The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-03-24
TO Mn. Nnrs @. PAnKsn, TnEAlssuJnlnn;; a,ls Jl.;


Your card in the PHaNx OF the 21st
mentions my letter to the Governor; and
you present few facts and reports in
reply" to It.
Before saying anything directly Of
your card, beg leAve to remind you
that my letter was intended to explain to
his Excellenoy Why our people entertain
an unfuvorable opinion of you, to the
end that he might take steps to exhoner
ute you If you are not guihy) and his admi-
nistrution from tie odium that rests upon
both or in case of your guilt, to brand YOU
VITA the infamy you wonld deserve.
Nv motive was to induce his Exsellency
to lift from his ADMINISTRATION the dis.
honor thnt somebody has brought upon
it; or else to shield the guilty by assum-
ing the dishouor himself AS thought,
nnd still think, there can be no other
alternative before his Excellency I
think further, Mr.. Parker, that his Ex-
cellency's language to You, on the recent
occasion to which I barely alluded i'll my
letter, left on your mind no doubt US
to which Of these two courses his Excel
lency ls disposed to take. The only in
ference, then, upon which l have wrong
this; aud your cnrd is un effort to uhilt
the guilt, or Mt least the responsibility,
from yourself to the Governor. Tue
Significance Of my letter lies, rs does
tilat Of Governor Perry, i'll it's pointing
out some way of averting from the
country the now i'm mInent outbreak of
u jnst and well-fonnded public indignu-
tiou in violence aud blood. This out
break, which we are attempting to avert,
huds its iucipient power aud motive TO-
dny almost entirely in the abuse of the
State fiuauces. This fact should show
you that you cannot well afford to trihe
with this popular iudignntion.
You have been brought, Mr.. Parker,
ns you state, i'll ''coutnct with the better
portion of the people from nll parts of
the State" during the past three years.
This is very true. But when you aver
with corruption or dishonesty in your
dealings III single instance. you are
dodgiug the point ut issue. Whatever
may be my belief about that. or about
the truth of what you so confidently ns-
| sert, beg leave to remind you that [
huve undertaken to show only that your
reputation in our State is such us have
SAID. I think, too, Mr.. Parker, that L
am doing you personal favor when
tell you that think you hive mistaken
the natural civllities of official inter
course for expressions Of respect toward
you on the purt of the ''men Of proper
| ty and standing, professors of the Uni
versity, lawyers, editors, merchants and
public officers, who have been obliged
to puy the civilities due to the office
which you hold. l think so. A crucial
test Of the matter lies in the course
| s,l al,
our citizens have. in other respects, pur-
sued toward you. Ii these gentlemen
nave recognized you as IL gentleman, by
receiving you socially into their fnmilies,
then you have q right to take shelter uu-
der their respectability, as you have done
in this card. 1t Is Contrary to my tastes
to make this issue With you, but your ap-
peal to these professors, lawyers, editors
and men of property aud stumbling,
leaves me- no alternative but to mention
to you tho fact that. if IL single gentle
man III Columbia, where you have been
three years, has gone beyond the official
civllities above referred to i'll his inter
course with you, I huve not heard Of it.
This issne Is yours not mine.
| You inform ns that you shrink from no
duly authorized investigation Of your Of
fetal conduct. Then do not writhe nn-
| uer meutlOu Ol tho reputation you
have. Your memory is. indeed, short if
you cannot recall the repeated efforts of
Senator Arnim, and others, in the past
Legislature. to have the finances general
~ we'll examined. They fuiied to get it.
You may know why. I have my Opt
mon.
| You speak of discrepancies in your re-
ports, Of u Typographical chnractcr;"
IND it seems to be your desire thut our
readers shall infer that that discrepancy
between the Comptroler- General and
yourself, (.he S540.29 70 OF that officer
aud the S504. .293 70 Of yonrself,) should
be referred in their mluls to the class
typographical But, by performing tho
additions on pages sixty seven and sixty
eight Of the report, ono finds thnt tho
! figures are added in AZ they stand, which
wonld not be the cnse if the error were
"typogruphlcal;" and yon know it.
You refer to, and priut again, the re-
ports of committees upon your books,
ns if we had not all Of us read them be-
fore. The people knew that such re-
ports had been duly presented; but still.
SO overwhelming were the evidences Of