The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-01-15
sfHE PHOSPHATE STATE.''
Henry Ward Beecher on the Fate Of South
a.: .. Carolina -

| Henry Ward Beecher on the Fate OF south
f. Carolina. -
It would be hard to find In the history Of
modern nations more saddening or disgustful
picture of the wreck and desolation of society
than is presented at this moment In South Car
olina; and the condition of South Carolina, we
| suppose, while perhaps more picturesquely mis-
cradle, is but type of the social wretchedness
and the political shame which attach to the
other States of the far South. These are facts
which concern not alone the States Immediate
ly immersed in this civic chaos The nation Is
partnership in diseases and disgraces as we'll
as in benefits with the suffering of one mem
Der all the members suffer- and whatever is a
blot upon Texas or Georgia stains through to
Maine. The time has fully arrived when all
citizens who do not believe that "our political
system can stand anything and defy anything
should condescend to cast some serious glances
upon the hapless circumstances of our friends
and brethren of the Southern States Of this
we may be sure: that the present apathy OF
Northern people upon this subject is largely
conditioned on their ignorance of the real
state of the case; and the difficulty with us
has been that we could not all 60 to the South
to see for ourselves, and that we could not
thoroughly confde in the testimoney Of those
who did go. It,ia greatly to be desired that
some Northern men Of real ability, and of un-
questionable repute among US, could pass
through the Southern lands and study the &C
tual situation, and report to us in terms which
we could altogether trust
From this point of view, we deem it an event
to be particularly mentioned that one such cit
izen, Mr.. James S. Pike, an old abolitionist, q
journalist of high standing, and, by appoint
ment of President Lincoln, late minister of the
United States at the Hague, took the trouble
to 60 to South Carolina during the last session
of its Legislature, and to spend two months at
its capital in the study of men and things. He
has now made his report, and has embodied it
in little book, just issued by the Appletons,
and bearing the gloomy title that stands at the
head Of this article. The book is so small that
it can be read in an evening, but it is large
enough to give to every American anxious re-
hection for many q day. .,....,. -.
Mr.. Pike finds society in South Carolina
'bottom side up" The people of character
and culture, who, in q normal and righteous
state of affairs, would give direction and tone
to public proceedings are trampled under foot
by host of voting barbarians-"t the most ig-
norant democracy that mankind ever saw
''thc dregs of the population habilitated in the
robes of their intelligent predecessors, and as
serting over them ,.the rule of ignorance and
corruption Through the inexorable machinery
of majority of numbers" Carpet-bag rule
is at an end in South Carolina, for the carpet
baggers were, on the outside at least, white
men. Even negroes tainted with white blood,
and so unfortunate as to have the noble black
ness of the ancestral complexion debilitated
into some shade of yellow, are beginning to
feel the contemptuous antagonism of the un-
mixed African, who means to have things all
his own way there. By sheer force of superior
numbers the ignorant and unprincipled classes
have taken complete possession of the govern
ment of the State. And what sort of gov
ernment have. they formed i? According to the
testimony of Mr.. Pike, the rule of South Car
oina ''should not be dignifed with the name
Of government. It is the installation of a
huge system of brigandage. The men who
have had it in CONTROL and the men who now
have it in control are the. picked villains of
the State. They are professional legislative
practiced the art of legalized theft. They are
men who fill the prisons and penitentiaries of
the world. They are, in fact, of precisely that
class, only more daring and audacious The
public plumber. Having done it, they turn
around and buy immunity for their acts by
sharing their gains with the ignorant, pauper-
lied, besotted crowd who have chosen them to
the stations they fill, and which enable them
thus to rob and plunder." mi aa s. ....
If it be asked how the corruptions of the
South Carolina government differ from the ex-
eeptional yenality Of certain Northern Legisla:
lures. this is Mr.. Pixies answer: "The latter,
while less in effrontery and in degree than the
former, and springing from different causes,
can also abe promptly remedied by exposure
and by an appeal to the intelligence and virtue
of the constituency in the other case, there is
no such tribunal to appeal to. 1t is moral
morass, in which there is neither standing nor
holding ground" $50 tainted is the atmos-
phere with corruption, so universally implica-
ted is everybody about the government of such
q character are the ornaments of society at the
capital, that there is no such thing as an inhu-
ential local opinion to be brought against the
scamps. They plunder and glory in it. How
did You get your money ?'was asked of apron
inent legislator and lobbyist I stole it, was
the prompt reply"
The impression made upon us by Mr.. Pixies
report concerning the PROSTATE State is that
nothing can save society there from utter dis
solution but the speedy achievement of rule
by the classes who ought always to rule We
regret that Mr.. Pike in announcing an opin-
ion substantially the same as this, seems to US
to imply that these classes can be ascertained
by color. We know that this cannot be his
real meaning, but the force and value of his
book are likely to be abated by a certain ndis-
criminate denunciation of black men because
they are black, and an equally indiscriminate
commendation of white men because they are
white. What is wanted to save South Carolina
is not rally of white people against black
people; but of honest men of all colors against
scoundrels of all colors. '. =
We must not despair of the Republic, even
though that Republic be South Carolina, and
even though it have become a den of thieves.
And the specific advice which Mr.. Pike gives
as suggestion of remedy to the people Of that
State is in the main wise and good. He ad-
vises them to hold on to the faith that the State
can be redeemed; to make systematic effort
IN attract foreign Immigration to the State; to