Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-02-27

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they would be wholly removed by tn
perusal of sketch of the proceeding
of recent session of the Legislature
Those who have hoped that natter
wsre improving in South Carolina
will be sorely disappointed by thi.
latest specimen of the temper VIII cl
controls the law-making power of the
State. There would be little cause tc
complain that the manners of the leg
years if their morals had improved
But this, unhappily, does not appea,
to be the case. The Legislature OF
South Carolina is apparently O gang
of thieves, intent only upon pluuder-
ing the pc ople whom it is supposed to
serve. Long practice has made the
Legislature of the State O perfected
system of brigandage. Ignorant ne
groes, transplanted from the cotton
fields to the halls of the Capt.
tol, where they have been drilled
by interruptions white adventurere,
have naturally made q mockery OF
government, and ankrupted the State.
It is not surprising that such legisla-
tors, representing constituencies de-
based by long period of vassalage,
and other such tutelage, should have
displayed an ingenuity in fraud which
has no parallel in history.
It is among the least of the deplora-
BILE consequences of negro supremacy
in South Carolina that the credit of
the State has been utterly destroyed.
The State debt has been increased
over Sic, OOO, 900 [$23, 900, 600 instead of
SIC, ,OO0, 600, Mr.. Times, since the close
of the war, an d nothing has been secured
in public improvements for this prodi-
gal waste of the public revenues. The
bonds of the State are worthless, and
matters have now become so despe-
rate that the robbers who rule it are
forced to depend for their stealings
upon the pittance of taxation which can
still be wrung from an impoverished
people. Public morals have been so
debased that any hope for purific alton
from within the State can hardly be
entertained.
Such talk as this. coming from such
a source, is decidedly refreshing. It
is consoling to think that, after nearly
six years of negro rule in South Caro-
lima, the New York Times, the pro-
nounced organ of the administration
party in the United States has at last
reached the startling conclusion that
the Republican Legislature in that State
sis apparently a gang of thieves, in
tent only upon plundering the people
whom it is supposed to serve" that
''long practice has made the Legisla-
turs of the State perfected System of
brigandage" and that they ''have dis
played an ingenuity in fraud which
has no parallel in history"
1t is strange that i. has taken so
long to demonstrate these facts to the
of the Times man. He could
have read the lesson just as easily four
Dr. five years ago as he has done to-
lay, but the truth of the matter is that
&c did not care to read it. So long as
he people of the North could be
yul!ed into the belief that loyal res
dents at the South were being MUIR
lered by the hundred weight, night |
md day. by the mythical Ku Klux,
md 50 long as the vengeful negroes
we're allowed to swear away the liberty
If peaceful citizens, just SO long |
vas it not thought necessary to speak |
'f such little things as justice and hu-
nanity in the rebel Southern States. |
But the times have changed, and the
Il rtain has risen upon another act in
he drama. The cry of Ku-Klux has
ceased and the thinking people of the
North are beginning to find out that
he devil, as they thought him, is not
10 black as he was painted. after all,
md that the white residents Of the |
Igainst than shining. They awake
low to fearful realization of the fact
hat the Kn-Klux persecution was
,ut part OF scheme for the whole
ale robbery of the Southern States
md that, while the prosecuted citizens
If poor South Carolina were being
lunted down on false charges for the
purpose of exciting the sympath;es of
he loyal masses in the North, the
State itself was being robbed of the
enormous amount of TwENTY-THREE
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
1t is wise in the Times to trim its |
'ails in anticipation of the approach |
ng storm but it will be we'll for it to |
at the same time, that it is |
,ne of those public organs whose |
have led to the present de- |
,lorable condition of affairs in nearly i
Ill of the Southern States.