The Portland daily press., 1874-05-22
Gov. Moses.

Governor Moses, who may be styled the
head thief of South Carolina, was not dispos-
ed at first to emulate the meekness. of that
Nlustrious historical character whose name he
bears, but rather to bristle up, call out his
state guards and defy the laws he has beeh
sworn to execute. Discreet advice, renee
tion and, possibly, the action of the President
III the Arkansas matter caused the courage
of the indicted chief magistrate to ooze out OF
him and at last accounts he had decided to do
away with his troops and respond to the
summons of the courts like any thief of less
degree.
We are not by any means certain that this
fellow Moses will be punished for his crimes,
but even in South Carolina, a governor who
is indicted for theft cannot long contemn
public opinion. On general principles and
because we desire to have all rascals in pub
lie position brought to justice and consequent
punishment, we are glad that Republicans in
South Carolina have taken the first steps to-
ward bringing to punishment the reckless
hoard of thieves which has impoverished a
people; but we shall take special pleasure in
seeing this man Moses brought to justice for,
thief, he has assumed the name and seized
the prestige of the Republican party to ac-
compsh his mercenary purposes, just as
Sinking camp follower wears the garb of the
soldier to rob the helpless and dead. We
shall always keeniy enjoy the humiliation
and confusion of the camp follower who has
assumed the leaders place, when his base
ness is disc overed and he is marched out Of
camp to the music of the "Regue's March"
When Moses was nominated for governor
in 1872, there was, it will be remembered, a
large minority of the convention that protest
ed against his nomination as an outrage upon
the party and the State, and Withdrawing
from the convention, renominated Mr.. Tom
lnson who at the election in October of that
year received ,533 votes to 69,S3S for Moses,
"a fact which indicates that there is in the
Stat, a large body of Republicans opposed to
the gang of thieves which has been plumber
ing the State. So far as can be learned from
the usual sources, the late ruling class of the
Palmetto State, in common with the Demo:
cratic members of the Connecticut Legisla-
ture, has not yet been appraised of the sur
render at Appomattox, to such an extent
as to enable it to unite with the best class to
secure decent government. Perhaps it would
not have been materially different if the aris-
tocracy had attempted to influence public af-
fairs since the participation of this class would
have arrayed the colored men against any
movement of reform.
1t is evident that the race of the Moses
wing is near its goal There is no longer
anything more to steal. No money can be
realized on South Carolina bonds and the
last dollar has already been wrung from the
tax payers. The reckless thief who has
forged three-quarters of a million of treasury
warrants now finds himself bankrupt and so
reduced that the traders of the capital refuse
to trust him for those little articles indispen-
sible to comfortable living, until he produces
his currency. Without money to further de-
bauch the colored voter, indicted by a Repub-
Ican jury for the crime of larceny, it does
seem as though Gov. Moses is very near the
beginning of the end He may be -abIe-te
defer the day for time, but even the ignor-
ant coiored men who have carried him into
power, when they come to know his utter
baseness, will desert him. The Republican
party has right to expect much from such
colored leaders as Congressman Elliott and
Rainey who have displayed so high qualities
in Congress. 1t is said that the former is
likely to be Republican Candidate for Gov
rnor at the next election, in which case we
hall be bitterly disappointed if a new order
Of things is not established in that State.