Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-08-01
For the Advertiser.

puOlic.E: isS l<,-
After: thanking Mr.ADAxs.for the kind senti-
ments expressed towards myself in.his cOamuni-
cation Of the 1lth ultimo, I will very Briefly /
cndcav0r toset myself and friendsin:a true posi- 4
ton before the people Of tue District. !.
That Mr. ADAMS, with his acknowledged ability q
should draw such erroneous conclusions from the
coll Of some of the good citizens of the District
for meeting has not little 81 rprsed me, as
well as many others of his friends. In the COM
muncations of "RUsrIc," it was suggested to
the people of the District to meet in their primary
assemblies and memorabilia and petition the Leg
islaure not to rcpulate, but to modify theindebt-
edness of the country, and TO give such time as
would enable debtors to make money to pay
creditors Not one single sentence was written
or spoken at any Of the meetings have attended
except the garbled extract from the call for
meeting at Bethel Church. The meeting at the
Ridge was held some fifteen miles from my resi-
dence, and the gentlemen who called the meeting
live that far, and some of them further from me;
and I do not suppose one of them knew, when
the call was made, who "RUsTIc" was. And
provided they did, knew nothing of the call for
aaid meeting until it had been advertised three
days. Ireccived letter of invitation, accompanied
by the Adrertiser continuing the call Conse.
quently anl in no wise responsible for any Ian
guage contained in the call and had 1 been
last sentence. Ihave noidoqbt that the patriotic
and good men who made thecall for this meeting,
wished to avert anything like dc6anee to Law,
rather than promote "nything;likeiarmed resis-
tance to the Sheriff; fo2 f'the people are driven
to desperation, the presumption is much stronger
that they will prey one upon another, rather than
upon the Sheriff, the executive officer of the Law
Having said this much which ar. ADAMS, says:
Z" If go, he has done US injustice and makes the
amende honorable" whichrwe accept in the same
kind spirit in which tits rendered. ...ep
But Mr.. ApANs goes further in his criticism
upon. our plan of relief to the people, and charac
tcrizc: rue as ropudiationist without any qualifi
cation anil so advertises me. Now I submit that
my friend has done me great injustice in this,
a. have not proposed to rcpudiatc dollar; only
such debts as should fail in part for want of con-
slider atun debts contracted for slaves and debts
contracted where the consideration Was deprecated
Bank bills or Confederate notes. contend that
slavery having been destroyed by the State Con-
vcntion, and by tho Constitution of the United
States, the State Legislature concurrins, that the
State has ample Constitutional power to relieve
L.. nf ;pIa aht nd, NJ
interest, or hire until the slaves were emancpated.
In every case where slave has been sold in South
Carolina since the introduction Of the institution,
it has been expressed or implied that such prop
erty was to be slave for life. BY organic
law of the land which is irrevocabc, the institu-
ton has been destroyed, and the people left in the
worst condition of any that ever preceded them ;
AID for no fault of theirs. And for the statuary
law to come in and collect more Of these debts
than is above indicated, would be nm act better
suited to the barbarous ages of the past, than to
the light aad justice of the nineteenth century.
AS for Bank notes, although they purported to be
predicated upon specie bnsis, time has demon
stra!ed such was not the case; they were ineorpo-
|
not Although chartered by the Legislature, thoir
bills, like all other promissory notes, have only
relatiys valuation, and possess 10 further value
than the bills command. By the Constitution Of
the United States, and of the State, only gold or
silver is legal tender. BY an ordinance OF the
late Contention, all debts contracted since the
first of January 1862, are to be paid according to
the relative value of consideration, clearly en-
bracing slave debts, debts contracted at Confede-
rat, prices, Confederate money or deprecated
bank bills. No one has questioned the consitu-
tionalty of this act of tie Convention. North
Carolina has gone much further. Tennessee has
declared her slave debts all illegal, except hire.
And il the Convention had power to modify this
species of Indebtedness since the first of January
1862, would not another Convention of the people
have ample Constitutional power, without any
antagoni.m with the Constitution of the State, Or
of tho United States, to set aside debts Of this
character, or pay them according to their true
valuation, although such debts may have existed
for twenty years. Just to illustrate, suppose A.
bought Of D. five thousand dollars worth Of slaves
ten years ago, and thrcc-fourths Of the money
were paid anterior to the war; nOw slavery having
been destroyed by action of the Government,
would honor or justice require the payment Of the
remaining fourth? Again, suppose A. had two
thousand dollars in bank bills in 1860; he loans
his friend B. one thousand, and locks the other
thousand up in his iron safe. Would honor or
justice require the payment of more than the
thousand dollars that have been locked up, with
interest adlcd1 In the consideration of this
question have never lost sight of the rights of
creditors, and contend that though the losses Of
creditors have been, and must be, immense, yet
they have not been equal to the losses of debtors.
The plan submitted by ME, does ample justice,
think, to tho creditors; and docs not, in my
opinon, Discriminate too much in favor of debtors
Letus analyze the plan as proposed by my hum
bic self, and see if the rights of creditors arc not
fully respected. First, the guardian and ward.
The wards patrimony is not interfered with,
a-.ept where its legacy was derived from the sale
Of slaves; in. that case, propose to give the
ward fifth, aud in no wise to interfere with
hispatrimony derived from any other species of
property. submit that this will be doing ample
justice to the minor, and only compel him to do
what honor and justice would dictate, e., become
n common sufferer in the misfortunes of the coun-
try by dividing losses with the guardian To the
money dealer, propose to pay the same amount
and interest which has been invested, and in the
Same currency or its equivalent. To parties who
have sold slaves propose to pay interest Or hire
from day OF sale to duy of emancipation; all
the property could harc been possibly worth had
it been retained in the first kands. Iproposc that
in all cases of debts for rcnl estate or visible
property, such be paid for on demand according to