Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1866-11-16
For the 165c,iUe Press.
THE BEST REMEpY FOR EXISTING r,

tSevereign people $50 callcd) Of this great
Democratic Republican Government, $50 call
ed) to express On opinion, through, your col
umns, on the subject Of what is best to be.
DONE IN this great emergency-,hispe peculiarly
embarrassing condition--that we find ourselves
placed in by outside pressure, and other cpuses
beyond our control. I have read most Of tho
speeches delivered at the called session of the
Legislature. The. prominent idea in oil of
'hetn. Is that something ough, to be done Tor
inc relief "f the people, in this great crisis
About what that something should be, there
seems TO have been great diversity of op,n-
ion. They oil admitted the existence Of the
evil and the necessity of o remedy. but iuas-
much as they could not agree; they adjourn
ed without doing any thing, or proposing any
thing worth calling "a remedy, for the over
whelming evils. brought upon us by the State
and General Government, acting in concert.
The most sensible portion of them, finding the
subject rather embarrassing, like all good aul
faithful agents. under similar circumstances.
propose to refer the whole subject to their
principala, their employers. the people; which
l suppose means, If it means anything, that
not knowing, themselves what to do, they
desire The people to tell them what they ought
to do. This being the construction put upon
! the proposition to refer this embarrassing cub
jeet TO The people. I shall proceed at once to
give them the benefit of my advice and coun.
s'l In multitude of counse!ors there is safe.
ty. In the fi,st place hen would advise the
Legislature on assembling at the regular scs-
siona. innsmuch as the S;ntc hus abolished
slavery nnd thereby deprived the people Of
three four'hs Of their prop crly and consequent
~ diminished their means to that extent Of
paying their debts. to pass IL law, forthwith.
releasing every man from thrce-fourtIs of his
debts. That tins is right and just, it doee
to me mus' nrper plain to the common sense
OF every man. For the State to deprive the
people of the means Of paying their debts to
the ex,ent of three-fuur,lls and then require
them TO pay he whole account, does nppear
to my mind most supvrlativciy unius. and
absurd. Laws to be constitutional mist he
uniform in their operation on the hifr, rent
classes Of society. There is no uniformity in
this. For example, my neighbor and were
ench worth twenty thousand dollars before
emancipation. Fifteen thousand in each Gaze
was negro property. five thousand in land
The State has deprived US y! the fifteen thou
sand, aud five Thousand is now all that il left
o either "f ua. I once owed q debt OF four
thousand dollars 10 my rciyhbor, which | could
have paid him before emancipation, anil have
had sixteen thousand left, or iwo-thirds as
much MS my neighbor. If I am required to
pay the whole amount of four thousand now
with a capital reduced to Fl We thousand will
be reduced to one thousand and my ntighbor,
| n MI nd n
he produced by the action, in Other words, by
the law of South Carolina. This s obviously
unjust, but let the State release me from three
fourhs of my debt. and We arc rlacrd iu the
same relative position that we were before
that is he would be worth six thousand and
four thousand. That would be Uniform, there
fore Constitutional and right Having thus
demonstrated tha, reputation to this extent is
just and right whatever intervenes to prevent
its accomplishment, is wrong. whether it. he
the judges or the Constitution. and SHOULD bo
disregarded.
have advised repudiation to the extent Of
three-fourths to illustrate the truth and justice
Of the measure. Three fourths however will
not apply to all cases. The law should be so
framed, to be exactly right--that every man
| should be released from debt exactly in pro-
portion Ia what lie has lost by emancipation.
| whether it be three fourths or one-fourth or
uine-tenths. If he hue lost all, theu he should
have the benefit Of General Bankrupt Law,
wkich our most excellent Govern,r hos had
the good sense to recommend, and which
should by all means be passed. 1t is wise
and humane measure. and one that the sxi-
geney Of the times iuperatj7ely domand.
would advise the ro-enactmept of the Stay
Law as,the next most Important measure. to
continue in force for at least twelve months.
This is highly necessary, as we the people. on
account Of the failure in the crops, have made
nothing to pay debts With, this Year. If we
can keep from starvation. it will be rather
more than We expect to do. .
| There ore other matters Of less impor-
tance. that will simply call your attention
TO. For example, ihe necessity of ueng the
credit of the State. 10 buy corn. so as II pos
sible. to keep Tire soVsrei 20 people from stir.
vatian. It might be Question. however.
4 whether ataryatiop, under existing circumstan-
ees you'd no, be blessing, in. relieving US
frop the greater evils by which We are sur
rounded. That is matter that shall leave
entirely to your discretion. There are impor
tant measures that have recommended for
your consideration, and I. ,hnye discharged my
! duty in go doing. twill be seen whether YOU
will have the good aense to adopt any Of them
or. not. I confess that I am BY no means San.
guine. from what IhAye poticsl Of your pro-
eeed,ngs heretofore. 1 au fear full that yon
|'don't realize our true condition.
iase been surprised when have heard
membsrs Of the Legislature, and others talk
about the great resources: Of: the State, pre-.
dieting tbat', The people would recover from
these evils. in sfsw years. Why ,his 10 no or.
dinary calamity that men. may, by industry
and economy, recover from In r. few years IL
/ In oholr Al rareo ~ nrLa ~ ~.