The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1872-03-21

SAPonipioh ~ SeuCidl dS IlllS. if OuuCc IL Il
say, that they have involved everybody of any
account who belongs to the majority. 1t is q
trembling morass of corruption, that shakes
under the tread of the investigation. There
is nochance to stop.or punish the fragrant
crimes that have been committed, be-
cause everybody outside of mere HAND
full Of representatives Of the Taxpayers is
implicated. Whatever villainy is exposed
or whhteyer investigation is threatened, 81
lencefs at;once imposed by threatening the
threskners with an examination and expose
ure either own criminality. 1t is simply a
banAssbbsrs threatening to tell on one
another. Was there ever such burlesque
on free government?
The State is mired, and there seems to be
no standing ground for an effort at extrica.
ton. And yet it must be extricated, or gov.
ernment is failure As has been already
stated. there are but 13 representatives out
of 124 members Of the Legislature, who are
regarded as representatives of the Taxpayers
of the State. Of these, eight come from two
upper counties, adjoining Georgia. These
representatives are tired of,,thc hopeless strug,
gle against the thieves who have plunged
the State into hopeless bankruptcy, and
threaten general confscation. These two
counties have petitioned to be set off to
Georgia. As their excision would just about
extinguish the triAing minority of the Leg
islature, and leave it unit in its cor
ruption, it is supposed the majority will grant
the prayesr. So that the last remnant of
holding ground of the taxpayers, seems to
be slipping away.
It is thus that 100000 white people, more
or less, composing the intelligence and prop
erty-holders of the State, are put under the
heel of 5000 pauper blacks, fresh from a
state of slavery and ignorance most Dense
Guided by unprincipled adventures from
other States, who make use of these freed
men as their agents for the most nefarious
acts which we're ever committed under the
shelter of a republican form of government,
this blind and unintelligent mass is precipi-
tated upo, the intelligence and wealth of the
State until they are buried out of sight.
It is some times asked why the white peo-
pie of the State do not endearor to influence
the blacks by kind treatment and persuasion
as to their true interests The answer is,
that the jealousy of the black of his old mas
ter is profound, unyielding and universal
Where the kindest personal relations prevail,
where the freedmen remain on the old place,
ard dWJ3e the land on shares with content
ment aud harmony with the proprietor, the
testimony is that, so far as voting is concern
cd, the old master is utterly without infu-
ence. He can not obtain vote, nor the
promise of vote. Tn this matter the color
cd man will listen only to the unprincipled
adyenturer who rides through the country
claiming to be one of those who gave free
dom to the slaves. Conscious of their pres
ent liberty, the freedman's dread of its posi-
BILE loss makes him the most suspicious and
apprchensive Of creatures. In poverty and
sickness, in trials and troubles, he resorts to
his old master, and seeks his aid and counsel
with childlike confidence. But in voting,
he is steeled to his advice, and will die be-
fore he will take it.
Thus overwhelmed and helpless, what is
the average property-holder to do? He aims
faithfully to get upon his legs, and keep up,
but the grinding taxation actually imposed,
and still more that which is Threatened,
makes him dispair of escaping virtual con6s-
cation. He would get out Of the State if he
could, but he can find nobody to buy his
property. On visit to South Carolina few
years ago, Senator Sprague Of Rhode Island,
attracted by the great natural advantages Of
a water power at the capital of the State,
purchased it, and spent a considerabl sum
of money on it, preparatory to establishing
manufactures there. The developments,
soon after, of the corruption and mcasureless
robberies of the State Government, brought
his operations te dead stand, and now he
only awaits the forlorn hope of an opportuni-
ty to extricate his venture from the clutches
Of the thieves ndvillains who have the State
by the throat and are sucking its life blood
away.
"Why don't you rebel again ?" asked a
Boston man who waslately travelling through
the State. "Ths time, you would have q
reason" Alas, why? Subjected to oppres
SlOH Sucll as IL may o"ioiy w o"io nv S.'''N
community in the civilized world is to-day
enduring, the white minority in South Caro-
lima are quiet and dumb. They have no lite'
Their spirit has gone out. Their. inertia
amounts to Generalization. The fires OF
war licked up all their. avilable substance.
The grave covers generation of their fight
ing men. Until time repairs the waste OF
blood and sinew lost by war, there is no ma
terial to organize into resistance. At present
there seems to bo no heart for it and nc
thought Of it. But do not the wild crimes
of the Ku-Klux youth of the State foreshad-
ow possible future for that wretched peo'
ple demand the earnest attention OF thought,
ful statesmen? Shall we, too, have Poland
in the South? Can we expect long to reg
ulate the internal administration OF the law
and Justice in the State by military rule!-
And, after all, arc the Ku-Klux outrase'
but the expiaing embers of an old contest
or are they, in many cases the kindling sparks
of new?
One thing seems plain to the most ordina
rv apprehension. The condition of thing
now existing in South Carolina would not bt