New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-03-05
NOTES FROM WASHINGTON
4 STATE IN RUINS.

rIl,r1oN AND 4 GOVERNMENT IN rttt HANDS
or 1,NpRINCIPLED ADVENTURES.
,o,, ~ OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
.W,surSGrov, Feb. 22.-The condition of
at carolina Is deporable In the days of Secession
a. the greatest offender. In the days of Reeonstruc-
flo, il the greatest sufferer. TIE Government Of tho
state was formerly the hands Of an aristocracy.
they wcrc body OF men Jealous, wful, dogmatc, but
heightened md honorable The roll OF Its representa-
lives in Congress for near threequartors of century
the names its civic and military heroes In tho war OF
the Revolution shine with luster that is undimmcd by
comparison with the men OF any other State
Truc o the souvenirs Of its former history, pTccp
tof.J n, Shareholders Rebellion and led its hosts TO
their doom II sought in It's passion bloody arbra-
,ncnt ON the field OF battle. and bloody arbrament it
has had With 6OOOO voters, and foreign population,
n mt - 600 soldiers the field. The end came, and
south Carolina black with deSolatOn. Tho smoke
and the ire Of civil war assembled from every household,
aud the stain Of blood the garments OF every sur
,.oT Its young had swiftly gone down to bloody
raves tan the dead Outnulnbercd the living. The means
OF support were swept away by fire and whirlwnd.
Havoc and spoil and ruin its only gain.
This Is where the end Of the Rebellion left South Caro-
lima. what has boon Its condition sincci What is its
condition nov
The population Of the state something 100000
blacks and something under 100000 whites. The result
The has made yet greater dlsproportion in the
comparative numbers OF the voting population These
lo estimated to be in the proportion OF 10000 white to
oOo black voters the aggregate being over 100000 Bat
the Legislature ont of 2i members, there are hut IL
representatives Of the white minority The rest of the
Assembly is black, with the exception that here and
there IS white representative OF black constituency
There are enough Of these along with few intelligent
oored people to lead the great OF ignorance and
barbarist OF which the main body is composed.
without going into details ii is enough to say that the
men who lead and manage the Legislature and the State
Government are thieves and miscreants. The great
body Of the Legislature the ignorant and corrupt
Instruments with which the leaders work, and though
the individuals composing this bought and sold
like cattle in the market their venality cases is
relieved Of much of its crimnality by reason of the
densencss their ignorance Numbers Of the blacks who
occupy seats in the Legislature regard themselves only
In tho light of employees OF the Government Their pay is
day for the session special pay for their separate
every in which there Is money. These
bought aud sold without even prctense of hid
ing the nagtOus transaction. The negro himself is
hardly conscious Of criminaty, while he makes his bar
gain. He his mule. He sells it, He owns his
rmCen lie sells IT, He considers his vote just much a
part his personal property his mule and his chicken
Why should he not sell it alsOp He does sell it, and he
nalvely wonders that anybody should complain.
the scale Of pay varies 1t just according
to each mans intelligence and rapacity few hundred
dollars special grauites Is enough to satisfy the de-
mands Of a plantation negro. Others get more, and
more aud more. One OF the smarter sort was accused
the other day the floor Of the House, by colleague,
with then having $4,000 OF State bonds in his pocket,
rorrup.ly obtained And the charge was not denied.
the evidence OF gross and universal corruption s
palpabe the way everybody lives who has ANYTHING
20 do with the Government. There is happy goucky
air among them all. II black gets into the Legislature,
that is enough. He works He has occasion
lie has money enough II is the same with the Occu-
pants Of the executive offices. Al are sleek and fat with
their III gotten gains They like pirates who have
captured % richy-laden ship. They riot in the plumber
caring not az all for, thinking OF, the owners.
But the irrcfraG1ble evidence Of gigantic theft and
corruption stands like monument in the vastIncrease
debt increase for which there is nothing
10 show. The State may he searched In vain 10 find
where the money has gone. II is in public work 1t
f. in schemes Of public Improvement II has simply
stolen II has gone the pockets Of the highway
robbers who compose the legislative and the executive
government OF the State Behold the stupendous sum
Tie bonded debt according to the report of the
Congress Committee who lately returned from The II
Investigations was in round numbers SO5sOoO 1868
was SGi5iOCO On the goth of December 1871, II had
risen 20 the enormous aggregate OF S156s,00 1t was
certain that this covered the whole lab-
tics OF the So much fraud and completely in
rupt practices by the officials had been developed
50 much chicauery had been unearhed, much wifu
rouccamcnt and apparent ignorance OF the amount of
the robJorI ana issues OF the State bonds mani
c' cd that There certainty that the fright
ful asr, gate which established would not be aug
u.cutcd when all the plundering had come TO light
But whether IL be more not, have here addi-
ton to the state debt since the war Of near s1ODOOO0
And t sum has been. million by million dollar by dol
lar deliberately stolen by the villains who have had
Of the state since that period, with the cxccp
ZION of such moderate neccssitatcd by the
measures Of reconstruction
The methods Of robbery have been too various and
universal 70 lie enumerated in exposition general
A. this SGGlee it TO say that they have involved every
body Of any who belongs to tho majority. 1t is
trembling mOrass Of corruption that shakes under the
tread OF the invesg lOn There is chance to stop
punish the fragrant crimes that have been committed
because everybody outside Of handful of repre-
seuatYes Of the taxpayers, is implicated. Whatever
vainv exposed, whatever investigation is threat
cncd, sCIcc IS ut once restored by threatening the
iuroatcners with examination and exposure of their
own crininaty. 1t IS simply band Of robbers threat
cning tell on another Was there ever such bur
lcsque free gJyeumentf
The STATE is njred and there 20 he standing
ground for an effort at eXtIicaton And yet il must
be cxtuCatcd government is failure. As has been
already said there hut - Representatives, out of 12I
members % the Legislature who regarded repre-
seutativcs Of the taXpayers OF the State. or these,
eight two upper counties adjoining Georgia.
These Representatives tired of hopeless struggle
against the thieves who haye plunged the State in bank
riptcy and threaten general con1scatiOn. These two
counties have pcit0ncd to be set of 70 Georgia. AS
their oxcsiOn would just about cXtnguish the t1ng
minority Of the Legislature aud leave unit in its
rupt0ns, Il is supposed the majority will grant the
prayer 50 that the last remnant of tie holding ground
the Taxpayers seems TO be the point Of disappear
Ing.
It thus that 100000 white people, less, com
posing the intelligence and property Of the state
arc put under the heel of 100000 pauper blacks,
fresh from a state Of slavery ard ignorance the most
dense Guided by unprincpled adventurers from other
States who make Of these freedmen their agents
for the most nefarious which committed
I,1fcor forr ~