The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1918-04-24
SPEECH Or EX-SEN. JOHN l.. McLAURIN
DELIVERED IN SUMTER MONDAY

hon. John McLaurin, of Benefits
vile, former United States senator
from South Carolina, whose deciding
vote in the senate for the acquisition
and retention of the Philippine Is
lands cast the die that made the
United States world power and
forever put aside the policy Of politi-
cal isolation for America insofar as
world policies are concerned last
night spoke to crowd of between
four and five hundred people in the
Court House on the war situation and
the duties and responsibilities of loyal
Americans. Mr.. McLaurin having
come to Sumter to make an address
at the invitation of number of his
friends, had evidently carefully pre-.
pared his his speech, and therefore did
not speak with the fire and freedom
that usually charactcrizes his extern.
poraneous utterances. He spoke delib-
erately and seriously, as if he weigh
ed each word, and sought to impress
his hearers with his earnestness rath-
er than to arouse enthusiasm. The
crowd gave him a close and atten-
tive hearing, but it was rather cold
and undemonstrativc audience, until
the speaker reached the part of his ad-
dress that referred to Woodrow Wilson
and the duty of all loyal citizens to
give him full confidence and support
without stint or limit. Then he was
liberally and heartily applauded. The
address was as follows:
On Good Friday gerat congrcga
tion worshipping God in a church i'm
Paris were buried beneath the ruins
by German shell. How typical of
the aims and purposes of Germany
the destruction of the foundation of
civilization in order that a new Kul-
ture may arise upon the mangled
and mutilated bodies OF Belgium and
France. Is history about to repeat
itself? Read in Crecy's Is decisive
battles of the world of the battle of
Chalons near the site of the present
gigantic conflict. We haven't heard
much of the word Hun until since the
devastation of France and Belgium.
How like the Kaiser was Attilla. The
open and avowed purpose of Attilla
was the dstruction of Christian civil
iZation. He overran Curone calling
himself the "scourgc of God" He
boasted of the dcsolation following in
his wake. He ordered ais soldiers to
outrage women, mutilare children and
'gc and destroy, so that other
nations might be cowcd into submis-
sion. Wives and virgins were out
ragged in the presence Of husbands,
fathers and brothers and then either
murdered or sent into slavery. Nor
does the parallel stop there, Attilla
like the Kaiser was no uneducated
barbarian, but possessed the greatest
learning and highest culture possible
in those times. He was a statesman
and general of great ability. Hear
what the historian says: "Attilla re-
lied less on the brute forces of armies
for the aggrandiZement of his empire
than on the unbounded affection of his
friends and the fears of his foes
which his genius enabled him to ac-
guire. Austerely sober in his private
life; severely just on the judgment
seat. conspicuous among nation of
warriors for hardihood, strength and
skill in every martial exercise; grave
and deliberate in council, but rapid
and remorseless in execution, he gave
safety and security to all who were
under his dominion, while he waged
a warfare Of determination against
all who opposed or sought to es-
cape from it. He watched the nation
al passions, the prejudices, the creed: ::
nations over which he ruled and of
those which he sought to reduce bo-
meath his sway; all of these feelings
he had the skill to turn to his ac-
count; his own soldiers believed him
to be inspired of God and followed
him with fanatic zeal.
He called himself "Thc Bread of
the world" by the grace of God
"King Of the Huns and Goths." What
a pen picture Of the present Kaiser.
telling his soldiers to make the name
German feared for thousand years,
to rape, burn, pillage and destroy in
the name Of God. Calling a treaty "a
scrap of paper" striking at the life of
nations, by forcing wives and virgins
to motherhood; sending men and
women into slavery to work the
mines, til 1.-The soil, and crafty the
brutal lust Of the Beast in man:
turning the world into charncl house
that the ambition Of one man for
world dominion may be gratified.
Nor does the parallels between the
battle of Picardy and Chalons stop
with the character Of the Kaiser and
Attilla. Attilla was fighting the
embattled hosts Of Christendom and
staked his empire on one stroke. When
the battle began to go against him,
he piled his treasure in the center of
the camp and placed himself on top
of it, with the intention of setting it
on fire and dying In the flames. So
the Kaiser has stakes all on the sue
cess Of the great German drive, and
again Attilla and the modern Huns
will finally fall.
| Ex-Ambassador Gerard in his book
tells of a conversation he had with
the Kaiser in 1915. He spoke of how
he had studied the lives Of Alexander,
Caesar and Napoleon. "They dreamed