Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1854-05-11

ne These five Offices are the bones Of content
oy over which our people growl and fight like
III pack Of snarling ours ut meal time. The chic
" of police in Edgefeld get more compensate
nc for their services, than do the Governors of hi
c, the States in the Union. The Governor
g Rhode Island has a salary of but $500 yea
M His Excellency Of Vermont receives only S7i
o. and no Governor in about half the States,
le paid above $1,000 per annuln. After this, CT
H. any body marvel at the strong competition Il
u our Offices. Every one knows how deeply III
j. passion Of avarice is implanted in the. huma
e heart. 1t has destroyed millions of mankn,
l and is now doing it, throughout the worlC
!" Philip of Alaccdon used to say, that no fo:trc,
J. is 80 inaccessible but even IN ass laden wit
T. gold can mount 10 it, and Shakespeare NOR
: elegant y approves the sentiment in these point
r ed words:
u The strongest castle Tower and Town
Z The golden bullet beats it down.
If nations and. kings are bought and solo
how can Ip0nr man resist the facnatnn muSi
Of the dollars clink. But our Offices are so pro
! htable, that many persons OF wsaM Try for them
and the intensity With Which they arc sought, i
heightened by the fact that it is no mean homo
= to enjoy the incpmGcncy of Il CIerkshp o
Sherlfhlty in so large and respectable Distrir
,, lis Edgcfeld. Moreover, we have but few office:
OF honor or profit to bcstow. Land or Indiar
agencies are peculiar 70 the West and the large
Post Offices, or fat Collcclorships mostly belong
to the North. We have been excluded, for the
last twenty years, from any participation in the
Agencies, Cerks':'.ns. Consulalcs &c, of the
Federal Government, in consequence of our Bit
ter feud with that power. Until recently, even
when Uncle Sam got into 4 gracious mood and
rendered good place, we acted the part of
Pharsecs, forgetting that the best way to purify
any corrupt government would be for the ncnr-
rnptibe and patriotic Carolinans to aid in its
administration. But as all men are ambitious
and avarlcious, our people must struggle for the
tep places at home in large and wralty Dis
trlct, where there are three thousand voters, all
OF whom may be candidates also. And strug.
gle, it is somewhat resembling the ravages of
war. There were six candidates for our Sher-
Iilallty ut the last election, and four are now in
the field for that office, Notwithstanding the ecc-
ton Is near two years oil, and before it occurs,
others may be expected 10 enter the lists. There
are also four horses on the track for Ordinary,
and three for the Clerkship, although the day of
election Is as distant as that for Sheriff We
now have as many as nine candidates for Tax
Collector, yet tho election will not take place
until October 1855. The candidates for these
Offices nerer cease TO eectioneer. They labor
from one election day to tho next and as soon
;i'S INIT arrives, the District paper teens with fe
announcement Of new expcctan;s that have been
in training for years before they engage in the
race. These asprants are painfully attentive to
the people and cultivate them more assiduollsly
than the actual candidates. The candidates
eIectioneer openly, but the aspirants work Sc
cretly and always exercise very powerful in |
lluence without the people being aware of it.
Both the candidates and aspirants acquire such |
skill in intrigue and wire pulling, that while the
surface of socieLy seems calm, an under current
agltates the waters to their very depths The
District is erer kept IN a iurmoi Old combina-
tions are broken and new ones formed in every
capvass, and iDnumerabIe enmilirs follow Us
natural sequence. Society is split into rival
partics factions and coterics, which wage the
most deadly fcuds for their f;lvorite leaders. Of
the mant candidates that seek each of our Off
ces, only one can be elected. yet every cxpcctant
honestly believes that he will be lht lucky one
and it is an easy matter for him to inspire his
friends with the same hope. After an election
IS over the defeated candidates have lost too.
much time, spent too much money, and cheer
shed toO many fond dclusions; NOT to feel NOR
ifcd and enraged at their defeat VdHy will
not permit them for moment to say that they ,,
lave been defeated for want of merit, which
in many cases has but little to do /
With our elections. They therefore suspect Ger. I
ain opponents or certain factions, as having i
'een the cause of their defeat, and from the day S
If that defeat to the day Of their death, they II
nd all they can command engage in the task Of v
evcnge as labor Of love- NeigLborhoods y
uarrel and neghbors der about the claims of 4
andldates. In lieu of the two parties in other I
Districts or States, we have perhaps haLfa dozen 81
lctions Throughout the District, morbid sus- il
lcion takes the place Of healthy confidence, Il
aughty reserve that of noble frankness and T.
elish, solitary individuality, that of friendly a
1t is the faction, contention and C:
iscord, occasioned by too many applying for o
ur excessively profitable District Offices, that HI
rs produced " the sad decline of socinlily ii
mong us, over which the talented Editor, and OF
lndry correspondents of the Edgelield Adrcr- 1
scr, not long ago SO eloquently lamcnted The b1
cree struggles for office here, noursh in CUR pc
nople habits Of suspicion, reserve and revenge, l.
hich give rise to tile practice of carrying dead. D
weapons. Hence the spirit of the people is ht
creased at the expense of their morality, and s.
dgefcld is thus made Il cockpit for mankind. fo
t erery Court in our District, for many years n
Isl, we have had from one, to FIVE trials for at
'mlclde. Since my earliest recollection, but re
nge Court has passed without some one being pc
aced in the dock for having killed his fellow pr
an Our people are in the habit of Staying ar
ch other, and they attend the trial of murder. liz
with as much unconeern, is they listen to the w
sposal of sum. pro. Half of them have ST.
ard the law of homicide discussed so often tic
at they know it fully rs well as any lawyer at in
1gefeld Court House. This shameful disre- an
rd of human llfeis supposed by Judge O'Ncall
d his followers to be Legitimate result Of the of
C of ardent spirits, but with becoming defer ca
&c to his Honor, lwould submit, that although TO
uor may frequently be the occasion that vet tri
IS not the primary cause of so much fighting as
d killing in Edgetield. As much Intoxicating ap
ink is used in some of the smaller Districts, vim
lere murder has never been known, as is used INC
Edgefeld, and license has ofon been suspend eig
IN our DISTRICT ut the very time and place that scr
al rcncounters have occurred. The people of an,
rnwcll have for some years back, oeen killing fro
lry as many men as we do in EdgeGeld, and rou
Barnwell be not reduced, she will soon have par
many bloody deeds to record as Edre6eld. at
rhaps the Judge attributes the increasing eau
nicides of Barnwel to intoxicating drink al. val
The dispord created by office hunters, like del
'e prevents our people from uniing their yer
'rts to establish and maintain good schools. attt
nay be alleged that the small Districts have bus
many candidates for their police stations as be
gehcld has for hers, but such an allegation ten
uld be untrue to the record. If we admit its vim,
tn, for the sake of argument, the stern fact sue
remains, that The uanrass here is conducted deb
h more acrimony than it is any where else in deb
State, BECAUSE Hdgcheld has more lucrative and