Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-07-19
THE SOUTH CAROLINA com.
HUME

not shrink hairs breath, says the 81.
Louis Republican, in his espousal of ii;
he bears its standard as high as Dom
browski, or Felix Piatt did; he defends
nearly all lis acts, and extenuates the
rest. There is not a single reeking
atrocity it committed during the dismal
three months it held possession of Paris
that he does not think was psrdonable, if
not positively wsrrantable. He calls the
Commune leaders ''the foremost, the
purest and noblest patriots OF France,
and remarks:
''Such efforts never fail. Bru'us, fall
ing on his useless sword-Hampden, rid
ing out of the lost battle, leaning, death
struck, on his saddle -bow-Vane, Sidney
and John Brown, from their scsff9lds,
call out to these, their last followers:
''Be of good cheer, broihers; the seed
your blood has planted shall not die. Re-
deemed France shall yet bless you, ard
the world, seeing your lives, shall learn
to think nobler things of human nature.
Another not less instructive fact, says
the Republican, is the existence OF the
Commune, not as an experiment, but as
an memorable government in this ccun-
try; the South Carolina negroarchy is as
faithful and accurate reproduction of
the Paris Commune as could be afforded;
it Courbet and his red compatriots could
examine it, they would recognize and
adopt it as their progeny at once, and
thank the Radical party Of tho
United States for anticipating the Paris
experiment by two years. The clumsy
negro idea of "puttin' de bottom rail on
top is precisely the same as the more
classical Partisan idea of 'the rule of the
proletarist" The ex slave is the bottom
of 81 rails, the most proletariau of all
proletaries; there is no lower depth be-
yond him. Wendell Phillips, who now
advocates the Commune in Paris, advised
the establishment of its twin brother, the
negrosrchy, in South Carolina; as he calls
the Paris insurgents ''the foremost, the
purest, snd the noblest patriots of
France" so he spoke of Toussaint
rOuveIture and the blacks of the South;
and SO wise seemed bis counsel to the Re-
publican party, that it took him at his
word and erected the negro Commune in
S)uth Carolina. 1t maintains it there to
this day. The South Carolina Commune
has precisely the same ideas abo ut pro-
perry as It's Paris namesake; it thinks
every man ought TO hsve his share of it,
whether he is willing to work for it or
not; and it thinks no one man ought 10
have more than his share, no matter how
herd he works for it. Its main business,
since it came into power, therefore, has
been to effect something like an equal
distribution of wealth, and the plan it
adopted and is pursuing TO accomplish
this task, is admirable for its thorough
ness and simplicity; it takes from the rich
enormous sums in taxes and puts them in
its pockets. In other words, it taxes the
rich, and steals the proceeds. This plan
has worked so summsrily, that the Com
mune leaders in that Stste-and in nearly
all the Southern States, have grown rich,
and the owners of property have grown
poor. Ia some parts of Mississippi, We
are told, the taxes are thirteen per cent;
ard in some paris of South Carolina,
half the lands ia entire counties are
advertised to be sold for the taxes as
sessed on them, So that we are nearer
Communism than we imagined; we are
in the midst Of it; we have il established
in one State, at least, and rcgulsrly at
work, distributing property, stealing and
dividing the school fund, electing its rep
resentahves to Congress, and turning
things upside down generally. O1e of
Its latest acts is thus adverted TO by the
Pittsburg Comm erciol, a Radical paper
'The statement recently made that the
school commissioners of Charleston, s.
c., have lately closed the public schools,
by reason of lack of funds with which
TO pay the teachers, may be taken as a
pretty fair index of the manner in which
the grave matter of public instruction is
managed il that unhappy State. Not
only is the city of Charleston largely in
aTTeaTsge5 With its teachers, but the same
condition of affairs is true Of almost the
entire State. There has, from the first,
been very gross inetfciency aud misman-
8gemGnt on the part of the State Super
intendent Of Instruction, through whom
the respective county commissioners must
receive the funds with which 10 pay the
teachers. The superintendent, who is q
New England carpet Dagger, has o much
kecner appetite for a lucrative political
Job than for the legitimate duties of his
office. We speak by the card when We
gay that there are, or were, number of
faithful and competent teachers in that
State who have not received q cent from
the State Treasury during the past two
years, unless they have been paid very
lately, although they have continued to
teach without intermissiOn. The fact is
thai with very few honorable exceptions
the members Of the State Government
really care no more for the negro or for
his education than for the white people
whom they have SO shanrefully plrn lered.
For this South Carolina Commune and
all that it has done, and is doing, we are
indebted to the Republican party; that
party established it, AID that party main
taips it in power; and if the Commune,
invited by the preaching of Wendell
Phillips. should ever Cbirude its dismal
visag5 in regions where this psrty would
rather not see it, it will be indebted for
the fact to the successful zeal with
which Il forced the Commune on others.