The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-13
A: Don OF Thieves.

1t has long been. thought that the Radi-
cnls had 'touched bottom" Us the saying
is-that they had reached d social and polit-
cal depth beyond which it WINS not possible
to go. But their genius hos been under
valued. They are capable OF descent
deeper than my that history records. They
have undertaken to explore o., bottomless
pit; and we owe it to the Radicals OF George
town to acknowledge that they are the pio,
peers OF the + adventurous journey. They
have reached the lowest stage Of the de-
scent; tho remotest distance yet attained
from TINT angel, aspiring and benignant,
whom Shelley describes as standing on the
mountain top and pointing to the unrisen
sun. The plan OF spoliation which they
have devised and which they now propose,
for the purpose OF securing the. sufrages Of
the colored people, is simply atrocious.
The old peasants war in Germany and the
Jacquerie OF France contemplated the abro-
cation OF such privileges Of the mobiles and
the clergy, as rendered the lot OF the peas-
ants intolerable. The people demanded the
right to gather fuel, to trap game to use the
commons, to enjoy the benefit of the poor
rates, and to be relieved from oppressive tax
alton and eXactions. There were grounds
for that uprising, although it has been con-
demned by the Judgment of later age, and
was punished ut the time by one of the most
sangunary retributions of history What
will posterity say OF the new Jacgueyie which
hns not the shadow of wrong to redress,
but invades vested rights only; this-new
agrarian policy which seeks by high taxa
tion to confiscate the lands OF the proprie-
tors OF the soil; nay, which has already
elected commissioner to take charge Of
them and distribute them among the land
less of the State? There is no historic par-
allel to this measure OF wholesale robbery.
The overthrow of proprietary rights in the
Roman Empire, in Ireland, in St. Domingo,
was military measure, division Of spoil
among conQuerors. The present project ia
n mere financial corner" devised by Gu
pidity, in time. Of profound peace, to the
prejudice OF order and capital and intelIi-
gence and blood. fsjhj 5.iyr,-,st N
Goldsmith touched the sympathies OF the
world, by drawing the picture OF despoiled
and deserted Irish village Shall Radicalisra
be allowed to insult tho conscience and
honor OF the world by efroctiug q vaster and
moro pitiable desolation, by rayaging cul-
tured, happy and n virtuois State by the
overthrow OF wealth, industry and album
dance and the planting OF the banner OF lib
erty on the ruins Hgs .r
| We know that invasions OF private right
are sometimes required by public necessity; {;
that there are instances when the interests
Of the few must yield to the imperative exi-
genctes OF the many But there; is nothing
Of this sortiin the present instspce, to JUS
tify,tor even to palliate. the project OF the
Radicals. There is no need OF securing O
new field for labor; for while the scope Of
forded to the working classes Ia, in fact
larger than 1t ever was, the number Of those
engaged in productive industry has senslbly
diminished. And ifit were desirable (which
even Sismondi denlcs) to make the freed
men proprlctors OF tho soil, what countless
virgin acres still await the labors OF the axe
and the plough! 1t Is remarkable circum-
stance, to which this distinguished writer
has called attention in the second volume Of
his Etatles sur les Sciences Socfales (pp. 43s-
44l,) that the negroes Of San Domingo, who
made the most rapid progress In intelligence,
virtue and prosperity, were those who cleared
tho lands for themselves. He says: ''The
journal OF the traveller who has most re-
Gently visited the island, informs .us that
the plains where the great plantations and
the great sugar works were, ore airSiost
"ail Of them still in Q state Of ,dsyastatlon
1rom the consequences Of the atroclous wat
] -