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

Before me are two copies of the acts of the
Legislature of South Carolina. They are for
the years 1853 and 1868, continued into '69, for
cause, no doubt. compare and contrast them,
and submit to the planters, farmers, laborers,
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-the Legislature enacted; the
courts decided, when necessary. the constitu-
tionality; and the Governor, if required, en-
forced.
"The SOVEREIGN LAW, that States collected will,
Which DER thrones and globes elate
Sat empress, crowning good, represslng Ill;
| Smit by her sacred frown,
And the fiend, Dissension, like vapor, sank"
Then, the Governor Of the State was the
patriarch of his people, who eagerly and JOY
| fully fastened to meet and honor him wher-
ever they might He had no power, save as
minister of the law; no patronage to dispense;
no offices to distribute; no money of the reo-
ple. with which to corrupt their agents; no
mercenary, Juggling veto to raise and depress
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 he thought the sentence of the court too
harsh. Acts Of the Assembly were ratified
without his signature, and he never menaced
the courts with servile Legislature, nor the
people for appealing to the courts for relief
against grievous and unauthorized taxation.
He had no State Auditors office to fill with
sitting member of the Legislature, with $500
pay, and a contingent of $1,000 added to his
per diem and mileage, beside his hook-and-
crook gatherings, and know not how many
other offices-the only necessity for which
office is to do ''thy masters will and brand
the honest assessors and freeholders of the
State with perjury; nor was there then such
officers as county auditors appointed by the
Governor, with an appropriation of s3l 500
(ten thousand five hundred more than then
paid the whole legislature 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 mercenary foreigners to appoint, to
follow you like bloodhounds into your homes
and families, with an appropriation of $4,000
of your money to pay them, and whose
duty ssit shall be to execute the orders efthe
Governor" not to observe the law, (and their
masters will has been done without warrant
or law in Ahbeville, Edgefeld and elsewhere,)
and with power given to arm this force, call
to their aid unlimited numbers to seize, fet-
ter, imprison, murder your citizens, and as
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 $500, and
$500 for his private secretary. The contingent
funds placed at his disposal was $4,000, Ito
be accounted for by him 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
Governor" 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 he then control of the treasury OF the
State. nor the power to appoint the majority
of the civil officers of the State, nor to appoint
and remove all the military officers, nor the
power to raise standing armies, officer, equip
for the field, and hurt them upon the very
people whom it was his sworn duty to PRO
tect and defend;;" nor the power to commission
and send out secret spies and informers under
the name of constables to espionage the citi-
~
purse and the sword were not placed, as they
now are, in the hands of this bandit usurper.
And the Legislature of 1853, what of Its
acts? Its entire appropriation, the measure
of its taxation, was s4sl,O5O. OF this sum
s74, 400 was for free schools; s74, ,450 for build
ing new and repairing old courthouses and
tails all over the State; s2s, 100 and s7420 for
extraordinary, charitable and benevolent pur-
poses and $4,000 more for the military
schools at Columbia and Charleston and the
Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Cedar Springs,
leaving s266, $50 for current expenses of civil
government. Members Of the Legislature
then could not hold one single office of honor
and profit; had no incentive to create hun
dreds and thousands of new ones: fix high
pay for all, and thousand dollar contingents
for many of them, and fill as many as they
pleased by agreement and partition among
themselves, and bargain with the Governor,
whom they empowered to make near all 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
debased and of uncertain and unequal worth.
Members had no motive to vote themselves the
best, and the State the ,oorSt. They appropri-
ated for their own per diem and mileage
s2l, 900, and this was all sufficient to enable
them to take care Of the morals and virtue,
the life and property, the peace and prosperity
of their adored State.
How is 1t no,o, In 1868? Another administra-
ton is before us-another Governor-anoth-
er legislature. Who is the Governor As he
himself says, he came here prisoner from
the 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
the paternal acts which should characterize
his relas1an to us-none of the moralities OF
peace has he manifested towards lis, but more
nearly the maXims of war. The rule OF the