The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-09-07
For the Psaonix.

- .s-
j Mn. EpIToR; In your issue of the 4th
istaat Appeared the following from 2
mep5ber of the State Const4bMarx 4
d believSn regt,l5r systeAaEic 81 iemfs
viii Nbe madgt to de3fa1d the fteedu3en ID
Lexington tAis ye4r, Of their slarerof tie
crops! Mary of tbe'lattef neglected %
havo written contracts, and are being
driven off the plantations, and refused
any remuneration for their 'labor."T .4j
You ask, "what say our Lexington
friends?". We pronounce the whole
paragraph malioionsly false and an
upPardonably wicked attempt to slander
the good citizens OF Gexin gton.. The
paragraph IN question bears upon its
face the evidence of its writer's being
wholly unacquainted with the people
whose reputation he SO unwarrantably
attempts to defame.
|, If some freedmen of this County have
mo written contracts, it is because they
refused to be thus bound, and preferred
to work without contract insNriting, 80
that they could leave when it might suit
their convenience, or whenever they
might beeome too lazy to work.
! The only .systematica attempt TO de-
fraud" known to tie citizens of&this
County, is the present State government,
which, not satisfied with the spoils of
office, would rob the, good people Of the
State of their fair fame also. II
y The business firm of r. *. Scott &
Co. certainly displays greater energy
than any Wholesale house in this State.
His drummers, the State Constabulary,
are sent out in every direction to collect
material to be manufactured into election
yarns by Northern printing presses, or
to be used as fuel to increase the already
too violent feelings entertained towards
the Southern people. This firm, with
its numerous clerks and drummers,
cares nothing for its own reputation or
that of the people of "our dear State"
unless it increases the general stock of
the company, or aids in keeping the
lucky goose in the clutches Of Northern
carpet -baggcrs and Southern scalawags.
The citizens of Lexington are, however,
too we'll known to be injured by the vile
shafts of r. X. Scott's chief clerk, Hub
bard, or any Of the inferior drummers
who do his biddipgs.
We challenge the "great calumniator"
himself, the State Constabulary. or any
other set Of defamers, to establish the
charge of any systematic attempt" on
the part of the good people of Lexington,
to do ought save their duty. We know
of systematic effort to root ont radical
ism and the present rotten State govern
ment; and we honestly believe that the
fact of Lexington's being so thoroughly
Democratic, had not little to do with
this slanderous statement. Imagine
these drumming constables, travelling
through this County, so nearly ruined
by Sherman, SO blessed (A in having n
Boozer and Corley, and yet so true to
the principles of Democracy as to have
forever removed, at the late election, the
loaves and fishes from the too willing grasp
of hungry radicals. Imagine their spleen
as they meditated on these sad truths; as
they thought of the hundreds of carcases
which the people of this County offered
Ill Iht SOOu CulS6 uuEluS Ullo Cbul-
paign; as they remembered the Demo
cratic barbecues. pic-nics, &C., and you
will agrce with us that there was need of
an overflow of gall, some vent to their
spleen, and some expression of the malice
which they bear this County; and you
will find. too, in these things, an expla
nation of the systematic attempt to de-
fraud"
We fear the censure and love the
praise of all good and true men; but we
would shun the approval of these acould-
be citizens, and welcome their reproaches
as an evidence of the answering integ-
rity of our people. But enough.
''No might nor greatness in mortality
Can ceusure scape; back-wounding calumny
The whitest virtue strikes; what King 30
strong, tf.,l. .-,t.
Can tic tho gall up in the slanderous tongue"
LEXINGTON.
SEPTEMBER G, 1869.
Tl,o Nou, Vnrl, tESf,n