so besotted, so forgetful and i
'olivious OF the record, which I,haye t