New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-29
TIE CASE or SOUTH CAROLINA.

The memorial of tho South Carolina taA-
payers lately submitted to Congress and re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary pre-
scented case of peculiar hardship. The con-
dition of the State was already known to
those who had followed the course of politi-
cal events at the South since the war. The
immense preponderan ce of the negro over the
white vote, with the ignorance and lncapaclty
of the blacks which made them the dupes and
tools of self-secking demagogues and THEY
ing politicians, made situation which from
the first threatened the most serious cOnse-
quences to the interests of the State. 1t was
not TO be wondered at that INSCRIPTIONS poll
ticians, or thieves who went into politics as q
more profitable and safer business than any
other form of robbery, took immediate advan-
tage of the opportunity offered; hardly to be
wondered at that they have continued their
clutch upon the neck Of the PROSTATE State
The facts are familiar to our readers. How
these plunderers have "gone through" the
State as the lOcusts through Egypt, how they
have used the ignorant negroes to carry out
the most infamous schemes of self-aggrandze-
ment, how they have carried corruption and
theft to the pitch of the sublime, taxing the
people to the verge of poverty and absorbing
everything that had value--all these things
are matters of public notoriety, and do not
need to be restated.
The memorialists who came to Congress for
relief were driven to that course as their last
resort. Their appeal was based upon the
ground that they have not a republican form
of government such as is guaranteed by the
Constitution, and that they are suffering from
the odOus oppression of system of taxation
without representation. They have had
from the Committee-whatcver they had from
the President-a courteous hearing, and the
case they presented has been fully and fairly
considered. The result is, as was anticipated
probably by the memOTiallsts themselves, the
Committee can find no just ground for inter-
ference. 1t seems hard thing to say that
such wrongs as these memorialists have suf-
fered and are constantly suffering are without
any legal redress. 1t is almost cruel to re-
mand them to the tender mercies of the
men who have them under their heel;
and yet nothing is palmer than that under
the Constitution Congress can furnish
no relief. With q population of 10000 black
and only 10000 white voters, it is not easy to
devise a constitutional remedy for the misrulc,
maladministration and oppression of the ig-
norant majority. The experiment of universal
suffrage could not have a seyerer test than
that to which it is put in South Caro-
lima at the present time. Congress can do
nothing but advise the sufferers to stand still
and be patient, and, if possible, cOneiiate their
oppressors. And perhaps patient waiting is
the only solution of the difficulty.
Meantime, tho fact should not be lost sight
of that though Congress is powerless, the Adj
ministration that has supported and in turn
been supported by the carpet-baggers and plum
derers of South Carolina can do much to
rejieya the State. The politicians who have
devastated Tho State have been upheld by the
Federal Government. Many OF them hold rat
Federal offices, and s;c'ne OF them pa; had the the
effrontery to appear before he PRESIDENT tae
other day with what they called "a. ansNei =!
the memorial of the taxpayers. Take ss~ay
the support of the Federal Government and
the Federal offices from these fellows, and
long step will be taken toward relieving the
State from an incubus and the nation from
continuous disgrace