The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-12-09
TIE RINGS GAME OF "B1UFE:"

THE RINGS GAME Or oAOrr:
Bold E1pedient-The Bond Mill TO
Gr,.d on-E Tub Of Greenbacks to the
Legislative Whale-Ths Eject upon
our .Iaeorruptible Solons-The Dc
stroying Angel Victorious.
rpRox. OUR own CORRESPONDENT
CoLUIBIA, December Z.
An oninous cloud accumulated In the upper
part of the city last evening, and out of 1t
there stepped q Destroying Angel which rus
tied its black wings and gathered In the Eegis-
lature. To-day the Destroying Angel passed
over the Senate, and It's shadow darkened the
hall four hours. Everybody felt Its presence,
and the members owned It's power. Its clutch
was upon their throats; Its breath was In their
faces, and 1t conquered, and thus was extin-
guished another hope that had been cherished
I'that the Legislature would really accomplish
something toward preventing and Furnishing
the frauds of the Ring.
To drop the metaphor, however, and mar
rate the facts. largely attended caucus,
comprising all tie members Of the financial
board, and'a good number from each houseof
the Legislature, was held last evening at the
residence of Governor Scott, at which a plan
of campaign, intended to divert attention
from the real question Of the bond swindles,
while continuing to throw sand in The eyes OF
the people, was broached by the Governor
and virtually agreed upon by 9 majority Of
the company. In other words. the cards
were stocked for q very large game Of ''bluf," I"
and the first deal was made In the Senate to-
day. The plan Is believed to include device
for putting more bonds upon the market, for
launching the sterling fund loan bonds, now
said to be opdeposit In New York, on the street
for what they will bring, for authorizing anoth.
er Wholesale conversion Of State securities, and
a stipnIation. by way of bait, for securing the
payment OF the legislative expenses, regular
and contingent, at an early DAY. Tne full de
yei0pment Of these schemes may pc expected
very soon, and indeed 1t was plainly enough
begun in the Senate to-day In four-h0ur light
over O resolution to call In and destroy the
sterling bonds.
nv taking up. on Maxwelfs motion, the report
Of the finance committee In favor OF, White
more's joipt resolution authorizing the attorI
ney-general to secure the possession OF the
bonds Of the State OF South Carolina, known
as the. sterling funded debt bonds, and place
the Fame In the charge efthe secretary Of State
for safe keeping. This resolution is as fol-
| lows:
Representatives Of the State OF South Carroll :
ma, now met and sitting in General Assembly,
The ahoTty q as same sa@;h ina.
ma be, and he is hereby, required, on the pas
sage OF this resolution, TO take Immediate
steps to secure the possession OF all the bonds
Issued under an act entitled IAN act to create
debt of The State Of South Carolina, to be
known as the sterling funded debt; the same,
or the proceeds thereof, to be exclusively
fused In exchange for, or In payment OF, the
existing public debit" which bonds are repre-.
sented to be in the hands Of the American
Bank Note Company, New York City; and the
encouragement shall, upon securing the said
bonds, place them In the hands OF The secre.
| tary Of State for safe keeping, and report the
same to the General Assembly; and the secre-
| tary of Slate shall be held responsible for the
safe custody of the said bonds.
Upon Its Introduction motion was imme-
diately made by Leslie to amend by substitu-
| ting his bill, introduced last Monday, which
reads as follows:
SECTION l. That the act passed by this Gen
eral Assembly, approved March 2, 1871, en-
titled IAN act to create debt of the State
| of South Carolina, to BIZ known as the sterling
funded debt, the same, or the proceeds there
| of, 10 be exclusively used la exchange for,
or in payment of, the existing public debt OF
| said State" be, and the same Is hereby, re-
pealed as to each and all Of its provisions.
SEC. 2. That his Excellency the Governor
be directed, Immediately upon his approval OF
this act, or upon its otherwise becoming alaw,
| to procure and deposit, or cause to be pro-
/ n nd IN q
tary of State, all bonds which have been print.
| ed, or otherwise prepared for issue, under the
provisions Of said act.
The debate that followed lasted from two
o'clock till nearly seven, and brought out al
most every Republican member Of The Senate.
Every species OF hllbustering and pettifog-
ging known even to such code OF TACTICS as
| this body recognizes, was exhausted In the
| course of the discussion, and the respective
resolutions were Overlaid so thlckly with mo.
tions, &C., that their own authors could not
recognize them. 1t was evident, however,
that the unanimous object was to prevent the
passage of either by talking against time while
pretending to favor the general proposition
The most prominent talkers were Leslie. whit
temore. Swails, Hayne, Nash and Smalls
Leslie declared that the whole scheme was Ia
get the bonds to Columbia and give the Gov
ernor chance to issue Them and then throw
the blame on the Legislature. Nash retorteo
that Leslie was opposing the motion because
he was pecuniarily interested, il not In the
bond frauds at least in the bonds. The rest o.
the speakers talked mainly against time, eno
the result of the battle, though apparently
draw, as the Senate adjourned without snS
action whatever, was really triumph for the
procrastinators. =! T=:s3 -
In the House the proceedings were not O
especial Interest. The metropolitan police bill
did not make disappearance as was expected
and it is now said that IL Will not be introduced
for about twoweeks, The first thing done wa,
to resume the debate upon the proposed
5 M aS rssa9 n dsse
mated bank and held subject to the orders
the Legislature. This was strenuously opposet
by Jones, Mobley, Jamison and Byaa, thet
principal argument being that it was unsafe u
tput the income into bank whose ofacer