William A. Hayne was a native of Charleston, and a free man of free
parents. His mother's father and his father's father were white. He
was educated in the Charleston school of free Negroes. He attained the
position of Representative in the Legislature and served the State
efficiently. Hayne passed away in 1889.
The recent meeting at Barnwell Courthouse was by far the largest
held there since the war. The meeting was called to order by Dr.
J. W. Ogilvie as temporary chairman. A committee of five,
consisting of Col. Counts, Captain F. M. Wanamaker, Dr. J. C.
Miller, and Messrs. W. T. Blanton and J. M. Hudson were appointed
to select permanent officers, and nominated the following
gentlemen: General Johnson Hagood, President; Messrs. Counts,
Sojourner, Blanton, Killingsworth and Ogilvie, vice-presidents;
J. M. Ryan, secretary.
General Hagood, who was at the front end of the hall, some
distance from the chair he was to occupy, upon the invitation of
the temporary chairman, advanced to take his seat as presiding
officer amidst deafening applause. On taking the chair, General
Hagood said: "I understand the purpose of this meeting to be to
consider the misgovernment in South Carolina, which running
through ten long years, has culminated in the shameful and
shameless proceedings of our present Legislature. It is not for
me, here, to recall this disgraceful history in all its details.
You have borne with it till patience has ceased to be a virtue,
and from one end of this American Union to another, regardless of
section or party the press--that mighty engine and exponent of
popular sentiment--is now ringing with the denunciation of the
last wrong inflicted upon you, and with commendation of the true
and faithful man who, with a heroism surpassing that of the
battlefield, which is wielding such weapons as the executive army
can furnish in your temporary defence. This thing has gone far
enough: This crowded hall--these earnest faces over which a light
flickers that carries me back to a time since when my head and
heart have alike grown gray, tell me so. Every instinct of
self-preservation tells me that the time has come when all in
South Carolina who are fit to live outside of her penitentiary,
or expect to within her borders an inheritance for their
children, must enlist in this struggle. It will be a contest in
which no half-hearted recruit is wanted. It is a fight for life
and property, in which you will have to do all that a citizen may
do--and, if need be, all that may become a man." (Applause.)
Mr. Alfred Aldrich rose and said: A short time ago, in this
house, I said among other things to the taxpayers, that I had
"implicit confidence in the people of Barnwell County, but none
in Governor Chamberlain." In the light of recent events, I desire
to make the Amende honorable to Governor Chamberlain, and here,
with equal unreserve as when I made the declaration alluded to, I
wish to submit the charge in my opinion embodied in the following
resolutions:
Resolved that Governor Chamberlain, from his first ... to his
last veto, has carried ... knowledge to the platform on which
... if he does not receive the support of the leading men of his
own party, is entitled to the confidence and will receive the
cordial sympathy and merited aid of the honest and good men in
South Carolina.
Resolved, that in rising above party to vindicate the
civilization and ancient good name of the States over which he
presides, by his rebuke to the Legislature for the election of
corrupt and incompetent judges, as he has shown large
statesmanship, integrity of purpose and courage of performance
that command the respect and approval of all good men,
irrespective of party.
Resolved: that the Governor, having taken care of the Charleston
and Sumter circuits by refusing to commission Whipper and Moses
and not being able to reach Wiggins in the same way, we of the
Barnwell circuit must see that he does not defile the bench and
debauch the county now adorned by the virtue and the learning of
the incorruptible Maher.
Resolved: That we recognize and appreciate the difficulties that
the Governor has had to contend against to maintain his position
as a political reformer, that we acknowledge probity in redeeming
the pledges contained in the platform on which he was elected to
office, and admire his boldness in resisting the pressure of
those who were not in earnest when they made them; that we are
fully sensible of the opposition that he encountered and the
difficulties that have environed him in acting his arduous role,
and that we take this occasion to show him and the men of his
party who endorse him, of our cordial support.
The resolutions were unanimously and enthusiastically adopted.
The Honorable A. P. Aldrich by invitation, then addressed the
meeting. We have already published his remarks.
It was resolved that the President appoint, at his leisure, an
executive committee of five to carry out in Barnwell County such
recommendations as might be made by the Central Democratic
Executive Committee, at its meeting in Columbia on the instant.
Mr. Simms then offered the following resolutions, which were
carried out unanimously: Resolved, that in view of our repeated
failures to reform the State Government by the policy of
co-operation with the Conservative element of the Republican
Party, who professed the same object, and of recent events we
recognize the absolute and immediate necessity of reorganizing
the Democratic party to restore an honest and economical
government.
Resolved: That the Democratic Party of South Carolina will in the
future, as it has in the past, support principles, not men, and
we hereby extend a cordial invitation to all men in the State,
who desire honest government, to unite with us, at least until we
have accomplished our purpose.
Resolved: That the co-operation now invited is not with the bad
men who have heretofore deluded, deceived and betrayed our
colored fellow-citizens, but with the great mass of that class
who, we believe, are willing to rescue the State from the grasp
of these unprincipled adventurers.
Resolved: That the President appoint a committee of five to carry
out the recommendations of the State executive committee to meet
in Columbia on the 6th instant.
The following resolutions offered by Col. Counts, were adopted
without a dissenting voice.
Whereas, by an indiscreet action of the Legislature of this State
an insult of the grossest nature--an insult to all common decency
and to all civilization, has been thrust into our faces by way of
an election for judges of the respective circuits of Judges
Maher, Reed and Shaw; and whereas, it was not expected or desired
by either political party of said circuits that either of the
present incumbents should be defeated; and whereas, we regard
this act as a public declaration against the peace, prosperity
and happiness of all virtue and intelligence, now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That we, the people of this section of the second
circuit, not wishing to make an issue with any individual or
party, and not being willing to risk our lives and property in
the hands of the newly elected judge, P. L. Wiggins, for reasons
obvious, do earnestly request the said P. L. Wiggins to tender
his resignation to the Governor at once, and that the Governor do
declare said vacancy be filled by an election to take place
before the close of the present session of the Legislature.
Resolved, That a memorial be prepared by such persons as the
president of this meeting shall designate, asking for the
re-election of Judge Maher, and that said memorial (by request of
this convention) be presented to the Legislature by the Hon.
Chancellor Johnson.
Resolved, That a memorial be prepared by such persons as the
president of this meeting shall designate, asking for the
re-election of Judge Maher, and that said memorial (by request of
this convention) be presented to the Legislature by the Hon.
Chancellor Johnson.
Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed by the president
of this meeting to communicate with the action of this meeting to
communicate with Solicitor Wiggins, and to notify him of the
action of this convention; and that said committee be instructed
to assure him that this convention is not prompted by any impure
motives or personal animosity for him in taking this action, but
alone for the interest of the country, and for the peace,....