Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-06-20

CASTE, Wncn pefcnuuce 4 lankee mas been. .placed
in possession of their patrinionial estates by the
wise Judges of the land. sorrows Of moss.of
our people are just beginning. The dark nigttsof
haunting care;is Just closing around them, in:
steadlof having ended, aslmaqy had fondly hoped.
The civilization soutAsrn society has been Up
Isaysd blythe Yankees, andyllasl the families and
.iindiyiduals Of aat:socety ii snuth Carolina at
Last, are to bsbsgsarcd Hythoireyn constituted
authoritics.
1t may be contended that many debtors were
wasting their substance instead of paying their
dobts ;-grantcd. But many others, and large
majority of the debtor class, were not doing SO;
but were onergetically, hopefully aud honestly
addressing themselves to the task of working out
their debts. As matters uow stand, the welfare
of three hundred thousand asriculturists and ar
tizans is 70 be sacrificed for the benefit of few
hundred Attorneys, Mercbautfan Money lenders.
Tho legal and mercantile clusses have long
been clamoring for the overthrow Of tho Stay
Inv. because as long as that law continued of
force, the occupation of tho Bur was gone Money
londcrs and merchant, having their capital locked
ND in CREDITS desired to have those credits COL
lccted, and the Bar sighed for the opportunity to
be paid for collecting them. 1t was with great
difficulty that any Stay Law was enacted at the
last session the General Assembly. The main
cause was that there ore more lawyers merchants
and non producers i9l the present Genera! Assem-
bly, than perhaps ever met before in Columbia as
the Representatives of the 2eoplo; for which
state of things the people may thank their own
apathy, and the anxiety Of certain men to get
into position which would enable them tc re-
rive the prosperity of their individual occupation,
whether it subaerved' tho public god or not. 1t
may be that The strong party IN the Legislature
who ,wcte opposed to cnacting any Stay Law
whatever last winter, deluded tile Judges with the
idea that the people want and need no Stay Law,
and that the Bench could pronounce the death
warrant Of the. prosperity Of tie State fon years
to come, in accordance with tho public opinion ns
reflected by tho peoples misrdkresentativcs. In
thus annullins Stay Law, &hO Bar have but
ruled the State, rs they have ever ruled it for
good or evil. Having always oeen the 'controll-
ing politicians Of the State they fret taught the
people the principles of Secession which convert
cd the other States of The South,-led to the war
.-toiemancipaton-to pecuniary ruin; and now
that Bar ase furnishing their oo'dsvoted converts
for the folly Of docilhy. They are courting in
famous Immortality, by.unyeiling themselves like
thss prophet of Korassan, With this damning
difference, that he was conscious impos.er from
the first, while they were perhaps sincere, until
their doctrines were put.down By the sword. The
Interpretation and construction Of the Consttu-
ton is determined by common law rules, and
hence our present Common or Judge -made-law
on the subject of staying Executions is to violate
the golden ruc of the greatest good to the great.
cst number; and law is made to punish the
honest majority of debtors as we'll as the few
dishonest ones. The exception, not the rule, in
the conduct Of men is to govern. Reformed sin
ners genorallybsconic persecuting saints, and US
most of our Judges are but recent converts to
by their zeal in the cause of the new faith, to
atone for the errors Of their Fast lives in the
service of State Rights. We're the Judges afraid
that our Representatives would not be admitted
into Congress? Did they shiver at the rising
clamor of Northern creditors of Southern men
II yea, arssthey so innocent o. human nature
and history as not to know tha. the more you
yield to radical the more he REQUIRES? Did the
members of the Bench have an oyerpowering
dread of tho crime of treason, and of aojourn
in Fortress Monroe or Fort La Eayette, if they
should decide that the State Legislature yet has
ourcuurroI over the welfare of the State The
Judges arc but men, and some Of: them y cry weak
menia that. Docs tho property of.IanyOf either
Bench consist mostly in Notes, Bends, Mortgages
and Executions? Have any Of them Lawyer
sons, friends and relatives, whoha nothing to do
as lorp tL--cL-y bum continued OF force!
Havo the Judges and Cbanceors Of South Caro-
lima fat, very, very fat, salaries, which do not
depend upon frcedmen's labor, or the, intermed.
ding of the blessed Freedmens Bareau7
It is to bs deplorsd that Judge ALDRrcu proud
ly stands alOnc in his. glory of Independence and
defiance of military authority and radical clamor.
lie ut least is true to the past. No charge of
aposLacy can be laid at his door, nor yet can any
praise be awarded him for simply doing his duty.
He has but justified the friends who urged his
election to the Bench, and exhibited to tho world
that lie is man worthy to wear the Judicial .er.
mine in these disjointod iaes of cyiIstrifc, when
no branch of either the State or United States
Governments Gun aayc the endangered liberties Of
the country, exceptths Judicial Department..
Judge ALDRcH's ruling on the Circuit that he
would hold no more civil Courts until the Military
should cease to Interfere with his proceedings,
was also reversed in the Appeal Court Shades
Of our departed Judges, upon whoa have your
nantles fallen? Oh fate! Oh Liberty! Oh de-
noraising effects Of cruel war I. Arc the superio:
Courts of South Carolina to have thoir proceed.
ing SET. aside m ignorant military upstart, and
he presiding Judge to have no sense of dignity
,r ,rindepcndence to resQntit? maglstrote wor.
by to sit for the trial Of small and mean causes
would scorn to hold his seat upon such terms. :.
Let Judge ALDRlcu take no shame to himself
or having been rebukcd by the oncs proudand /
independent Appeal Court of South Carolina for
imply doing on the. Circuit what the Judge of
very Civil Court should do under like ciroum-s
tances.9, In resolving to3hold nc Grlore Courts
nder tho bayonct, he but did what even Chief
ustico Chase, tho would-bc- President of the
RADICAL Party, has done in regard to holding
'Ourts in Virsiaia but did what all the great
Judges of England havo done, whct the King
as sought to intimidato them. 1t is respectfully
uggcstcd to our cxpoundcrs Of tho law to refresh
heir minds with an hours reading of prccepts
nd examples of the English Judges in the reign
f tho Stuarts, when the sJameses and Charleses4
tempted to ovcrawo tho Bopch. Without soma.
ach tonic to their tagging judicial courage, they
10y forget that-thcy represent the dignity of the
tatc, aswcllas that of their own persons; andmay
t.syfs.