The Greenville enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1870-1873, 1871-03-22

prominent citizens OF the State as.
seinbled at the Capitol, on Nom
dry evening, to consult upon the
present disturbed condition of af.
tairs in the upper portion Of the
State. Among those present
were Col. Simeon Fair, of New.
berry. General MCGOWAN, of Alb
6eyille,e He,nphili. of. Chester,
General Kersl,aw, of Camden.
General Easley, of Greenville, Col.
oncl Wallace, Colonel Connor, of
Spartanburg, Messrs. Simmons, of
the Courier, Pope, Scibels and
Eze'l, OF Columbia, and several
others. The conference was free
and pleasant, and the present con.
dition of affairs was freely discuss.
ed The principal object Of the con.
ference was to arrive ut the cause of
The existing troubles, and, If posi-.
Die, suggest a remedy. We were
present, and listened to the con.
versations throughout, and confess
to being agreeaOly surprised at the
general tone of the meeting.
The principal cause of the trou.
bic, as urged by nearly all these
gentlemen, was the organization
and arming of one class or race of
citizens as against the other. 1t
was argued, with considerable
force, by every gentleman who
spoke upon tho subject, that plac.
ing arms in the hands of the color.
ed men gavo feeling of insecuri.
ty to the whites, and caused few.
erish feeling Of alarm to pervade
every community. Whether this
feeling was well grounded, or 9th.
erwise, made no difference to the
fact that such a feeling actually OK.
isted, and 80 long as that feeling
existed there was imminent dan.
ser OF a collision upon the SLIGHT,
est provocation. 1t was further
urged-and not without some show
OF reason-:hat the arming of the
colored militia was regarded by
tho whiioe a1 dangerous to peace
and good order and, whereas be.
fore such arming was done. men
could go to bed in peace and secnr.
i'y, without fear of molestation.
now they were compelled to en
armed themselves as a measure Of
seif-pro'ection. The debate upon
this snbject was long and exIlaus.
tive, but the conclusion reached
BY all was, that the arming of tho
colored militia was at least an nm.
wise measure.
Another fruitful source of com.
plant, and one which we have re.
garded as lying at the very root Of
the whole matter, was the profit.
gate and irresponsible manner in
which the Legislature performed
its work during the last session.
1t will be recollectcd that we rc.
peateGiy warned the Legislature
that the people were watching its
operations, and that dissatisf II
constituents would hold derelict
members to an account for their
stewardship. But, one point in
all the argument struck us with
more force than oil others. and
that was, that the present system
was one OF "taxation without rem.
resentation." This fact cannot be
denied, that, practically, the Lecis.
iatnre is a body that represents
but very small portion of the
material wealth of the State.
Many of the gentlemen admit.
ted that the per centum of taxa
tion was not exo:bitant, but the
assessments were g.. lpcorslv
disproportiona,e and unjust, and
that taxes were, in many in
stances ten times as high as they
ought to be. This arises from the
incompetency of the Assessors, few
of whom actually know anything
about the value of property, and
many moro being governed more
BY personal spite than BY desire
to do justice. This is no doub,
true, to- a great extent.
These were the two principal
points discussed, although others
were incidentally mentioned We
were highly gratified with the
manly and dignified positions
taken by General MCGOWAN and
Colonel Fair, and, while We have
no particular objections to offer to
the remarks of any of the gentle.
men present, we regard the stand
taken by the two gentlemen named
asPre eminently just and dignified.
The meeting had no political
significance whatever, Tor politics
were not mentioned, except Incl.
denial.y. during the entire confer.
ence. That the meeting will re-
suit in good, thcre is every reason
to believe, as these gentlemen can
return to their homes impressed