Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-06-13
For the Advertiser.
To Maj. Jas. A. Talbert, Rev. E. T.
Walker, and Others.

and the repeated requests of other gen,lcm ensof
the District, avail myself of. .fhc frst moment
of lci.u.c, after the arduous labor, of Court, to-
.deyolopc the oly plan that has Suggested ITSELF
to my:mind for she relief Of our present posuni:
ary emBarrasspents. @ "a
Wet;aarc surrounded with .lcrs ;ereatcr than
those Of war, and tits true that We can be de-
'liverei fr,m TIE thsnnsonly by wisdom, thought and
action. Tbs Legislature hasfailsdt to exiricnte
US, plunging us eren deeper still in the "ser'o-
nian bog" silgomust endeavor aow to eXtricaie
ourselves Our Representatives must be Instruct
ed by thoir constituents and the faithful servants
sustained,-tho unfaiihful condemned
The Court Of Appeals has pronounced the stny
Law unconstitutional, as infringing that clause OF
the Constitution, which declares that No State
shall pass any ez post facto law, or law i'm
pairing the Obligation Of contracts" and it is
vain to Look any longer for succor from such m
expcdont as that IF ysu give me your note,
payable on or bjfore the first of January next in
the sum Of one hundred dollars and tho Lcgisla-
turc, or the State Convention, should afterwards
make an enactment, providing that you do not
pay mo, at the time agreed upon, or providing
that you only pay me onc-tcnth Of the amount
stipulated, that would seem to be u aw g impair
ing the obligation" of our contract.
But Homestead Law, and q hw exsn,pting
certain property from levy and sale, is neither
M cx post facto law" in the sense contemplated
by the Constitution, nor a law impairins the obli'
CATION of contracts. 1t is clearly not the latter,
and think most legal minds will conclude that
it is not subject to the objections of the former.
The pstriots who framed our Constitution, in pro-
viiing that no State should pass IN "ex post
facto law" had reference particularly to States
making that act, which, whom done or committed.
was no offence whatever, to be deemed subsequent
ly crime or misdemesnor, and subject to punish
ment as such. 1t s possible, that in this portion
Of the clause the idea of contracts and legal OBJ
legations never entered into the minds OF those
wise men, who conceived great system OF gov
ernuent and called an Empire into Existence.
It is the latter part Of the clause then, that we
have to consider, presenting the only irnpedl'
ment TO the law we would have enacted to save
the Commonwealth. A Homestead Law though,
and law excmptiDg certain property from levy
and sale, to operate in the future alOne, would he
inadequate, and unequal to the ends required. 1t
must have Il retrospective action. Otherwise, the
old judgments and executions would sell the lar
ger portion Of the property in the State, aud the
evils VIC suffer would only be partially renedied
Now the lien which the statute has given the
creditor, aftor judgment is obtained, on the prop
erty of his debtor, is no contract. 1t is merely
provision for the regulation of trade, like any
other act for the protection of commerce, and the
Legislature can repeal, alter, or amend it, in all
| its parts.
Having submitted these views Of its constitu-
! tionality, next proceed to state more explicitly
tho scheme would adopt to allay apprehension
to restore confidence and to reestablish credit in
tho State. Ordinarily, it is best that no vessric-
tions whatever should be put upon trade and
| that all of mans property should be liable
| for his debts. But "we have fallen upon evil
times, -" Temporal nutauar, etnoS, I" iHis, Mute
mur,"-apd desperate maladics require her"ic
remedies.
An act cxempting from levy and sale the Home
stead and two hundred and fifty or three hundred
acres of land, four or five head Of horses, and q
few cattle and hogs according to the size o. his
family, besides tue supplies for each year, rea-
sonable quantity of household and kitchen furni-
ture, and the necessary implements Of husbandry,
| of the farmer the house and lot aud workshop
and Same supplies, &C., and tools of his trade, OF
the mechanic; the house and lot and stcre and
warehouse, fthe mcrchant,-and the house and lot
aniou aui huuhn, uu-of. lhs=nryE.eeivnai
minister of the gospel, suggests itself to the mind
as the only practical solution of our difficulties.
and the only corrective Of the evils which have
alroaly arisen and will continue to arise, first
| from the passage Of the stay-law, and then from
| the sudden announcement of its unconstT:iOnali-
ty, and from the almost universal nsolr sncy Of
the inhabitants Of the State. 1t would disa apfvint,
to be sure, few men in each District, whose con-
duet has deprived them Of the synpathes Of the
| community, but it would scarcely disturb the re-
| ations between debtor and creditor, for they
would soon adjust themselves TO the altered cir.
| cumstance. 1t would prevent wide. spread and
general ruin, and it would bring joy and glad.
ness to the hearts and the hearh-stones OF thou
sands Of those brave men who perilled all for
country, and who, bearng alott your sacred BAN
ncr, and immortalizing your namos in history,
sacrificed their health, and left their limbs some
strown on tho plains of Manassas, and in the
Wilderness, about Fredericksburg, and others
scattered on Malvern Hill, aud in the bloody
trenches around Petersburg and Richmond.
Let US consider, for moment, the parties
whom this law would Inconvenience, anG those
whom it would benefit, and save pcrhaps from
"dcspair und desperation"
It would, no doubt, worry those who remained
at home, and speculatcd in the tears and suffer-
ings Of our women and children, whilst VIC were
barring our bosoms to the blighting storms Of war.
1t would annoy those, who contributed nothing to
the great struggle, in which the chvalry and
manhood of the South, during four dreadfui years
of;privation and hattie, Sontonded, in ths field,
with FIVE times their numbers, and won an ilnmor
tality of;fame. And it would distress most sorey
those sordd sons of uvdrice, who, loving money
moro than their country or their God, could od
vance no aid, and feel no sympathy for "a cause,
which had rallied all the spirit Of the naticn, tho
young and the old, the able and the infrm, and
even boys fresh from the nursery, into the terrible
arena Of conflict. Those who employed oil STRATA
gems and devices to keep themselves anG their
sons out of the war, and TO protect their property
and gather in more, whilst the men were finging
away their wealth, and lavishing their own blood,
and the blood of their children, on IN issue which
was to decide forever the fate of the South, and
the destiny Of the Republic, will be disqrietcd,
mortified, and chagriued by the enactment of q
Homestead Law But to that other more numerous