The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-08-25
THE GIBRALTAR OF THE RING.
Light on Dark Subject-A Local Ring
and its Tricks and Manners-Hcw
Political Movements are Engineered
In Beaufort County, sc.
lFRoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT. ]

lFRoM An OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT. q
BEAUFORT COUNTY. August, 1870.
You and your readers hear so little from this
Gibraltar of RadicalIsm, this county which
numbers eight thousand votes or more, seven
! :.y.two hundred Of which are cast solid in the
interest of ignorance and prohigacy, !. e., for
the continuance of the power and patron age
of the Radical "RIng," that you, and large
portion of the State as well, may be unaware
of many OF the personal schemes and political
maneuvrIngs that are pushed just now under
the cover Of the State and local contest upon
which we have entered. Notwithstanding it
has been SO oOften charged, and perhaps with
truth, that the seeds which germlnated into the
gigantic war recently terminated, were cast
into the soil ofthis same Radical county, where
lived the Rhetts. Barnwelle, Elliotts and
others who believed in, and actually fought to
sustain, the doctrine Of State Rights, yet to-day
| from. the great body Of the State, as If some
not easily crossed desert intervened between
| us and our neighbors.
To'show thatthis is true, you have but to look
over your own files, and those of the Courier
or OF any other South Carolina newspaper for
year past, and you shall find, perhaps once
| in a twelve-month, some incidental mention
Of the old 1oDn Of Beaufort, OF that cotton on
| the sea islands In that county is failure But
of the lie, the political currents, the strife for
precedence, the corrupt bargaining and secret
| Jugglery, you can know very little, mainly De-
cause we have no paper OF our own or otner
| vehicle of general Information. Certainly we
have few copies, lrregularly sent into the le
| county, of what is called the Beaufort" edi-
tion of the Ring Organ, which no one need
look at but once to recognize as mere re-
print OF the Charleston sheet OF the same
name. having often not line OF reference to
us or our county, save In the column or two
OF free advertising, repeated weekly for a
year. # ever a locality. needed the dlssemi-
nation OF light, and the influence brought to
bear upon the masses, by the free, open dis
cussion Of political truth, and the great princi-
pies Of such government as ours, and at such
time as this, by the publications Of an IN
tramelled, outspoken press, 1t is this. But we
seem to be,doomed. Either, like the mouse,
we are too insignificant to be noticed, OF we
are esteemed lions, whom 1t Is unsafe to ap-
proach, and 30 the Ring central committee ap-
point but one meeting for all the fall campaign.
and that at an extremity Of the county; and
the Reform party do likewise.
Other planets besides Saturn have "Rings,"
| and you may already have learned that the
! ''Scott Ring" although State institution. Is
and local scale. Beaufort County has Its own
"Ring,n the advisory board Of which is not
unknown to fame, or 10 those familiar with
the faces OF those who began to figure In con-
vention affairs at Charleston, and have fol-
lowed lucrative If not honorable path
through three sessions OF the Legislature
since. It is almost surprising that men and
members Of the advisory board, who. until
1868, never cast single vote, should now be
able In effect to deposit seven Thousand; and
1t would be marvellous on the supposition
that such control Is obtained solely through
personal popularity, or even as result OF par
tisan, unQuestioning faith. But In fact this end
by the use of means as bold and vicious as
those devised and controlled by lifelong dem
agocues at Albany or elsewhere. Verify the
progress OF the Beaufort "Rlng," In corrupt
and demoralzing practices, Is In inverse ratio to
their progress In the direction Of any good.
Their lust OF power and place is as Unsuitable as
I if they had been born to wakupon the necks
of subject masses. instead Of being so recently
of the same degraded pattern and instincts.
But to be more particular. The chairman OF
the county committee, Qong does he purpose
to ragn.) aspires to the dignity OF the highest
county Office TO be filled at the comingel elec-
tfon, TO wit: To be State senator, IN the place
Of Judge Wright, promoted to the bench Of the
Supreme Court. In straight forward day.
| light canvass he would undoubtedly be elected
to fill the coveted position, even though he
has played hide-and-seek in the matter OF Con-
gressional nominations. swearing today oy
| the God of Bowen, and tomorrow BY the Devil
Of DeLarge, transfer of allegiance more
amusing and neutral under the circumstances
than honest or polite. The watchword, or
catchword in the contest is, ''color must not
be- regarded Ergo, '.my friends you must
uote for DeLarge," and lest the people, the
seven thousand voters aforesaid, should have
| q voice In deciding certain preliminaries or IN
claiming certain rights, they are kept from
and cajoled into believing that the dictum of
the county chairman is their highest good
that he is their Moses, and that he only can work
out their salvation, which they need pay
| him nothing tor doing, except to obey his Did
| ding, and give him power and authority:
Such political legerdemain to be successful
must he placticed in the dark, and hence the
'sRingr-the chairman thereof in particular
take especial pains to keep any notices OF their
intended gatherings or proceedings from be-
| ing brought to public attention. II a meeting
to elect delegates to county Is to De
| held at Gardeners Corner, message goes OUT
| in substance as follows: sect Bill, and John,
and Peter, to meet you Saturday evening ant and
elect yourself and Peter and John the defe-
gates, to come TO Beaufort on the 18th Sep
tember. Don't say anything about it TO any
body else, and 1t will be all right, you. KNOW,
for shall have you nominated as one OF the
representatives. Think of the influence OF twen-
ty-fve such circulars sentto twenty-five ambiti-
Gus local magnates. A few OF the better class
of men in view of these things shrug the should.
ers and remark, "Oh, we'll such deviltry Will
wear itself out after awhile.' 1t will not wear
itself out;' the evil grows, and the corruption
extends, and it will continue to enlarge and
expand until the light of intelligence Is DIFF
fused. 1t is huge ball Of human energy,
welded together by the fnx Of Ignorance and
superstition, and Kept in Its blind track as it
rolls BY the "Ring," which is its atmosphere,
so to speak, and through this medium it re-
ceives just as much light and warmth as the
said .Ring' sees lit to communicate. Through
such medium the Retormer, doubtless, ap-
pears blacker Tor whiter?) than one was ever
before painted, while our party and our tsle ,
principles have halo of glory.
Here will close this first chapter, reserving
further comment upon the doings OF ''Ye
Beaufort Ring" for some of the expected de-
velopmenls ofthe next fortnight. THORN.
THE VAR IN CUBA.