Page:Journal of Negro History, vol. 7.djvu/355

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.