Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1866-12-21
THE LEGISLATURE,

rhe Legislature will adjourn this evening,
and the members may be expected up on Sat
urday. We have not been able to discover from
the papers wha, they have done. We suppose the
Columbia papers hive been SO busy with the
public printing that they have not had time to
tell their rcacrts Tiha! has been going on, bit
We have seen gimpses enough TO know that our
Representatives huve been hard at work.
FIrs.-They do not seem to have acted On
the Constitutional amendment. We would in
fer from some things which havo transpirrd,
that negotiations are on foot TO learn definitely
what the Radicals require Of US. We hope so.
II is time that there should he t,ro parties to the
contract. We wish to iea:n wietfsr the
gulph has any bottom. Let Us know The worst
Of il!
Second-Wo hope the district Court Bill
making the machinery less expensive, aud
clearly defining its Jurisdiction und powers, has
passed. Some seem to think that we are too
poor to afford tribunals for tie trial Of offences
If so we are lost inlced We have just passed
through terrible war which. Of course, has
had d demorali lizing effect. Slaves have been
emancipated, and for many other REASONS, there
is more need now than ever. for the suppression
OF crime. If every man 10 to do. hs be pleGses
wth:npunity, it will be Impossible for civil. i'll.
dustrious people to live il the country. A
good sts.cal Of criminal accountability will
save in money TO The STATE moro in one year,
than it will cost in Ten. Let us have prompt
punishment Of crime
IHird-We hope the Penitentiary will be
put into operation speedily. We have for years
doubted tie policy Of packing convcts into
one vast central Jail House. which. to some ex-
tent, must necessarily be sort Of college or uni
rtrsity for criminals. But tho time has come for
nPenitentiury. The Jails would not hold the
convicts. nor the State be able to pay for their
suPpor:- We want punishment and we wan
work.
.FourM--The LeSislItule has repeal. the usury
laws. One objec, is, no doubt, to induce capital
to come into the State. Money lenders who
wish more than seven per cent can get it now
no need to keep money out Of the State for fear
OF usurf laws. Let it come along and we don't
care how much of It. We need money TO build
up our waste places. OR lands are somewhat
worn, but still good or capable Of being re-
claimed They possess the power of producing
cotton. which ID better than gold They lie in
healthy region, and within tie ierri,ori. ]
limits Of The good old State of South Carolina
Don't sell Your lands to strangers for song
Work hard aud set money to retain them
Don't emigrate, but stick 20 the soil. Ycu may
60 further and fare worsel
1fh-The signs Indicate that lie tegisla.
ture aspassed h:''estcM lar. We 60 not
know whether it is retrospective in its oheration
80 as 10 include past debts. If 60 we are at a
loss to nnderst and how it can escape the inter.
ference of that Lion in The path, the Cons.i,u-
ton; but we hope the Legislature has done it
right, forif the details of the Bill are properly
drawn, we are in favor IF q homestead law. We
regard South Carolina as still our home, wheth-
er che is sovereign State or Territory, or in
some intermediate mphibious state between the
Two. We don't wish our people all to emig rate
"ehave strong local attachments aud cling to the
SOIL OF our ancestors where we have been horn
and reared, where we have played. and
p'oughsd and fought, where lie the bones of
our fathers nrd where we have always re-
garded ''otir home"
"Breathes there's man with sonl go dead.
Nho never TO himself hath said,
Ibis is my own, my native land"