Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1873-10-30
THE G0YERNOR,s MESSAGE.


Fslzoao- Citizens of' tie iSsaate and Houst
of Representatives.
soI,haSe called. together your honor
able bodies by virtue of the power
vested in me, BY, the Constitutions sot
the States which authorizes the Coy
..ernor,p 'son extraordinary occasions,
to convene the, General Assembly, ]
have, been impelied to. exercise this
poverty my sense OF public duty,
The OCCASION is an extraordinary
one, and its ,responsi bilities, which
attach alike'to theslegislative and ex-
ieeutive departments Of the State gov
Ell eminent, will be met, I trust, with a
strict regard to the interests Of. the
people.at large, from whom they de-
rive powers. = 'es''' .s.l' :. -, =.
Certain bondcreditors of the State,
holding or representing bonds of sew
erA dlsssss, having, in The; lsstresort,
appealed I to the Supreme Court to
pass upon the validity Of the State
securities held BY them, and to afford
sthemlthe r.lief ito which they deemed
themselves entitled, the court have
decided that the bonds in question
are valid and that the comptroller
general SHALL. Sin obedience to the
constitution and laws" levy a tax to
pay the interest on the said several
classes of bonds, such levy to be made
before Ithelil5th. day fof November
proximo, the rate per ceaatum of the
tax. to be thus levied to be. adequate
to 4Hquidate the interest past due, and
also that for the present year. This
mandamus covers five classes OF bonds,
amounting in aggregate to So, $4,000,
fvenhundred and forty4.fve thousand
of which, have been exchanged for
conversion bonds, and are now out
standing in, that form. This decision
of the highest tribunal of the State,
thus invoked by portion of the
public creditors5 would Il. INTO ad-
monish the State Government that it
should. without delay, provide for
the liquidation of its whole bonded
debt, upon some practical basis of ad-
iustment-honorable alike to the
State and its creditors-or prepare to
witness proceedings, on the part of
thoseswho5hold its securities. which
must eventuateiin standingtheJ State
DEGREES of its own or Fed
eral Courts-as totally wanting in re-
gard forprivate rights Or public faith.
If the General Assembly could, by
an instant exercise. of constitutional
powers,
''aSa DESTROY EVERY YER BOND ten99
that bears upon it the impress of the
great seal of the State, they would
confer a very great present
benefit upon the entire people. butiit
would be, at the same time, an act of
injustice. There, il is tri-
bunal before which States are judged,
ssswen as, individuals, It is the tri-
bunal Of, public opinion, The verdict
Of impartial and inexorable history is
made up. from the. expressed judg- |
nent Of. fair-minded men, delivered |
IN current events Let not that ver-
iict Be, that the Government Of South
Jarclina-based upon broad recog-
nitiorf Of the rights of man contract
I'd large public debt toproNide for
ts maintenance IN tie hour of its
and rernorselessly repudiate
that gdsba Ssn the aay3 Off its assured
poouer. While I do not. for an in
slant, assume that any honorable leg
islator.wonld agowedlyrepudiate any |
obligation of the. State, yet it must |
be patenttto the world that to refuse, !
or to fail to provide, the means for
liquidsting the pubhcs debt, is, in
effect, to repudiate it. Further delay
to act in 1.-The, premises, by meeting
The just demands of our public credi-
tors, to the extent, of our ability,
without imposing griievous burden
on she people, is to fix upon South
Carolina the stigma of repudiation,
which must indelibly; mark her as
the shame and opprobrium of Ameri-
can States. Il would, however, deem
myself unmindful of the high trust
that I hold from the people, and
which they have also conferred upon
you, fellow-citizens, as their chosen
representatives, if l were to advise
that the debt of the State should be
at its full ascertained
amount. The State satisfies the de-
mands of honor and good faith when
it does all that its circumstances al
low. The existing bonded debt rep
resents, in greati part, an exemption
of the people from high taxation du-
ring the period of four years, COM
mencing in 1868. It's liquidation
confers upon uslvast responsibilities
and solemn duties. These response
bilities and duties we cannot delegate
to others, but we must actjaccording
to our best understanding, con6ding
in the integrity Of our motives, and
in the Just judgment of the people,
e0hose rights and obligations are alike
represented by TIE gevs1mmaeaat of the
Slate Il further and important con-
sideratiom that has induced me to
convene your honorable bodies in ex-
traordinary session is that the act
which I have seen by your journals
was passed and ratified at your last
annual session, withdrawing from the
honorable the comptroiler-general all
authority to order any tax levy, has
never reached this department, and
hence, has not become law, as was
intended by the General Assembly.
The decision, therefore, of the Su-
preme. Court requiring the comptrol-
ler-genersly to order q
THE NECESSARY LEVY TO PAY THE
''"' INTEREST INTEREST
on The adjudicated. bonds, on or be-
lore the 18th Of November prorinao,
would-if your honorable bodies had
ia bSon conSansad have hepn iInI)er-