Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-03-02
[voL. 2-No, 20.
Important Decision.

Important Decision.
We learn from NJ obe paper that Judea
Gates, OF Louisiana, has rendered a,dccison
which may be of Importance to many former
shareholders, should it become precedent fop
the courts III other States. !!c says that tho
logical sequence of the action of the State in
emanctpating slaves must be, that when the
right OF property in that which had hereto.
fore been treated as such by the laws is de.
stroyed, the laws to regulate the rights Of
parties to that property, nnd to enforce pay-
mcnt OF obligations given for it, must follow
the tate OF the property itself, and all contracts
based upon these laws be annulcd
| The Judge further holds that the tenure by
which tins species of property was held, was
different from that by which all other proper
~ IS held. 1t was not based. he says, on nat
ural law; and the right Of liberty was pre-
existing right which belonged to She person
held as slave, however much public poficy
and the supposed interest of the country nav
nave prevented the enforcement of that right
ny the person claiming it. But when the
sovereign power of tho State interviewed to
recognize and enforce that right, it cannot be
sald that the property was destroyed by any
fortuitous event.
fle adds that Government cannot saw
tract Of land which is property by the laws Of
nature, shall no longer be property, but that
u slave, once crancipatcd can, by no sabsc
quent act of the Government, be legally held
AS slave If this ruling prevails throughout
the courts OF the South, notes or other oblga-
tons given for slaves will be knocked into a
cooked hat.-{Hoain
Terrible Scene IN French Penitentiarv
An account of the revolt in she French
Juvenile pcnitcntiary of ST. Anne has already
been given, but all the horrors of the scene
were not told. The prison contained on the
18th Of September last, two hundred and
eighty eight prisoners, who plotted revolt.
and accomplished it on the "a of October
They drove out the turnkcvs, released those
who we're in durancc for bad behavior, pil.
laSed, and drank, and INDUCED in tl.o usual
satutualia.
Then they wanted something else to de-,
tncy should shut up in the storchouse those
who would be likely to bctray them, and then
set the building on fire and further to make
things secure that one Of the worst of the re-
volte*, who happened to be drunk, should
stand guard opposite the door Of the storchouse
while 1T was burning, with knife in hand, to
stab amy who attempted to escape.
This was immediately agreed to and the
victims, fourteen 10 namber, having been in
duced to enter, s pile Of papers was hcaped
up, saturated with petroleum., and, set on fire.
The room was soon in blaze, but sll tho
doors and windows being strongly barred. there
was no possibility of egrcss except by the one
door at which the boy .Allard stood with his
knife. One poor little fellow, named Carl
baldl made desperate attempt to pass tho
flaming portal, but was stabbed three times
and hurled back bleeding into the fire. A
q r1,o ,rl fl,oo al.
TINS and ran to their assistance, was set upon
by the young demons ~ho presided over the
auto da-fc and flung into trench Of course
the building was burned to the ground, and
when assistance came, TWO days afterwards,
the bodies of the twelve or fourteen victims
had been reduced to ashes. For this horrible
crime four of the accused have been condemned
to the galeys for life.
On the plantation; in the shop, in tie fac
tory, there the South is to effect its true res
toratlon. The young men who dug, trenches
and fed on honiny and pork, who went clad
IN .homcs'spun gray and slcp in cold rain, or
shine, under the canopy of tho heavens to
further the fortunes as they believed of their
native land, can now do mobiles service by
laying hold of its plow haualcs, turning its
lathcs, guiding its spindlcs, handling its loco
motives. But there is want of capital. No
matter, they have youth, health, hope, amb-
ton, and good abilities. They have every In
centlve for which to work. Begin with will,
and success will crown their efforts. Nation.
al l"tcliycscer,
Observation-Disclosures TAYLOR says OF
marriage:
Marriage is the mother. of tho world, and
preserves Kingdoms, and fills cities, and church
es, AMI Heaven itself. cibacn like the fly
in the heart of an apple, dwcls in pcrpet.
ual sweetness but sits alone and is confined
and dies in singularity but marriaoc. lke