The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1871-03-23
That Conference.

10y, 4Aak1 NSoi3401 oASO'
Upon invitation by His Excellency
the Governor, several prominent citi.
,zens of the State assembled at che
Capitol, ON Monday evening, to con-
sult upon the present disturbed con.
dition of affairs in the upper portion d
the State, Among those present
were Col. Simeon, Fair, of Newberry,
General McGowan, of Abbeville, Mr.
Hempbill, Of Chester, General Kersbaw,
of Camden, General Easley, Of Green,
vile, Colonel Wallace, Gabriel Cannon
Of Spartanburg, Messrs. Simmons, o.
the Courier, Pope, Seibels and Eseil
of Columbia, and several Others. The
conference was free and pleasant, and
the present condition OF affairs wa:
freely discussed. The principal object
Of the conference was toaIriye at the
cause Of the existing troubles, and, il
possible, suggest remedy. Viewers
present; and listened to the conger.
sations throughout, and confess to be:
ing agreeably surprised at the general
tone Of the meeting. 9 =
The principal cause ofthe trouble,
as urged by nearly altthese gentlemen,
was the organization and arming OF
one class, or race of citizens as against
the other. It was argued, with con-
siderable force, by every gentleman
who spoke upon the: subject that
placing arms iu the hands fthe colored
men gave feeling Of insecurity to the
whites, and caused a feverish feeling Of
alarm TO spervsde every ,commpni;
ty. Whether this feeling was well
grounded, or otherwise, made no dr.
ference to the fact that such q feel.
ing actually existed, and SO long as
that feeling. existed there was ina
minent danger Of a collision upon
the slightest provocation! IT was
further nrged-and hot without some
show Of reasou--that tho armiug Of the
colored militia. was regarded by the
whites as dangerous. TO peace and good
order; and, whereas, before such arm
ing was; done, men could 60 to bed in
peace and security, without fear Of
.molestation,. now they Here compelled
to go armed themselves as . measure OF
selfprotectiou, The debate upon this
subject wasf long and exhaustive, but
the conclusion reached by all was,
t6at the arming Of the oolored militia
was at least an. unwise measure. -
! Another fruitful source Of complaint,
aud one which We have regarded as
l,ing. ut the very roos Of the whole
matter, was the proaigate and irIespon,
sible manner in which: the, Legislature
perfsrmed its work during the last
session. =.
IL will be recolleeted that Rerepeat.
edlY warned the Legislature that the
people were watching its operations,
and that dissatisfied constituents would
hold dcrelict members toan account for
their stewardship. But, one point N
oil tho argument struck us with. more
force than all others, and that was, that
the present system was one Of taxation
without representation. This fact
cannot be denied, that, practically, the
Legislature is q body that represents
but, q Yery; small portion Of the material
wealth Of the State.
Many Of ths.gentlemen admitted that
the per centum of taxation was not
exorbitaut, but the assessments were
outrageously disproportiouate and nm
lust, and that taxes were, in. many in
stances ten times as high as they ought
to be. This arises from theiucompeteney
Of the Assessors, few of whom actually
know anything about the value of pro.
perty, and many moro being governed
more by .persoual spite than by a desire
to do justice. This is no doubt true, to
q great extent. -, =. -.
These were the two principal points
discussed, although others we're in.
cidentally mentioned. We were highly
grati6ed with the manly and dignifed
positions taken by General MCGOWAN
and Colonel Fair, aud, while we have
no particular objections to offer to the
remarks of any Of the gentlemen present,
we re regard tie stand taken by the two
gentlemen named as pre-eminently just
and dignifed,
The meeting had no political signif-
;cance whatever, for politics were not
mrentioued, except incidentally, during
the entire conference. That the meet
inc inc win result in good, there is every
reason to believe, as these gentlemen
can return to their homes impressed
with the belief that the Governor
really desires to protect the interests
Of ali classes Of citizens, irrespective OF
party lines.
That there are certain abuses in the
Legislature which must be corrected,
there is no one foolish enough to deny !;
and 80 long as these abuses exist, there
will be fruitful cause for complaint.
Most of the gentlemen, who. took part
In the conference, returned to their
homes yesterday.-Daiy Union.
|, The usual cry in proolaimiug the
bonr when sentry duty, is "Half-past