The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-04-16
LAURENS, s. c., April 10, 1902.
GENERAL WADE HAMPTON.

hundreds OF others VINO were tnem-
selves Titans in mind and character
John Rutledge, John G.. Calhoun and
that Wade Hampton who died in Co
lumbia last Friday. R~ut'edge was the
great impelling, directing and con-
STRUGGLING figure of the time when a
dependent colopy's painful struggles
found deliverance in lusty statehood;
q colossal form but dimly outlined to
this generation. The succeeding strug-
gle to preserve the statehood whole
and perfect in the freedom with which
successful rebellion against England
had clothed it brought forth an intel
lect more illuminating and more con-
~vincing than the Western World had
known. That was Calhoun whose re-
s~istless reasoning was finally de-
feated and lost in the a%scendancy OF
passion and physical force. When
South Carolina took up arms to defend
the truth which Mr.. Calhoun had dem
onstrated with mathematical precision,
out of the conflict came Wade Hamp-
ton, the matchless Carolina man and
soldier equal to the task Of lifting and
restoring the overthrow and disman-
tied commonwealth. The political
campaign of 1876 was q forlorn
hope. The foe was the Northern
war party still flushed with victory
and greedy for more of its spoil, back
ed by the bayonets Of q conquering
army. But the North's leaders knew
the South and knew Wade Hampton.
They knew him as a man to heed.
They knew him as embodying in his
noble person the best and frmest quail
tiles of Southern manhood. They saw
joined in him whatever Of courage,
honesty, fortitude, prudence and COM
mon sense the South could give. They
saw him at the head of a people madden
ed by oppression and recognized in him
a leader who would calmly direct them
in a resistance not to end save in sweep
ing obstruction. Therefore, after Cen
erals Hampton's election, when the
Chamberlain administration refused to
v~acate, and General Hampton simply
declared that he would be the Cover
nor, President Grant, his successor and
advisors knew what it meant and with
drew the Federal troops. 1t has been
said by those who were General Hamp-
toms lieutenants then that he was the
n Carolinian whose character and
military prowess were SO known in the
North as to compel attention from the
Month "a loahorc md fhot fnn that wan
son South Carolina is forever indebted
to him for her peaceful redemption.
General Hampton's subsequent SER
vices were never appreciated or even
understood. Because he was disdain-
full of such applause as politicians love.
because he INDUCED in no empty
speech-making many lost sight of the
fact that his simple word as q Senator
carried more weight in the nation than
the best efforts of Southern orators.
Because he was modest they forgot
that he was accomplished and broadly
versed in the literature and learning
of the language. And because the
petty arts of acquiring favor, of tilling
political soil, were far beneath his
splendid conception of duty to his peo-
pie, some there were who fancied that
he who had literally tossed a princely
fortune into the defence of his peoples
cause, who countless times invited
death far in the battles forefront; who,
when his own son fell MORALLY stricken
In the carnage, sprang from his horse
and stopped but long enough to plant
O single kiss on the brow of the dying
boy and then led on his peerless caval-
rymen to the charge,-some there were
who fancied that in later years he ig-
nored or neglected his fellow citizens.
There is no criticism for those whose
conscientious views led them to oppose
General Hampton in politics; General
Hampton would have been the last to
ask his own brother to go counter to
honest conviction for his sake, but
those who failed to understand the
great soul of the man and so in their
haste misjudged him have In their
hearts what they may never cease to
regret.
LII h'o Soo IL lolOiCoU Iudu VI Iu6
South has fallen. He was the oaken
type OF our manhood and honesty and
proven courage. When political storms
came he could not bow. When his
fellows in the Senate bent to the breeze
as most and the best OF them did he
fell in magnificent defeat and saved to
Carolina an ideal Of upright states
manship that shall ever stand sublime
ly inspiring In its ISOLATION.
The people of Denmark have q ira
dition that in the s"ubterraneous dun
geon OF a castle over which forever
surge the waters of the sea O hero of
giant size and strength lies sleeping,
awaiting the moment of his beloved
country's most imminent peril, when he
will arise and save her. Once, SO song
and story say, curious strangers wan
dering In the castles depths came to
the door of his chamber, not knowing
its tenant. Lifting the ponderous iron
bar they stumbled liz and the hero,
partly rousing himself, reached for.
ward and In the dungeons gloom,
gripped the bar with such strength
that the print of his fipgers was left
deep In the metal. But mistakinp the
iron for the hand of the messenger