The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-12
TO THE EDITOR OF TIE NEWS.

AZ thb EbiiON W. iltb
Before me are two copies of the acts of the
Legislature Of South Carolina. They are for
the years 1853 and 1868, continued into go, for
cause, no doubt. compare and contrast them,
| and submit to the planters, farmers, laborcrs,
| producers and taxpayers some of my notes and
reflections.
In 1853 we had constitution for the State
| and one for the United States, which the Gov
| ernor and members of the Legislature were
sworn to support-thc Legislature enacted; the
| courts decided, when necessary, the constItli-
tionality; and the Governor, If required, en-
forced 80.
%The SOVEREIGN LAW, that State's collected will,
which o'cr thrones aud globes elate .s-
Sat empress, crOwning good, rcpressng i'll;
Smit by her sacred frown,
And the fiend, DlsscnsIOn, like a vapor sank.n
Then, the Governor OF the State was the
patriarch of his people, who eagerly and JOY
| fully fastened TO meet and honor him wher-
eHer they might. He had no power, save as
minister of the law; no patronage to dispense;
no Offices to distribute; no money of the pco-
pie, with which to corrupt their agents; no
merccnary, Juggling veto to raise and deprcss
the value OF old bank bills for personal and
party ends. He could only recommend what
he thought good for the State, and pardon
when lie thought the sentence OF the court too
harsh. Acts Of the Assembly were ratified
without Ills signature, and lie never mcnaccd
tho courts with servlle Legislature, nor tile
people for appealing TO the courts for relief
against gricvous and unauthorized taxation
He had no State Auditors office to fiji with q
sitting member OF the Legislature, with $500
pay, and contingent of $1,000 added to his
per diem and mileage, beside his hook-and-
crook gatherings, and know not how many
other ofllccs-thc only necessity for which
office is to do ''thy masters will" and brand
the honest assessors and freeholdcrs Of the
State with perjury; nor was there then such
officers rs county auditors appointed by the
Governor, with an appropriation of $3l,5OO
(tcn thousand five hundred more than then
paid the whole Lcgislature,) enlisted to plum
der the hard earnings of labor, and rob the
producing classes and their unborn children OF
their birthright; nor, then, was there ''a State
police" of merccnary foreigners to appoint, to
follow you like bloodhounds into your homes
and families, with an appropriation of slO,0 900
Of your money to pay them, and whose
duty sit shall be to execute the orders ofthe
Governor" not to observe the law, (and their
masters will has been done without warrant
or law in Ahbevillc, Edgcfleld and elsewhere J
and with power given to arm this force, call
to their aid unlimited numbers to seize, fet-
ter, imprlson, murder your citizens, ahdfas-
sess your people for millions of dollars. The
soul starts and turns away from the vengcful
record. Then the salary of the Governor was
$500, and allowance for house rent s300,. aud
$500 for his private secretary. The contingent
funds placed ut Ills disposal was 800, 600, t'to
be accounted for by-hlm Annually to the Leg
islature." Appropriations Of hundreds of
thousands of dollars were not made then by
the Legislature ito be paid to the order Of The
GOrernor,' nor were millions of State bonds
signed by him, by his own procurement, nor
sent by him to his own appointed financial
agent, unknown to us, If not irresponsible, In
New York for negotiation, without minimum
limit of interest or discount fixed by law. Nor
had lie tlien control of the treasury of the
State. nor the power to appoint the majority
oil the civil officers Of the State, nor to appoint
and remove Plk the military officers, nor the
power to raise standing armies, officer, equip
for the field, and hurl them upon the very
people whom it was his sworn duty to ..pro-
tect and dcfend;" nor the power to commission
and send out secret spies and informers under
the name of constables TO espionage the citi-
zcns Of this Commonwealth, and then ssthe
purse and the sword were not placed, as they
now are, In the hands of this bandit usurper
And the Legislature of 1858, what of Its
acts? Its entire appropriation, the measure
OF Its taxation, was s4Sl, ,050. OF this sum
$74, 400 was for free schools; 4,45O for build
Ing new and repairing old courthouses and
jails all over the State; s2s, 100 and S742O for
extraordinary, charitable and benevolent pur-
poses, and $4,000 more for the military
schools ut Columbia and Charleston and the
Deaf and Dumb Asylum ut Cedar Springs.
leaving $266,6s0 for current expenses of civil
government. Members of tho Legislature
then could not hold one single Office of honor
and profit; had no incentive to create hun
drcds and thousands of new ones; fix high
pay for all. and thousand dollar contingents
for many of them, and hl as many as they
pleased by agreement and partition among
themselves, and bargain with the Governor,
whom they empowered to make near oil the
appointments for them, to have all the best
ones, and to buy votes with what remained.
Then there was no bond making, no bank bill
buying, nor brokerage, nor bribery; the cur
rency was Of uniform value, all specie, not
deDased and OF uncertain md unequal worth.
Members had no motive to vote themselves the
best, and the State the ,oorsi. They appropri.
ated Tor their own per diem and mileage
$2l, 900, and this was oil sufficient to enable
them to take care Of the morals aud virtue,
the life and property, the peace and prosperity
OF their adorcd State. |'' 4'"iH
How is 1t no,o, in 1865 Another admlnIstra-
tlon Is before us-another GovernorManoth-
cr Legislature. Who is the Govcrnorf AS he
himself says, he came hero o prisoner from
tho ranks of our unsparing enemies, about
the close of the late war. He Is now our mas
ter; but few Of us know him by sight, none by
tho paternal acts which should characterize o
his relationyto ,ls-none Of the moralltlcs of
peace has he manifested towards us, but moro
nearly the maxlms Of war. The rule Of tho
first is to ogood-of the latter to inaIct In: