Hannibal journal and western union. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1851-1852, 1851-09-11

Atoet.--ffe piOhllscu 70 give me
Of Mr. LEAMAN's letter, this weekd of
tunately for US and our readers, i Ten
sas tably disappeared. Owing to, ~ Edge
cumstances too tedious TO W. WI, 1A ~
- about the Office was done Inc white pop-
= a-B and pretty much e.pSor the State, and
CO. usual Gas, WITH more than half Of the
ygguraIion, are entitled TO only ten Senators and
forty-fve Representatives, that is to say, fifty
FIVE Senators and Representatives, while the
other portions Of the State with less white pop
ulation have thrty-fve Senators and seventy
nine Representatives And such is the blessed
State government Of South Carolina, the most
perfect oligarchy ever known on this conti-
nent.
: In the State convention which is to decide
whether South Carolina is to remain in the
Union or to go out Of it, the same inequality of
representation prevails which we have observed
in the Legislature. Thus, even If large majori-
ty Of the people Of the State are opposed to
secession, the minority, and samll minority too,
have the power to declare the State out Of the
Union. It SO happens that the populous districts
which have the fewest representatives in the
convention are those in which the traitors are
fewest in number, and thus one man in the dis
union sections Of the State will have as much
authority in deciding the grave question OF Sc
cession as ten ortwenty or fifty or hundred and
twenty-four men who live in the mountainous
districts in the STATED
Now we think that the people who ca. be
content to live under such an absurdly oligarchi-
cal government as that which exists in the sover-
eign State Of South Carolina ought to have but
little TO say against the General Government
1t is clear that, if they were sincere republicans
and were sincerely hostile to despotism in govern
meAt, the first step they would take would be t.
break up the intolerable despotism that prevails
mcnt constructed on principles half as detestable
then it would be entitled to all the fierce 0bjurga
tons that the lips Of secessionists in the habi
Of uttering.
The inequalities in the representation OF th'
State in the Legislature do not result from pro
perty. The Pendleton district contains fY
times as many slaves and pays four times a
much State-tax as the parish Of st. Thomas an
st. Dennis, andyet in the Senate and in tn
convention it does not enjoy any greater repre-
sentation than the little parish. The rotten 30,
otga system exists in all its glory in Sout
Carolina, and we only wonder that the peopI
have not long ago forced the passage Of refori
bill to utterly abolish the wretehedly unjust sy,
TEN.
The Legislature Of South Carolina elects III
Governor of the State and casts the vote Of II
Staiefor President of the United States. Thu
one planter in the alligator sections of the Stat
has one hundred times as much influence in d,
termining who shall be Governor and Presd1
the planter in the mountain regions.
Bat we have not enumerated ali the enorm
Ties that prevail in the government of Son
Carolina. In that excellent State poor man
an ''unconsidered trife," while his rich neigbc
is lord. No poor man can be Governor,
Senator, or Legislator, or Representative
Congress, nor can he aspire to airy other ofic
as the rich man in the Legislature will not vo
for poverty SO long as they can place one
their own class in oifice. Poverty is a crime
South Carolina.
man to be eligible to the office of Governs
or Lieut.. Governor must own a settled esta
worth fifteen hundred pounds sterling. To |
eligible to the State Senate a man must own
settled freehold estate of the value of three hu,
dred pounds sterling clear of debt. To be elie
bic TO seat in the House of Representatives,
man must own an estate TO the value of OF
hundred and fifty pounds sterling.
II is thus seen that If man be poor in Sout
CAROLINA he cannot hold Office. further tn,
this, q fool with land or negroes is viewed wi
favor by the constitution. while man witho
money, but with as much brains as half of Il
shareholders in the State, is considered me
nObody. In South Carolina, property and re
errry 9 man along swimmingly, while brains al
virtue are laughed at. u
What heroic set Of men they are who snbm
20 the tyranny of such government, aud no
consistently can they declaim with frotny moull
against the Federal Government, which does n
discriminate against poverty and virtue.