Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-04-23

have their attention drawn to the subject, and
their moral influence and discountenance be
given to stay the hand of the spoiler. He
represented the condition of affairs in the
State as having reached a crisis where not
only ruin and bankruptcy threatens, but the
very existence of free government is without
recognition. Referring to the question of re-
construction he set forth how groundIess is the
statement Of the counter memOrlallsts, that
they appealed in vain to the intelligent and
property.owning whites Of the State to help
them form the new government. Those people
had been deprived by Congress of the priv.
lege of participation. They were under disa-
bilties. They were denied all voice and au-
dience, and the effect of this state of things
was to instill into the minds of the enfran-
chised freedmen that the property-holders
were under the ban Of the government itself,
and were entitled confidence neither at home or
at the footstool of the nation. He disclaimed
any sentiment of reproach in alluding to these
matters of history, and said they had been
adverted to to repel the allegation that the
memorialsts, and those they represent, de-
cined to participate in the work Of recon-
structing the State, and to dispose of the ap-
peal to political prejudice resorted to by the
counter.me .memorialists Supposing their allie.
cation true, it was no argument in favor of
spoliation and plunder under the form of law
1t was sufficient, however, to say that the lead
ing men of the State were under political dis
abilities by the reconstruction acts, and that
no invitation was extended to them to partici.
pate. Referring briefly to the main causes of
complaint in the memorial, he showed that
the representations of the other side were
based only upon the taxation for State pur-
poses, on,tting the separate county tax leves,
and also in cases of Cities the municipal levies,
all of which swelled the assessment to over
twelve times what it was before the war; He
showed, also, that the assessment the State as
SCISSORS placed the large area of unproductive
land in the State, in many instances, at five
times its market value. Such lands were taxed
alike with the producing areas. He quoted
from correspondence by leading Republicans,
and from editorials in leading Republican pa
pers in the North, showing that the condition
of the taxpayers Of South Carolina is such as
to excite in the minds of the writers the gra-
vest apprehensions as to the effect Of the un-
fortunate facts upon the character of the Re-
publican name and the welfare Of the country.
In this particular connection he quoted ut
some lenth from speeches Of ex-Attorney-Gen.
eral Chamberlain and District Attorney Cor
bin. He showed by the history ofthe legisla-
ton under the new State, that the State off,
GERS have been governed by no law in the ex-
penditure of money, but that they have squan-
dered it lawlessly, wastefully, and criminally.
Referring to the promises made by the more
thoughtful of the leading State officers Of re-
form, Mr.. Smons showed that they we're made
but to the ear that the fatal experiences Of
the past six years has shown this, and that
they have no power now to delude. True re-
form consisted in taxation alone for honest
purposes of government an honest and eco
nomical expenditure of the public moneys,
and the protection of the right, of property,
in the existence of Republican Government
in fact The return to right and justice would
be the end of conspiracy would result in the
termination of the rule of the rapacious spoil
ers, and render further spoliation of an op.
pressed people impossible. Knowing and
feeling this to be so, the counter-memoralists
come up here with the cry of Psccavi on their
lips, and beseech Congress not to interfere,
but to sanction, by non-action, the enormous
and incessant outrages which, under power of
combined Ring, the very existence of South
Carolina, as well as the welfare Of every Sec
tion of the Union, is imperilled.
In conclusion, Mr.. Smons said: awe ap-
peal to Congress now, because there is not only
failure to protect property within its limits,
but conspiracy for its ruin and practical con-
fscation, and which efectually prevents any
other remedy or redress. All that we now
ask is committee of investigation, whereby
the true situation of affairs in South Carolina
may be made known to the whole country !;
and it may be ascertained whether this COM
bination and conspiracy, equally fatal, al
though under the forms of law, does exist,
and then that the remedy commensurate with
the evil may be applied. To this, as Ameri-
can citizens, we are certainly entitled. We
invoke the aid of Congress because there is no
other power which those in authority over US
will recognize or heed. We invoke this aid
because the Ring in South Carolina delude
their misguided followers, and profess to have
charter for their misrule under the sanction
of Congress, the executive and the administra.
ton at Washington. We invoke the honest
and moral sentiment of every section of this
broad land. We can, God willing, do no less.
We have exhausted every effort within the
limits of peaceful agencies at home, we now
make an honest and confident appeal to you.
Whatever be the result, we feel that we have
fulfilled one of those great duties which are
superior to life itself, and which, while COM
mending our course and ourselves to the judg-
ment of all honest men and lovers of true
liberty, will stand us acquitted before God,
our consciences and posterity." -'.
What action the judiciary committee will
take is matter of mere conjecture. In any
event the matter will doubtless be made the
subject of Congressional discussion. The oppo-
sition to the movement is strong in Washing
ton, and the counter memorialists are said to
be we'll organized. The information and i'm
pressiuns are not of nature, however, to
inspire the memorialists with much hope. -
The ARKANSAS AFFA1R.-The Little Rock
imbroglio still receives large share of official
attention. The position of the Government
in the premises is unchanged from that indi-
Gated in the kilograms Of the Attorney Gen
eral to the contesting Governors, and the
instructions of the War Department, that the
Federal troops are not to interfere unless the
public peace is endangered or the rights of
tho Government outraged. Information was
conveyed to the President yesterday that Bax-
ter had seized the telegraph lines, thereby
preventing their use by the other parties.
This of course would be an unwarrantable cir.
| ,,,,.t.,oe that no;oht call for the action of