Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1877 — WADE HAMPTON. [ARTICLE]

WADE HAMPTON.

Speech of the Palmetto Governor at the Kockford (Ill.) Fair. Mb. Pbesident and Fellow-Citizens: If any evidence were needed to prove my high appreciation of tho invitation you have extended to me to address y<ju on this occasion it would sorely be found in the fuct that I have traveled more than a thousand miles in order that my acknowledgment of the honor conferred might be made to you in person, aud, while doing this heartily and cordially, it gives me infinite pleasure to assure you, my follow-citizens of Illinois, that, had mv journey been even far longer and more fatiguing, the sight that meets me here to-day, and the warmth of your greeting, would amply compensate me. Undor ordinary circumstances, I should scarcely have felt at liberty to leave my official duties to participate in an occasion of this sort, however gratifying might be the call made upon me to do so, but the invitation of the Winnebago Agricultural Society carried with it such a special weight that it impressed an obligation which I felt constrained to recognize. It was this society which, years ago, before the party and sectional bitterness that is here so happily passing away had abated, had the honor of being, if not the first, certainly among the first of organizations at the North to inaugurate that spirit of fraternity and reconciliation which is now bearing such wholesome fruit in all sections and among all classes of this broad land of ours. As a Southern man, therefore, I regarded it not only a pleasure but a duty to come from my far-distant home to (hank you for your manly and patriotic efforts in behalf of reconciliation, and to pledge you my most hearty co-operation in this good work, and if my efforts can, however slightly, contribute toward the restoration of peace—a peace cordial in its establishment, permanent m its results, and honorable in all its conditions —then, indeed, my mission here will not h&vo been in vain. Upon this platform North and South can meet and stand, for its corner-stone is patriotism. A spirit of patriotism should surely be found constant and ardent in the hearts of the people of Illinois, for their State is itself the offspring of as noble a patriotism as ever inspired the human heart. The mother of your State, Virginia, when she gave this grand Western domain—an empire in its dominions—to the common cause, did so because she preferred the good of the whole country to her individual aggrandizement, and you would be unworthy of tbe heroic lineage you possess were you to forget your glorious ancestry and the lesson it should perpetually teach you. In complying with your invitation to address you, gentlemen of the society, it has seemed to me that I could best carry out the purposes ycu have in view—if I comprehend them aright—by taking a larger field for my remarks than the discussion of purely agricultural subjects would afford. It would be more congenial to me to speak on these latter topics, and it would, perhaps, be safer for me so to do ; but, in the presence of the great questions which agitate the whole country, an exchange of opinions between citizens of different sections on these vital issues seems more necessary, more important, and more salutary. It is of the greatest consequence that the people of tho North and of the South should understand each other thoroughly, for much of the •vil that has fallen on the country sprung from misconception on the part of the citizens of these sections as to the motives and purposes of each other. To aid in bringing about this understanding is One of the chief objects of my visit to your great State, aud to this end it is that I choose to discuss general topics rather than those belonging specially to agriculture. But, in doing this, you need have no fears that I shall violate the proprieties of the occasion by making a political address. No, fellow-citizens, there arc times when issues spring up which overshadow all party questions, and we are in tho midst of one of these eventful eras—so, at least, it appears to me—and, in addressing you to-day, I speak for no party, no section, but for the whole country. In doing this, I shall strive to sink every trace of partisanship in an honest effort to place myself on that high ground where alone the present patriotism can be found. There is a profound truth and knowledge of human nature hidden under the fable with which you are all familiar—that told of the shield, white on one side, black on the other, being at tlie intersection of two roads. In those days, when kniglits-crrant went in quest of adventure or in search of some chosen damsel, as the story nuis, two knights approaching tho shields in opposite directions, after disputing about its color, put lances in rest aud periled life, each to maintain his opinion. Something of the same sort happened between tho South and North. The constitution represents the shield. Viewed as it was, from different sides, the dispute waxed warn. The sword was called in to decide the vexed question, and, under its stern arbitrament, many a soldier, as brave, as gallant, as knightly as a Bayard, gave his life for his convictions. What might have been the result had prudence and not passion ruled the hour it is idle now to consider. The statesman looks to the past perils of his country to laaru how to avoid them in the future, and the work and the prayer of the patriot should be given to this end. Our country has been forced to pass that dread ordeal which seems allotted by Providence to all people—civil war—and, in emerging from this trial, it was natural not only that confusion should for a time supersede order, but that the pride of triumph on the one side and the bitterness of defeat on the other should combine to keep the opposing sections of tho country apart. This was, as I have said, but natural, and time alone, which brings healing ointment on his wings, can bind up the wounds made by war. He brings reflection and calm thought to aid in the work of restoration, while God Himself, speaking to us through tho immutable laws of nature, tolls us tnat it is our duty to strive earnestly and constantly to efface the dark blots which evil or disaster may have made. When the wild torrent hurls itself from the mountain-side, sweeping off, in its mad career, all that opposes it, and leaving in its track devastation and ruin, Nature, tho beneficent mother, with gentle, with slow but sure hand, clothes hillside and valley with her perpetual verdure and her smiling flowers. As in the natural world, so is it in the whole universe, and philosophy and religion go hand in hand, tho one teaching us that matter here is indestructible and the other that life immortal is the fixed law of God. It is true that our people should take these lessons to their hearts and act upon them. W'e have had too much of war—we, at least, of the South have—and we need now, above all things, peace, and it is to plead for peace that lam here to-day. I make no concealment of the part taken by myself in the late war, nor would your respect for me be increased were I to offer any unmanly apology. Up to the beginning of the contest, I used all my influence to preserve the Union, to avoid the war; but, when that came, I obeyed the command of my State, as you did yours, and I fought you as long and as hard as I could. Bat when I surrendered I did so in good faith, and from that day to this I challenge any one to show that the terms of my parole have been violated, or that any act of mine has been inconsistent with my honor as a soldier and my duty as a citizen. You of the North followed the dictates of your own consciences. We of the South did the same. Let us each do justice to the other, for without mutual self-respect there can be no permanent peace and no restored fraternity. Can you doubt that tbe South seeks peace'? Look at her wasted fields, her ruined industries, her fearful misrule, and you can doubt no longer. Do you doubt her sincerity ? Whatever may be, or may have beeD, her faults, her worst enemies have never charged her with hypocrisy nor speaking with a double tongue. Rash, impulsive, impetuous she may be, but false never. Look back to those trying times when the Presidential question was unsettled. What was the course of the South then? There were men in the North who were willing to inaugurate another rebellion, as though, like us of the South, they had fought you bravely in battle, they were from the first willing, anxious, earnest to produce another revolution, to add to the evils of the country, and was not the opportunity given to the South then? What prevented a gun from being tired in South Carolina ? One riot in Bouth Carolina, and we would have had a civil war throughout this broad land. It would not have been a war of sections—not a war in which one part of our great country warred against another. Divided by sections, it would not have beeji what this country had seen not long before. It would have been a cruel war—brother against brother, household against household.

At that time South Carolina used all her efforts—ay 9, my friends, I can tell you that the people of South Carolina are as brave, as true, as the spirit r>f the people of Illinois, and

stood then ten times more than von would have done. The Presidential question went into Congress. Who was it in Congress that prevented the filibustering ? It was what some of the violent newspapers of the North havo chosen to call the “Confederate Brigadier Generals." These men said that, as Congress had voted for the Commission, its acts should be sustained, and there was not a man in the South who did not acquiesce in its decision, and who does not propose to obey all steadily to the end. The second proof of Southern sincerity—that recent one which has just passed (I mean the unfortunate strikes and riots which spread through the wholo North) —where was the South then ? Did she come forward, anxious to take part as a disturbing element? Not a single man of ilie South joined in ttoose riots, but manifested conservatism throughout the whole difficulty. Here, then, are two evidences of the feeliug at the South in giving bonds to preserve the peace, and she wants peace. We surrendered in good faith, and I want to impress upon you this fact, that I challenge any man living to say that, from that day to this, I have violated in any degree my oath. I pledged mvself then to support the constitution of the United States and all its amendments, and when 1 took the official oath as Governor of South Carolina I swore to uphold it, and so help my God, I intend to keep it. It was sai<f by Wellington that it is the duty of every citizen to obey the laws of his country, whether right or wrongNow, we propose to obey the constitution of the United States, and we ask, and have th* right to ask, that the constitution shall extend equal protection to South Carolina and Massachusetts, to Louisiana and to Illinois, and we have the right to ask that every citizen in every State should be equally protected by the constitution of the United States. I come, then, fellow-citizens, appealing for peace. We come because it is the highest wisdom to restore p>eace. The very ethics of statesmanship require the restoration of the Union. We recognize that the constitution is paramount. We recognize that the Union is restored. .We propose to be good citizens, and I come from the Palmetto State to the Prairie State to take the hands of the men of Illinois in peace, in fraternity, and in reconciliation. I believe it will be met in the same spirit that it is offered. A newspaper reporter has said (and, by the way, I think all the newspaper reporters ought to be killed) that I have received letters threatening assassination. I have received one or two. I will read you one. I know you have no Ku-Klux. Here it is :

“ You darned old rebel; if you or any other of your stripe come to Rockford to make a Eublic speech you may expect to go back in a ox. There are 100 other veterans besides myself who have constituted themselves a committee to that effect. A word to the wise.” If there is anything, just MJch a thing as this would make me come, because I knew and folt that it was a great slander on the people of Illinois. I knew that there were not 100 men in all the brave men whom I met and fought in battle, in the 3,000,000 that they put into the field, that would forget he was a soldier, and sink to an assassin. But, my friends, I havo as yet spoken little on agriculture. You all know how to raise corn, and it would be of no use for me to tell you how to raise cotton, dig sweet potatoes or prindles. If I had time I would speak to you of the fertile valleys of your own magnificent State, a State with acreage enough to provide for a population equal to Great Britain. [The speaker here gave a glowing picture of Illinois, and said that a grand and noble destiny iyas in their hands. In conclusion, the speaker brought up the question of universal suffrage;., and showed the many difficulties of governinga large country by this system.] The question can only be solved by the education of the heart and soul, as well as of the mind. When wo have succeeded in that, make a man believe that all learning is foolish in the sight of the Lord, and we must look to God for help. When we can get our people to do this, we may look forward to a time of peace, prosperity, and happiness. [He closed, as ho had begun, by thanking the people of the North for the cordial welcome they had given him.] It is more than a personal compliment. I do not fake it as such, but as the evidence of the good-will of the people of Illinois for the people of my own State in the far South. We are all now bound together. We are standing under one flag, obeying one constitution, and it is for us to say what will be tho future of this great country. Give us your help, people of the North, and wo will give you hearty co-operation. We feel and know that, if tho people sustain the present policy of peace, it will result in tho restoration of fraternity and reconciliation. We feel, then, that there is a glorious future before the whole country. Let us take each other eby the hands and leave the consequences to God. Having performed oUr duty, looking back to the past only to gain wisdom for the future, using the present wisely, and looking to that future in happy trust in God, I am sure that we may all wish, North and South, that our States may be all united by our common destiny, distinct as the billows, but united as the sea.