The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1895-11-07
TILLMAN'S ANSWER TO IRBY.
THE GREAT SPEECH OF HIS
LIFE,

Tie Reviews the History OF RcpubIi-
can Rule in South Carolina ana
Shows the Necessity for White
. Supremacy.
In reply to Senator Irby's attac X
, upon the report of the suffrage com.
mlttcc, Senator TiIhnan made the
greatest effort of his public career.
, He took up the first part of his
, speech with an exhaustive review OF
Radical corruption and prOlligacy. and
used tnlS data OF fraud and corruption
} rs Il Justification Of the suppression
, policy towards the negro ever since.
5 Ills exposition Of che committees plan
Oh Suffrage Was II strong argument. and
! IN SubSitncc was rs follows:
Now. Mr. President. [ have already
: alluded 10 the fact that it was through
the negroes in the exercise OF their
rlSht ot suffrage that all this villainy.
corruption, mlsiulc and robbery came
about. and cannot find words in which
% pi;!Et L. No man Cn this MNrgv,r
dared 10 leave his nrcsiue without
III cad that when he returned he would
lind some harm to his family and he
dared not 10 go forth without being
armed.
1t is this negro government which
furnished the ballot THAI wu are ueul.
ing with. The negro put his little
piece OF paper IN tire box and gave the
commissions 20 ChOSc white ScUu uCrcls
VINO were their leaders and who de-
bauGhcd them, and this must be our
justification and our vinuicatiOn an.
our excuse to the world that we are
met III convention openly, boldly. with.
out any'prctrnsc to secrecy: TO announc,
that 1T Is our purpose. as far its we may
: without ming in couilict with tn
United Stit = Constitute, n. t. put such
safeguards around the ballot IN futur,
as 10 restrict the suffrage and circum
scribe II LhHL this iufamy can never
, c,lne about again. The negroes wcr,
, the tools, acknow ledge. tools anu
partlclpatorS. the willing tools. the
poor, ignorant cotton field hands, who
, never saw anything except a pistol.
land We had to use them biindly fol-
lowed like sheep wherever their white
and black leaders told them to go a:
voted unanimously cvcry time for tn,
, kcpuDllcan ticket and these result
| were achieved solely and wholly D>
reason Of the bnilOL being in hands OF
T. such cattle. Is the danger gone? No.
| How did we recover our liberty By
y fraud and violence. We tried to over.
= come 10000 majority by honest me-
! thouS, which WAS IL mathematical i'm
: possibility. After we had borne the
/. indignltics for eight year, life. became.
= worthless anu under the leadership
and inspiration Of Mart Gary, because
he planned and brought about the
slraigntout movement Of IS in spite
, OF the low country, lighting on this
Auor against those who were dcsirous
ot putting Chamberlain forward as a
l compromise candidate. Under his
leadership and through his mugniii-
cent courage We won. tdgeleld alone
gave lis tho @Ncusc to claim we had q
legal rlght by her ma lOrity. Grants
; nay"ncIs were ucrc 10 prop Chamber
5 lain in his chair, and we were in sus-
+ pcnSc from the meeting OF the General
, Assembly until llaycs'S title had been
: scI1'ru by the electoral commission in
n Mhrch. Thr whole State swurc to
d have It's liberties or die How did we
hrlnG IT about: Every white man sank
ii MS p"ra"nal icclinSa and his ambition.
G Inc Whilc people o! the State came
J. together as one. We mad to resort To
: more lrand and violence in 1850. Then
d the registration law and eight box
< s!aLcm vas evolved from the superior
v Intelligence Of the white man to CON.
Is trol thiS mudU! Su"ging stream of
= ignorance and TO tell it to 90 back.
NJ since then We have carried our clrr-
u Ii"uS without resort to any illegal me-
Il Inrus, simply because the whites were
l.. lhlCcd j Vc were to remain united
v IL would still be desirable that we
II ShouIu guard against the DoSsibi!ity of
n lnlS No"u tnat ls now lunming uD, or
Z !IKr ti'c serpent that is asleep only to
4 he warmed into life again. wh.n,vrr
e some sore waite ruscuis, uatIv,. or
/ foreign, come here and mobilize tnvm.
It Therefore the only thing we can do AS
'atrlots and as Statesmen is to take
i from lHGlu every ballot that VIC can
e under the laws OF this national govern
/, tnVht' read moment ago from the
report oi TIC committee that good gov
. crnmcht can only rest on intelligence
a. anu good morals.
y ! viii go further and say. tha, GOOD
ne government and republics rests on
;. virtue, patriotism and inLclliurncr
al ne chlcl amongst ,he three is intclli-
IL Sohcc. III mas been said and il m,lst
~ appear apparent, even If we restrict
~ cmr M sunraEc as we propose, that with
y; "'""o CoiisrrVativcs ana 5000 Rcfur-
~ "icrS ana 10 "oO white men disfrun-
lc cniscd that the negroes are still hn,a
10 III Hhi'clchL numhcrS to control MS.
u Are we SO bcSOttcd, so foructfnI ana
q, no!iVlouS Oh the record, which Il hav,
IN just rchu 10 you; have our memories,
IT. grown 80 cnliOus that we as Il white
- ,"'", "'"sthcii' nfothcrs. common in
al herlters oi the glorious past and tn,
10 freedom transmitted to ,ls by our fore
d iaIhcrs: nave wc got TO the point
)s where we can not unite as brothers
is throwing out Of sight, the petty bickcr.
Is lnSS and anim0sitirs that we have
lc ocen Drought to in the past five years,
III ana wlthNnt regard to personal umbi.
90 tiOh or par t!san advantage Of anybody
take 1t Tor Granted rs white men we
ia can provide TO Liit:t extent that we will
e. hot nave to appeal to these pcoplo
:: again IN sufficient numbers to bring
a. thcm forward as arbitcrs OF our fate ,
e, Can we not rise up to tho necessities
IL OF Tue occasion and put into this con.
- stltutlon such II clause in reference to
II thc suffrage rs will guarantee. as far
e the law can guarantee 20 future gen
10 orations, that they shall have tho
n blessing of Anglo-Saxon civilization
10 and liberty in this State? How pltia.
1t bic, puerile, how inetfably, unuttera-
n bly, contcmptiole appear tue personal
II ambitions and petty spites &C mon who