The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-12-03
COLUMBIA. s. G..
Tuesday Morning December 5; 1872.
valedIctory Of Governor scott.


The valediotory message of Governor
Scott was read before the General As
sembly. yesterday, and will be found in
our columns. His successor will be in,
angurated to-day. "The King is dead, +"
We say. as We look to the, setting eun,
but We turn to the rising luminary and
exolaim, "Long live the King" We
lose Scott, but We gain Moses. and the
patient, endurance and fostituds which
we have acquired under the discipline
OF the former. will. perhaps. serve good
end in teaching submission to the sway
of the latter.
Governor SCOTT is in the habit OF writ
ing OF sending in. nlausibie aud soplisii-
cal messages. He is largely addicted to
arguments in zself-defencc. It is no
good cause which needs so much prop
ping. he began his official life in South
Carolina by deprecating the opposition
Of those who. ho knew we'll, did not de.
sire him, aud he has ended by ON at.
tempt, while confeesing many errors, to
place the wrong and general miscarriage
OF his administration at the door OF his
political opponents Governor Scott or
his pensman may be cunning ,of fence,
bht.we have other work. more useful and
more inviting than tilt with his expir-
ing Exceilenoy. A point or two only
will We notice, in rebnttal of his misrep.
resentations.t: The causes of his nnsnc.
cessful administration we're, frat, the
fierce hostility of the former governing
class-a thing to be expected, he says,
in the nature OF things. Perhaps so;
but we incline TO think that if Governor
Scott had been wise statesman and
just ruler, or even straight, forward,
honest, business man, he might have
conciiated. or even extinguished. this
opposition. A thing Of sentiment and
mere feeling. as he says. it must have
shrunk away before sound and enlight-
ened policy of government and melted
in the glow of any genuine warmth of
feeling, any sincere interest manifested
in behalf Of the people. As Governor
Scott admits, that in the public esti-
nation. he was, as the beginning, =
"symbol Of unmitigated usurpation,"
so. from the use Of the vilest practices,
weak-kneed inventions and shabby expe-
dents, he became aud continued to be
the embodiment Of weakness, petty
tyranny and shameful detraction. Ho
gloated in the spirit and temper of op-
position, oppression and denunciation
towards oil we hold dear. 1t suits him
now to represent himself as having been
cordial MI the time. II psccf ct his
policy of conciliation, he quotes from his
FIRST inaugural address, to show the
pearls Of moderation and forbearance
which he threw away upon the hard
hearted and infexible minority-in other
days. considered the governing class Of
the State. These magnanimous conces-
s;ons e=;:!oa &c aPfossc .!.c tc-mc- rcl;ti-
oal lenders, and they soon combined to
ruin the financial credit OF the State,
and to cloud with the threat Of repudia-
ton those darling bonds, the manipula-
ton Of which by himself aud his Board
OF Finance, Gov. Scott considered to be
their special privilege and prerogative,
first, last and all the time. This specu-
lation and money making by bonds filed
his idea of Governor, and was the
then limit of his ambition. Touch him
there, and You felt his paws. All this
stuff about threatened Reputation and
financial sapping and mining, he adroitly
connects with the enormous increase Of
Legislative and other expenses OF the 90
vernment. In his weakness and wicked
n. s, he endeavors TO relieve the odium
of the one at the expense of the other.
After senselcss filings at tho taxpayers
for depreciating their own securities;
after censure of the assessment OF taxes
as far too low, and the sum of taxes
raised as inadequate for the expenses of
government, thus necessitating the sale
or hypothecation of bonds, to defray the
50, ,250, 900 for legislative expenses for
four years, he comes to the confessional.
We hopo it may do his soul good. There