Year: 1874

tloD. Mr. President, this is no false
clamor or picture Of the imagination. 1t
is real, hard. stubborn fact, and is ac-
knowledged or can be proved. Strangers
from the North express their ainazcment
at what they see, and wonder at the for
bearancc that has so long endured. No
man who has come to see for himself with
an open, dispassionate mind has come to
any other conclusion than that there
should and must be radical reform. Our
Own people are almost in despair, for they
feel that they are upon the very verge Of
a general ruin. If we could lay before
you the many, many instances Of distress
that have come before our eyes, it would
appeal most powerfully to your sympa-
tl,ies And the worst feature of cruelty
in the thing is that it falls most heavily
upon the most hclpless---upon women and
upon widows and orphans
Year BY year, and day by day, is the
number increased Of those who have kept
up in vain the struggle for the bread Of
independence and for the roof that covers
their heads. Is II strange that we should
ask for them and for ourselves some relief
from the tyranny that is SO depressing us?
And can it be that the Government will
deny us its sympathy and its aid in Civ
iag US the substance as well as the form
of republican government Mr.. Presi-
dent, we come in no factious or partisan
spirit. We come in the interest Of peace.
of good order. and of honest government
II matters little to us whether the Admin
istration be Republican or Democratic, SO
that it insure us an economical, honest
government, such as our condition imper-
ativoly requires. We ask il as American
citizens; for we know that the moral as
well as the political influence Of the Ma.
tional Government is commanding. The
people of South Carolina did once aim at
an independent existence and make ter
rible struggle for it. But that dream and
that struggle are over-ihey are of the
past. Our people have no other national
government than this of the Union, no
other country than these United States,
and no other flag than that bright flag OF
stars that floats over this broad land And
they are true men and faithful; and If we
know the people, they would defend this
oil which is theirs, that flag which is
theirs, from foreign aggression with the
same unflinching valor which, in the re-
mote past and in the recent past they
have displayed on SO many well-fought
fields of battle.


The President, whe heard Mr.. Porter
with fixed attention, replied with charac-
teris'ic brevity. and with something more
than his usual vigor. He said:


GENTLEMEN After listening to your
remarks, do not see that there is any
thing that can be done. either by the Ex-
ecutive or by the Legislative branch of the
National Government, to better the condi-
tion of things which you have described.
The State of South Carolina has COM
plete sovereign existence, and must make
its own laws. If its citizens are suffering
from those laws it is matter very much
to be deplorcd Where the fault lies may
be question worth looking into Wheth.
er part of the cause is not due to your
selves-whether it is not owing to the ex-
trcme views which you have held-wheth-
er your action has not consolidated the
non-tax-payiDg portion of the community
against you, are questions which | leave
to your own consideration. Allow me to
say, however, that l always feel great
sympathy with any people who are badly
governed and over-taxed. as is the case
in Louisiana, and seems also to be the
condition of South Carolina. I will say
to you candidly that. while l have watch
ed the proceedings of your Taxpayers
Convention with no little interest. por-
tion of my sympathy has been distracted
by the perusa of speech delivered dur
ing its deliberations. and which contained
a viler aud more vilianous slander than |
have ever experienced before. even among
my bitterest enemies in the North. 1t was
far worse in its personality and falsehood
than anything l have ever seen in the
New York San.


The President here seemed to have con-
cluded his reply, and Governor Bonham
inquired what was the speech to which he
had referred


The President said that he did not know
whose speech it was or whether it had
been correctly reported, but be had read
it recently as part of the proceedings of
the Convention.


Colonel I. Y Simons remarked that be
felt it to be due to the gentleman who
made the speech that it should be stated
here that be had dsavowed having made
use of the offensive language to which the
President referred, and which had been
attributed to him by local Republican
paper.


General NJ. c. Butler corroboratcd this
disayowal. He had not himself heard
the speech, but he had read it, as fully
reported in the Edgeield County paper.
aud it contained no such offensive allusion
as had been charged.


General Kershaw explained that what
ever might have been said in the speech,
the speech itself did not reflect the seuti-
ments or meet with the sympathy of the
Convention. Expression was given to
this fact by the action Of the body in