Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-01-15
Brevet Major General Commanding
BAnswELL, January I, 1868,

BARNwELL, January Z, 1858.
Sir: reply Immediately to your note of the
4th January, just received.
I did not expect and did not ask, that you, a
Military Commander, would consider tho consti-
tutionality of the Reconstruction acts. But did
expect that you would point to the clause in those
acts which empowered you to suspend me from
the performance of the duties of my office, and
then to deprive me Of my property in that Office,
by ordering the State Treasurer to withhold tho
salary which the State contracted to pay me when
was commissioned one of her judges. You will
remember, that I nm still Judge of South Caro-
lima. You have not ventured to remove me yet,
and if you had, you cannot deprive me Of my Of
fee. You cannot point to any authority in the
acts, but excuse your injustice and usurpation by
saying, "that as your action involved serious
delay in the administration of justice, and i'm
posed upon the State in its impoverished condi-
ton, additional expenses for the maintenance Of
prisoners, and for holding special terms of the
courts in several Of the districts in the Southern
Circuit did not consider it proper or just to add
to those burdens by authorizing compensation for
services that werc not rendered."
Indignantly repel this SANDER. I was in the
actual performance of my duties, under tho laws
of the State of South Carolina, that had conferred
on.me my judicial Office, and to whom, alone, l
am accountable. When you, by high-handed
usurpation Of authority, not conferred on you by
any law of Congres', or article of war, suspended
me in the very effort was making to administer
justice to a suffering people. What justice was to
be administered by such juries as you had di-
rected to be drawn7 You know, or should have
known, that your order as to jurie', was not au-
thoriEed by any net Of Congress. You know or
should have known, that juries, selocted as you
directed, presented the most serious impedimont
to the administration Of justice. You know or
should have known, that my oath of Office pre-
vented mo from carrying out your order-and yet,
as mere partisan, without considering the digni-
ty of my position, the character of my beloved
State, or tho responsibility Of your own station
in the very wantonness of power, you Put upon
me an indignity which was unworthy of tho great
government you represent, and must add, ap-
pears to mo now to be not only rssentful, but un-
manly. Let your brother officers Of the old army
judge.
AS conscientious judge and man of honour,
could not carry out your order without violating
my oath of Office. said SO frankly. You sus-
pended me. I yielded without murmur, and
now, because I have a conscience, that will not
permit mo, as think, to violate my oath Of Office,
with high-handed tyranny, you not only deprive
me of the dignity of that Office but rob me of it's
support, and thon in.ultingly tell me that my
faction has involved serious delay in the ad-
mnstration Of justice" forgetting that 1t was
your own unauthorized and officous interference
with the laws of tho State, that placed the first
and only impedimcnt in tho way Of justice. With
what consistency can you talk about tho "impov-
erished condition" Of tho State, when only on tho
l39, assessing q tax for the very salary you hare
directed the Treasurer to withhold, and did actu-
ally make an appropriation for its payment!
How does it help the people of IN impoverished
State, to wiring taxes out of them, which you af-
forwards direct to be locked up in the treasury
Why trouble yourself about State burdens,
when tho people II moan white people, ta1-psy-
ers), with singular unanimity approve my course,
nnd sustain me under my present trials7
No sir, am not deceived, nor is the country,
by this mere subtcrfugo. You cover this bold and
bad attempt, to destroy tho independence Of the
judiciary, at tho same time that you make your
effort to break down the great bulwark Of liberty
THE TRIAL by JURY, with a very fimsy veil.
commend you to tho perusal of General Han
cocks Special Order No. 7o3, to show you what
patriotic officer can do, whose desire is to henl the
wounds of PROSTATE and bleeding country.
But do not complain. My only purpose now
is to repel your unjust and cruel asporsion and to
put on record my protest against your monstrous
tyranny.
will leave my native State tomorrow, in doop
sorrow and dependency, to seek support for my
wife and children, in hospitable Georgia, whore I
am assured of hearty welcome. Thank God, in
my temporary o1ilo-for am coming back when
you go-I will be sustained by the consciousness
Of having done my duty, and the full confidence
that tho people, the great judges in this case, will
soon do justice to you and to me.
Very respectfully, cir,
Your obedient servant,
A.p. ALDRICH,
Law Judge of South Carolina.
Majors General CANsY, Commanding Military