The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-05-25
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SOUTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA.
Under this head the Boston Post says: The
tax-payels of South Carolina have held their
Convention and adjourned. The proceedings
are described as having been harmonious, tenn.
perate and dignifed throughout. The records
prove their great and vital Importance to the
welfare of the State, and form disclosure OF
prohigacy, corruption and misrule, on the part
Of the officials of the Government, which 1t Is
safe to. pronounce unparalleled in the history Of
the Republic The ignorance of the blacks In
power has only beer equaled by their wanton
extravaganza. Loans have been put upon the
market at ruinous rates of interest, offlce-hoid-
ers have multiplied like locusts, the Treasury
has been plundered-so has the Land Commis-
sion-so indeed has every department which
could be made to yield to the extortions OF the
dominant party. The personal conduct OF State
officers has also been made the subject of inyes-
tigation, and from high to low they seem to
have been animated by the same fell spirit OF
vice and plunder, regardless of the moral or
financial name and farne Of the State. ~
"The Convention, among other business, con.
demned the Sterling loan, authorized by Last
winters Legislature, and requested the Govern
or not to sign the bonds, and the people not to
buy them if put on the market. AS property.
holders, the Convention declared its purpose 20
resist payment of this issue as an unwarranted,
illegal and irresponsible pledge, and one made
in derogation of the rights of the people. The
Governor promised the Committee OF the Con
yention to recommend q reduction IN the force
of ofice-holders, and favored their resolution
regarding cumulative voting, by winch oo,Vvo
taxpayers will have some proporhonate repre-
sentation with 10000 negroes who do not pay
taxes. Plans were reported by the Convention
for increasing revenue and protecting the Irea-
sury; for limiting the sessions of the Leglsia-
ture, and regulating its pay and behavior; for
appointing competent men to Office; Tor COL
lectinp of taxes, and for various other reforms
80 urgently demanded by the industrious and
respectable portion of our population. The
Governor promised cooperation in all the saiu-
tary measures proposed, and so did many lnflu.
entail negroes but it will be difficult to redeem
these promises, with Congress urging enmlty
rather than sympathy with the dlsiranchised
whites.
aThe revelations regarding the State debt,
and the measures taken by vicious and profi-
gate parties to raise money, illustrate the work.
ings of Reconstruction after the Congressional
plan. The present debt of the State, as prin'
cipal is said to be IS, 1865 ,9O89S, besides bonds
in the hands of the New York agent amount-
Ing to 81, ,SO0,O 900, which have been pledged for
q loan of s80O,O0Ol The committee charged
that the State had paid rs high as seventeen
per cent. interest on short loans The wastes
ful extravaganza which imposed these ruinous
financial obligations, and rendered the CONFER
ence of the taxpayers necessary, may beleam.
ed from reliable correspondent OF the World,
who visited the State, and examined, with un-
usual deliberation and apparent importantly
some of the scenes and causes OF the existing
disorder and discomfort. According to his de.
scription there is no legislative nall sc Ems
North which compares in richness OF garmture
with that of the South Carolina house OF hep-
resentatiycs. The drapery curtains are OF cost
" crimson damask, upheld by gilded brackets,
and over the Speakers chair is an elegant gold
embossed canopy of blue Chandeliers, hands
somer than any in the: Capitol at Washington,
depend in lustrous magnifcence from the cell
inc. and upon the floor are velvet carpets OF the
richest hues. The desks are of ornate black
walnut. of the most elaborate beauty OF con.
structiot,. and the, spittoons, for the hundred
NEGROES and fifty perhaps less worthy whites
who compose the body of legislators, are OF
white porcelain, in the form OF vases. Inc
Senate Chamber is similarly magnificent IN lts
fitting up. An open bar, with whiskey and se-
cars as free to contractors and Lobbyists as 70
members themselves, was an appropriate ac-
compartment to this inappropriate hnery.1.
are ,ae Sufficient indices Of the way in which the
money goes, and show clearly enough how easy
It is. under such influences and with a'body OF
crude legislators, of exclusively mercenary pro-
pensities and partisan ideas, and irresponsible
alike to their own unenlightened consciences
and to the demands of propriety and justice, TO
run wild with extravaganza and to consummate
oppressiye, unequal and ruinous legislation
nrecisely such as has created the necessity Tor
tbe nresent movement and driven the class OF
neonle who suffer most directly from its evils to
attempt some method of redress
efforts are already observable IN Radical
quarters to disparage this Convention, m!srep-
resent it objects and purposes, ana TO PrG)uoge
its designs. Such would be the case WITH any
movement which is in its nature caicuated 70
supersede the Ku Klux law, upon which Radl'
cafism wholly depends to maintain its ascen-
Jancv at the South, against justice as well as
the true interests and expressed wishes OF tne
people. So far as our present information ie2-
tends. the Convention was in no sense OF
nartisan character. Prominent and influential
citizens, of both parties and from every section
of the State, were among the delegates, prom
inent Republican, the Attorney General OF the
State. being one of the Vice Presidents, and an
editor of q Republican, newspaper one OF the
Secretaries. A former Lieutenant. Governor,
Hon. w. d. Porter, was President of the Con.
vention, and on assuming the Chair he distinct.
ly disavowed the alleged design OF Repatriation,
and declared the objects of those who had ln-
augurated the movement to,be to re1uke cor
ruption in high places, to save themselves from
irretrievable ruin, and to guard against 1atufc
hazards of the public credit, which, he said,
must be unquestioned and unsuspected., What
the deliberations may effect, remains to be seen;
but if they serve only to enlighten the North
as to the atrocious fmisconductsof the men
placed in authority by Congress, they will have
accomplished some good purpose"