The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1871-12-06
coNTISDEr FROM FIRST PAGE.

VISION, as 70 tlnc OF salo and rcdemD-
ton, not to apply to the property of
1ninors and persons who are non CON-
q0. sss"sss, or confined in public prisons.
I would also urge that the provis.
ion OF law requiring County Auditors
to purchase lands for the State, at do.
linqaent land sales, be repealed, and
that all such lands, heretofore pur-
chased by the State, be sold without
delay, subject to the claims Of those
who may hold any of such lands un~
der the State lease, as provided by
law, sbonid there Be any suc!l unex-
pired leases at the time O. sale.
AMOUNT OF TAXES IN ARREAR
As On evidence of thc need of addi.
aionai legislation to enable the State
to realize the q delinqnent taxes, men
tien the fact that the amounts due; on
the yarrear lists, for the years 1868,
1869 and 1870, aggregate one million
one hundred and thirty-seven thous.
and four hundred and 'thirty:three
(1,lH,4s8) dollars. =
DALE 5OF STATE LANDS.
furtherrecommend that the lands
purchased by the Land Commission,
and all other lands owned by the State,
be subdiyided into suitable areas, and
sold at an early period, at a rate per
acre to Be fixed by law, according to
classification, and that bonds Of the
State be taken 10 payment, at par, for
all such lands. .,
The State lands are now estimated
to be worth, one million (1,000,0OO
dollars, at a minimum valuation.
i7l''f "'5THE Ku KLUx.
The.'existihg Intervention Of the
military power of the United States,
for the suppression of domestic vio-
lence" in the State, demands that !
shauid review the causes that have
made the Intervention necessary, I
perform this duty with O. deep sense
of humiliation as an American citl-
zen, and with profound regret as the
Chief Magistrate of South Carolina.
It had long been the boast of our
political system, founded as it is up
on the expressed will Of the people,
that the, peaceful agencies of the law
were alone sufficient for the protec-
tion Of life and property. When,
therefore, it becomes necessary for
tho Girl authorities to invoke the aid
Of the military, for the protection of
the citizen in the exercise OF his ves-
ted right, it is q declaration to the
world that within tho limits of the
State crime triumpbs over law That
SUCH is the fact is justly due to no
eet Of the present State Government.
lthas assailed no private right, and
committed no public wrong, and al
ways remembering that it was es-
tRb!ished TO advance tho intorosts of
the whole people. it cannot with JUS
tice, be charged With oyer having1
wantoply injured a citizen either in
his person or estate.
The members of the Constitution.
al c0nyention of 1868, with remark
able gunanimity, excluded from the
new SCppstitption every proscriptive
feature, and, by its provisions, no cit
izen. was disfranehised, and every
'Iass Of persons and property was
guaranteed the equal protection of
tho laws. Tho administration elect
pdShnder that Constitution cndeav-
oEed faithfully to reflect the gcner-
Qss spirit of ats trainers. Impelled
BY my own personal sentiments, no
less than by what I deemed a wise
policy, I saw in thc men who had
febeliel against the National Govern
ment8nly tho citizens of my country
Who, RtAey had done much wrong,
had also, as q consequence, endured
mach suffering and l sought to win
them back to better feeling, that
alt classes Of our citizons might dwell
together as brethren, under the shell
ter Of a common mansion, and that
the united efforts of the whole might
heEdireeted to lifting the State up
from the universal prostration caused
hY the wanton acts of part.
Actlated By these motives, and as
a testimony that the new admins
trationswas neither partisan nor vim.
dictive, in my first Message to the
General Assembly l used The follow.
ing language on the subject of pol
Itical disabilities:
II would earnestly recommend that
ypur honorable body will at an early
psriad, nemorialize Congress to relieve
every citizen Of South Carolina from
all political disabilities. I make this
recommendation tho more readily
from the fact that there believed to be
none lqf, that class in this State who
hare. committed Infamous offences
against the laws of war;
I"The statute Of disfranchisement
Has donbtless wise and proper at the
earlier stage of reconstruction, and
justly marked the nations adherence
of those who, having been the trust
ed leaders Of the people, had led them
into rebel!ion against the benign gov
ernmont Of their country. Yet the
continuance of such disfranchisement
would be an anomaly under our Re-
publican system based upon the doc
trine of universal suffrage. Let us
hope that such an act Of magnanimity
wilt not by tho class disfranchised,
while to deny it will tend to make
them objects of sympathy, and will
be, as it were, to keep knife stick
ing in an open wound"
I would add, that I have neither
abandoned the hope or the sentiment
that impelIcd that accommodation,
60 far Us the industrial class Of the
whites are concerned. Although
they contributed llarrelv tn the wealth