The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-04-13
letter from South Carolina.

NEWSPAPERS OF II CITY.
letter from South Carolina.
Especial Correspondence ofthe Dispatch.1 Il
EpaEr1ELD. S. c., April 18th, 1871.
This village, the county-seat OF Edge
field county, was once the centre OF mucn
Of the wealth and aristocracy Of South
Carolina, and is still the residence Of many
Of the ancient gentry. ez
The surrounding country Is beautiful,
but the village shows in IFS incipient dilap-
idation the altered fortunes of the people.
who are depressed and exasporated by bad
government. For in this State alone, OF
all the South, the Radical plan of recon-
struction has been a success. 1t has sue
cecded in doing here what it attempted to
do in all the States Of the South-put the
State government in the hands Of the ne
Sroes and carpet-baggcrs. The result Is
bad government in all its departments,
wholesale plumber Of the public treasury,
excessive and fraudulent taxation, eNasp-
GRAFTON of property-ownerS, who have
been compelled, without power Of resist
ance or appeal, to see themselves plum
dered by official thieves inc impending
financial ruin.
In 1860, the period Of South Cardinals
greatest prosperity, the total Statetax levied
dllu toiitCttu Wan CCDO,VUOs LII iCil> WIN
the people IMPOVERISHED by the ravages OF
war, the abolition of slave property, and
the effects Of FIVE years of vicious lcgiSla-
ton, the tax assessed and to. he collected
this fall is 81. 0J0. 600. Hitherto it has been
the custom to collect one year the tax as
seSSed the previous year. But now the ne
gro Legislature has ordained that the taxes
Of 1870 and 1871 shall both be collected this
year--that of 1870, this spring that Of 1871,
next November. A portion of the latter
tax is in gold to pay the interest on new
issue State bonds. Gov. Scott, n carpet
Dagger from Ohio, who came here without
I change Of linen, but who is 10 a mil
lionaire. bought largely Of State bonds ut 4
reduced figure, and then got the negro Le-
e~i>lature to pass a bill making the interest
upon them payable in gold coin. This is
but q sample of his financial operations.
AS an important part Of their system for
%plundcring the white people the negro and
carget-hag government have created an Of
ticer called Land Commissioner, whose duty
it is to buy with the public money lands
sold for taxes, and sell them to the freed
men on indefinite time. This functionary,
in one case, bought 4 tract Of land for $780,
900, charged the State 1920, 900, and put the
ing recently q poor carpet-bagger he is now
clothed in fine linen and fares sumptuously
every day.
The assessors books have been tempered
with and the assessments increased in some
instances tenfold. There is q man in Alb
beville county whose whole property, of all
descriptions, is not worth 81, 200, whose
property is assessed at (S11 ,000) eteUen thou
sand dollars: The gross a%bsurdity of the
assessment having been pressed upon the
authorities at Columbia they have consent
ed to reduce the assessment to (S10,C 00) ten
thousand dollars.
l will mention but one instance of the
open wholesale robbery of the negro Radi-
cal ring ut Columbia The Legislature
appropriated 800, 900 to repair the State
house. The whole amount has been eX-
pended, but the bills being examined are
found TO foot up only $1,000, $50, 900 hay
ing been stolen by the RUG.
Well, the people, eXasperated beyond
endurance, and determined to be robbed
no longer under a mockery of law, have re-
solved TO pay no more taxes. Resolutions
to this effect, beginning with the Board of
Trade of Charleston, are being passed by
public meetings in all the counties Of the
| State. The movement is as unanimous as
that of secession, and will be carried out.
Conquered, but %unsubdued, the ancient
spirit OF this proud people still lives, and
they will ever be as good as their word.
IL - lilpOSSlDlc " COlcCI CdAeS ny tOlCG Ou
a large scale and this people will resist to
the death-and among the consequences
must be the reputation Of all State obliga-
tionS and the disarmament of the negro car
pet-bag government
1t would never Go to conclude a letter
from this country without a word about
the leSpedeZa strata, or Japanese clover,
which, it is believed here, is going to regen-
crate the land. Farmers regard il as a
blessing, but do not know where it came
from or how it found its way into the coun-
try. 1t first attracted notice about twelve
years ago, and has since been steadily On
the increase, gradually taking possession Of
the commons and uncultiyated places, and
in some cases driving out and supplantlng
the useless Droom-sedge. 1t will grow upon
the poorest land, and affords favorite pas
ture for sheep and cattle. On its first ap-
pearance it was called Georgia grass, and
there is an impression that it made it's way,
by the dissemination of its seed, from that
State, and that it is still marching north
| ward. If this be true, you may vet see it,
in the course of its natural progress, in
yading and gladdening the broom. straw
wastes of Old Virginia.
As | passed Chester on Saturday about
two hundred negroes were assembled about
the railroad depot, and one of them threw
a stone into the rear coach Of the train,
striking. but not injuring, a young man,
son Of II. B. Claflin, of New York. This is
the only symptom Of kukluX 1 have noticed
in the State. GFf"*~.