The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-06-20

The construction of the Penitentiary building
has been suspended; three hundred unfortu-
nate convicts within your Penitentiary walls
are without bread; the necessary guard has
been dismissed and the whole corps OF ofhcers
and EMPLOYEES has been disbanded. Disorders,
riots and instructions are iraminent;. the
lives and property of our citizens are in Jeop-
ardy and wholly unprotected, exposed to the
lawless outbreaks of self-released, famishlng
and naked horde of criminals, goaded to des-
peration by neglect and suffering, and only
restrained from the last extremity of violence
by the mingled courage, tact and kindness ana
private means of the Superintendent, the Re-
lator.
sThis state of things, may it please your
Honors, in relation to that essential and lndls-
pensable penal institution is great crime
against public humanity, the public safety, the
public honor end official responsibility and
construction, great crime against the law OF
the land, and should be punished and if there
be mode of punishment within the reach OF
this Court, as before high Heaven 1 know
there is, cry aloud to-day for your help Tor
the people in the enforcement of it: The BE.
lator, therefore, asks the Court in the form OF
this writ and in the prompt and unawed execu-
ton of it in the case shown upon the facts
stated in his petition, and the tremendous facts
recorded for all time in the history of our day
of State Government bankrupted in less than
four wears, which has handled millions Of rev.
enue and more millions of loans, without
single public improvement inaugurated, much
less completed, to stretch out its great arm OF
power and bring to speedy accounting that
officer of the State Treasurer Parker, from
whose baleful star dishonor and disaster have
been shed upon US. There is not sane man
in South Carolina to-day, of even tolerable
observation, who is not impressed with the
conviction that this reconstructed State Gov
ernment will perish within the next two years,
unless great reforms are at once achieved In
the financial department of its administration.
"May>it please your Honors, the Govern
ment at Washington will be compelled to de-
molish it. The great Republican party in its
lust pride and its love of free Institutions, go
ing again into power, as it will, will seize the
rotton and miscreant monster and cast 1t away
in its unutterable shame as unworthy of its
protecting care and support. 1t will not much
longer tolerate State Government which Is
daily dishonoring its illustrious achievements,
and seriously endangering its further triumphs.
This is not politics, but alarming apprehen-
sion, founded on facts whose force this Court
must feel and respect in the adjustment of the
judicial question of granting or refusing the
inquiry which the Relator asks you to start.
Will your Honors stop short of that investlga-
ton 2 Will your Honors be content and COM
mand your own people, the Government at
Washington, the great American people and
the people of civilized governments every
where to be content with this miserable abor-
ton of return and answer to the most grave
and vital application of the Relator I? Con-
tent-satisfed with this thing, saturated with
a moral death-sweat and reeking with moral
putridity, in so great an affair as the cause ana
purpose of this petition? God forbid God
Forbid fervently calculate.
"May it please your Honors, it is true that
you do not sit in the great hall of William
Rufus. in which accamations at the inaugura-
ton of Kings and Queens for ten centuries
have resounded. Nor are you encompa1s:sed1
with the gorgeous pageantry which signalized
the trial of the great British despoiler of Eas-
tern Princes and Princesses. 1t is true that
this modern ravager of 8 Southern province OF
our great Republic may not be reached by my
humble powers, as Verres and Hastings were
consumed by the immortal invective of the
Roman Cicero or the British Sheridan and
Fox and Burke.
"But, nevertheless, this hall, with its modest
drapery, is the temple of justice and the law,
and the seats your Honors fill are their throne
equally with the ancient Westminster, where
the virtuous Lord Somers received his merited
Crown of Innocence, and the corrupt Lord
Bacon his Just sentence of eternal shame. L
therefore invoke to-day British justice admin
istered according to British law, re-ennobled
because Americanized and administered by
American Judges, on this occasion and oppor:.
tunity of doing great good for the State, and
of winning for yourselves just and great re-
nown. React the Office of Ithuriel:
"search through this Garden, leave unsearched
no nook"
and with your judicial spear touch the intru-
sive toad which squats at the door of your
Treasury. And if it be he whom the
"Almighty Power
Hurled headlong, flaming from the ethereal
sky"
up he will start into his own likeness, "for no
falsehood can endure touch of heavenly tenn
per-" Do what the law, truth and justice call
upon you to do, and you have the power and
opportunity to do, and the present generation
OF our people will pay the tribute OF their
gratitude to your lofty judicial virtue, and pos
terity will name your names with ever'lncreas-
ing applause"
ABOUT MARRIAGE R1NGs.-Giving rings in
marriage ceremonies is supposed to indicate
the eternity of the union, seeing that circle
is endless. The Jewish bridegroom puts the
ring on the fore6nger of the brides right hand,
and this is the rule in the Greek Church also.
In the Roman and Anglican, the ring is placed
on the fourth finger of the woman's left hand,
the origin of which has been much disputed.
Sir Thomas Browne appropriates chapter to
this inquiry, observing: can opinion there is,
which magnifes the fourth finger OF the lett
hand presuming therein a cardinal relation,
that particular vessel, nerve, vein or artery,