New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-07-28


The population Of no State in the Union is so
| imprsctcabe a. that of South Carolina IS DIS
Organizing proclvties have doubtless had their ori-
| gin in the peculiar Constitutions under which that
State has staggered from the beginning. Its fr't
Constitution was q monstrous anomaly, even in the
despotc period when it was granted By the British
Crown; while subsequent notifications have been
far from deprivng it of i:s original grOte.queress.
These inoorgruites were pointed out and Co
nourced so long ago a. 1853. The proPretors Of
colonies in tho,e days, just Ike the owners Of new
towns in the West in our own, resorted to the
press to .pread before the world the peculiar
merits of their several grants. Population was
needed for the wilderness then. as it 10 for The
paper cities cow it having lors ago been discov-
cred tbst it Is population alone which gives
value to land. An average degree Of political
equality was tLen found in all the govern
n ents except in that of South Carolina,
the despotism of whose original Constitution
was too odous to escape occasional remark
and censure. 1t was denounced in SCOTS " Model
of the Government of New-Jersey," who says OF
it that "n0thipg can be more discoursging to any
having the sense of rational man or spirit of
gentleman. The offices of honor aud trust such
"as Chancellor Treasurer, Admiral, Secretary
&C., are all hereditsbly annexed 10 tho proprie
"tors, BY the cor stitution OF their government;
90 that let q gentleman deserve never we'll
however eminent his parts may be, he must in
the int place purchase property ere he can
" attain to any Of those places Of trust or honor;
"wheleaa if you have 90 much money as to make
" this purchase, you may come to these prefor-
ments though you are the arrantest bockhesd in
nature. Money here makes you capable of pre-
" ferment, which neither virtue, merit nor parts
can do. Can there be greater Encouragement
to any person of spirit or honor, than to subject
himself 10 agoyernment where he sees himself de-
barred of any trust or preferment however deserv
sing be may bel" There are eight proprietOrs;
"by thsir Constitutions it appears clear to me that
they are 90 many sovereisns, seeing By one eI-
"press article Of their fundamental Constitutions
" it is declared that the proprietors are no ways
subject to law, in far 70 be censured BY any
"ludicature there; 90 that be their sctiDgs never
$50 Illegal or unjust, if any of those eight propri-
etors should commit murders, rapes, or any
I" other act of oppression, they cannot be chal-
"leneed upon account thereof in any judcasory
" in Carolina
Such was the rotten borough condition Of South
Carolina in 1855. The purifying tempest OF the
Revolution swept away the bsrbarisms Of most of
the Colonial Governments, but South Carolina chung
TO much Of her traditional dcspotism. While it
remained intact, she Jagged Last in the colonial race
Of prosperity. Immigrants summed her boundaries,
and when she was called on to contribute her quota
Of men and her proportion Of money for the CON-
mon defense against England, enc fsltered isnO-
miniouJy in that great day Of trial She bred and
hArbored moro Tories than all the other Colonies
combined. Congress was besiege1 with excuses for
her pusillanimity; poverty and the presence ofs
dense negro population urged the causes other
inability either to raise men or money to defend
even herself. The freer North was thus compelled
to fight her battles and TO DIVE from her soil not
only the COMMON enemy, but the swarms Of Tories
which her arbitrary form Of government neces-
sarily produced. No State has since been go
hostile u the cause of freedom IS South Carolina.
None has so labored to make Slavery national and
Freedom sectional. 1t was she who began the
crusade of forcing the biack institution into terri
tories long consecrated 10 Freedom. Yet popular
sovereignty Is exhibited il South Carolioa is
nothing but an mposture. Six districts in the
rice and Sea-IslsLd cotton region, where the slave
population Is most dense, containing ~, 500 whites
elect majority vi the Senate, Leaving 10 the re-
m,iDder o; the State minority representing 2O9
0ei whites In II Districts, 1852 whites elect
% Senators and 81 r. representatives,, while !, dis
tricts having l.l rs whites EJECT only Il Senator'S
and TO Representatives. II is thus apparent tina.
less than third ef the white population in the
Legro region have supreme control Of the State.
This third elects lie Legislature, aud that body
appoints tie entire Judiciary, from COMMON jas
tee of the Pesce to tie Judges on the Supreme
Bench. II appoints Senator's 20 Congress, and
even Electors Of President. The Legislature also
elects tie Governor, who thus reserves his ofi:e
from clearly defined popular minority. But even
he i, rot eligible unle.s be be The owner of real
estate worth SEQ eles. Of deb., or 800 a:res OF
laid sId ten negroes.
No chspge csn be made in this despotism unless
twcthrds Of this body qualified By land and negroes
consent 10 81 alteration of TIE Constitutions
consent which one drea MS Of ever seeing yielded
Tie slsve-0wleu sre complete masters OF the
State, and exercise the whole sovereign authority
through the Legislature. The 6rst apPortionmens
uIder the present Constitution was msde in lS09,
and Few apPortionnent is required every ten
ycsrs, 90 that fresh one viii b. made in 1859.
II nsst result in mert a,ins the present inequality