New-York tribune., 1874-08-15
HOLY MOSES.

Another gifted statesman has appealed to
! his constituents from " the voice OF detractlon
"and the evil tongue of slander" Gov. Moses
| of South Carolina has made n very long
speech in vindcation of his public actions
and his private character against the reckless
detraction of what McSsTs. Conkling Carpen-
ter Butler, Shepherd, and other injured
patriots are fond of calling a venal, scurrilOus,
and malignant press. He begins by referring
his cause to that tribunal, beyond all earthly
courts, "on which the people sit enthroned,
"the Judgment of which is in almost every
instance honest and the decisions of which
care final,r where "the whisperings of pas
"sion are disregarded in the general desire to
"arrive at the truth, and the persons of
"men are lost sight of and forgotten
Gin the fixed endeavor to establish prin-
"ciples and build up the right;' but
perhaps distrusting court OF this kind,
or not knowing where to find it-he concludes
TO submit himself to the cOlOred people OF
Sumter The greater. part OF his address Is a
discussion of his financial administration, which
he admits to have been open to criticism,
though he contends that 1t has been better
than that of his predecessors. If he did not
convince his unlettered listeners by the force
of his reasoning, he must have muddled them
ont of all comprehension by the multitude OF
his figures and yet he neglected to explain
that the reduction in the debt of which he
boasts was obtained by the simple process OF
repudiating six millions of it. AS an exposure,
however, of the rascalities of certain members
of his own party, with whom Moses Is not
inst now on friendly terms, this financial state
ment has some interest, and we have no doubt
the audience received so much of it as they
understood with considerable delight.
But after all it is Moses himself rather than
his cash-books with whom the distant news
manor reader is chiefly concerned, and there
has been no little curiosity to know what he
would have to say about certain picturesque
passages in his career upon which the mallg-
nant press has taken a fendish delight in
barnino. in order, to cite his own beautiful
words, that his "Derve might be shattered" ="
and his "heart be brOken.' The only act to
which he alludes specifically is the attempt to
use the contingent fund for the purchase of
| The Columbia Daily Union Herah,-the crime
for which he was recently indicted. Mr..
Moses makes the following astounding decla-
| ration on this subject Knowing the vast in
"auence that could be exerted by a Republican
newspaper in the direction of retrenchment
| al and moderation deterDsined 10
"raaks an effort to secure for myself as GOrern-
"or an the interest of the State the political
L" control of The Columbia Union Herald, the
"leading daily Republican newspaper in the
State. The strongest motive that urged me
" TO this action was that of having heard from
" reliable sources that an attempt was being
" made to obtain the control of the paper by
those whose views did not coincide with
Z" mine as to the financial policy to be pur-
sued. and the adoption of which views would
therefore in my opinion, have been injurious
"and hurtfuln The bargain was consequently
made with the Hon. Il. G. Andrews
proprietor of the paper aud member
of the State Senate, aud an order
ON the contingent fund was actually
given for $4,000, being half the purchase
money. The transaction seems to have par
taken in equal measure of the characteristics
of theft and bribery, for Mr.. Moses was to get
for his twelve thousand stolen dollars net the
actual ownership of the paper, but nominal
interest without share either in profits or ex-
penses and the political control OF its col
| umns until after the sessions of the General
" Assembly, And the Governor tells this
story himself
The attacks upon his integrity Moses meets