The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-12-23
ORDINANCE OF SECESSION.
Death of one of the Last Of the Signers,
the Hon. John E. Frampton.


the Hon. John E. Frampton.
10 the Editor Of tie Sunday Me,rs !.
The passing of any set Of actors in
great public events from the stage of
life always awakens in the human
breast tender emotions Of reverence
and regret. The last survivor of
Thermopylae closed his eyes in eternal
sleep amid the lamentations of the
most cLivalrous of heroic Sparta. The
passing out of the last Of the glorious
six hundred" who made Balaklava
immortal caused sigh to swell the
bosom of the most reverent worshipper
at the shrine of valor. The dying of
the lone survivor of the "Old Guard"
brought tear to the eye Of every
Frenchman who gloried in the brilliant
record of Napoleon. The last survivor
Of those who dared to sign the Decla-
ration Of Independence went down to
his final rest amid the lamentations Of
devoted country, which dates its
birth at the moment when his hand
had set its seal to the most important
document executed in the eighteenth
century.
The funeral dirge of the last patriot
of the army of Washington touched
the tender sympathics of the young
Republic. and awoke emotions Of
pathetic repining that the last of the
army which achieved the independence
of this great nation had folded his
arms and had passed from earth to
join his long lost comrades, and that,
of all the Continental army, there
remained not one to see the glories
that were to come, or to recount to
posterity which had come up to
possess the land, the story of its re.
demption.
In the death of the Hon. John
Frampton, in Charleston, some weeks
ago, there passed from earthly scenes
one of the last survivors of the signers
of the Ordinance Of Secession, wher
this State determined to sever it's con.
nection with the Federal Union.
How many memories cluster around
the action of that body of men, who
by their solemn act put into the scale
of destiny and upon the arbitrameni
of the sword, the doctrine q States
rights and the institution Of slavery
Never met men who held greater re-
sponsibility, and never were delibera'
tions and conclusions fraught with
more weighty consequences.
The peculiar civilization of the
South, the baronial estates Of the old
time planters, the qualities Of the
cavalier in our social system, our ideas
of home and government, were to pre-
vail, or we were to become a fractiona.
tpar of great whole, where all mer
were to be free and where a general
and pure democracy was to come up tc
abolish caste and seemingly reduce al
things to common level.
This man was one of those who hao
| most at stake. He came to the re-
sponsibility of this crisis from the
| quiet retreat Of beautiful plantation
| home, where smiling harvest fields
| greeted the eyes of contented labor
| and where domestic joys gladdened
| the hearts Of all who came within the
precincts of the hospitablc "Rermi,
tage." There peace and plenty
reigned, and there the tender touch ol
woman welded the loving sway Of
motherhood Ger charming circle o1
devoted children.
He had served his native parish
Prince Williams s, in the State Senate
| and set the impress of the strong con,
victions of the old-time planter upor
| the statutes of his State.
The deed was done, the Ordinance
Of Secession passed, and South Caro-
lima, under the insignia Of the "Pal
mctto' and under her shield, with
motto appropriate for the magnitude
of the undertaking, went forth and
announced free and independent
sovereignty.
The cloud of war came upon the
horizon, its thunders rolled over de-
voted Carolina, and when the lightning
flashed in vivid streams of fire ano
sword it struck none other with truel
aim, and in the end, "when wild war
deadly blast was blown and gentle
peace returning" there came out oi
the wreck and rain a garden spot
turned into wilderness.
From the halcyon days Of the ole
life there came the revolution of labor
The whitening fields of harvest gave
way to the thistle and the thorn, and
turning aside from the desolation Of
his ancestral home, as many another
lordly old gentleman had done, he
passed to other scenes to spend de-
clining years under the transformation
of events his Convention had in
augurated.
As the last of these signers pass
away, rs the last of the survivors Of
the gallant army which marched and
fought under the "Stars and Bars
go hence, there comes into the hearts
Of men, and peculiarly to men of this
section, the sad memories Of lost
cause, the gloomy recollections of fire
and sword, the tender pathos Of things
that were, and the thrilling sensations
of what mil ght have been.
Although the effort to sustain the
doctrine of States rights was vair
one although the institution ol
slavery is now but memory, a history
whose final chapter has been written
although the years have come ano
gone, and the situation has beel
loyalty accepted although the peculiar
and distinctive civilization of the ole
South has given way to what is termed
the new; and although we have beer
reconstructed" and to some extent
"reformed," there should ever lingel
in our hearts reverence for the
fathers. Love and devotion will al
ways cluster around these old "signers,
and admiration for their courage will
live until memory is dead.
This good man, representing perhap:
the last of the "signcrs,'' also belong
ed to the last of that class of South
Carolinians known as the "planters Of
the coast, rich, cultivated and ex'
elusive.
He was quiet and unobtrusive, de-
voted to principle, and firm in his
convictions, kind as a master. loyal as
| o friond and trrn as q nitizen Ihe